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NCAA Tournament First Round Recap - UNLV vs Northern Iowa
(9) Northern Iowa 69, (8) UNLV 66
Wanna know why the NCAA Tournament is so great? On a fabulous first-round Thursday, the Ford Center in Oklahoma City was the site of a night-session classic between two evenly-matched and well-coached teams that put on a show in the Heartland.
Northern Iowa and UNLV are two teams that most of the country has never seen play. Unless you are a true college hoops fan, you probably couldn't name a single player on either team heading into the game (yes, Larry Johnson graduated). Even after watching what was one of the more exciting games on an insane day of basketball, one would be willing to bet that the majority of the country still cannot pronounce the name of the kid that hit the game-winning 25-footer.
For the record, it’s "Fah-ruke-mah-nesh."
Back to the game: Despite the fact that this turned into the kind of rough-and-tumble defensive battle that Northern Iowa likes to play, it was quite entertaining. It looked as though UNLV was close to taking control of this thing early, but UNI - on the strength of some hot shooting - went on a 14-4 first-half spurt and slowly extended its lead. After MVC Player of the Year Adam Koch scored five straight points, the Panthers had a 58-49 lead with just under eight minutes left in the game.
But UNLV was far from done. The Rebels scored the next seven points, cutting the Panther lead to 58-56. This turned out to be the first of four instances in which UNLV was able to reduce its deficit to a single possession, but it wasn't until Oscar Bellfield drilled a three with 40 seconds left that the Rebels were able to tie this thing up at 66.
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UNI had no timeouts left, so the Panthers brought the ball up the court. UNLV was still flying around the court, looking for a trap. The Rebels nearly had a steal on a couple of occasions, but ultimately UNI's Johnny Moran found teammate Ali Farokhmanesh on the left wing. Farokhmanesh was a good 25 feet from the rim, but calmly stroked what turned out to be the game-winner with 4.9 seconds left. UNLV had another chance after the ball was knocked out of bounds on the sideline near Northern Iowa's basket, but Tre'Von Willis missed a three (that came after the buzzer anyway) and the Panthers advanced.
WHAT’S NEXT
Northern Iowa advances to face Kansas, who struggled with Lehigh late Thursday. It will be interesting to see how this game plays out. On the one hand, Kansas is the best team in the country on paper, but as we all know, on paper doesn't always translate on the court. The Panthers defend, they have size, and - as they proved tonight - they can shoot from distance.
By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer