Sobering experience in Iowa

I guess the line from Field of Dreams should be tweaked a bit.

“Is this Heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa.” Probably should now read “Is this Iowa?” “No, it’s hell.”

The UNI Panthers gave the Milwaukee Panthers fits on the defensive end, exposing the shortcomings of Milwaukee’s inside-out defense to take an impressive 67-51 victory over Milwaukee in Cedar Falls on Saturday afternoon.

Milwaukee shot 42.9% from the field, but gave up 15 turnovers and let UNI shoot almost 50% from three in a game that got away from Milwaukee in the closing minutes.

Jake Koch led all scorers with 21 points and Milwaukee’s Kaylon Williams had 16 in what proved to be a putrid game for the senior point guard. Williams was 6-of-13 from the field and picked up four assists, but dropped seven ridiculous turnovers and looked flustered all game long.

Milwaukee was outrebounded 31-25 in what was probably the most telling stat of the game. UNI hustled to the ball, put together a tremendous team effort, and it showed. UNI separated themselves by making quick, crisp passes from the lane to the outside, leading to about a dozen of their 19 three-point attempts to be taken without a defender anywhere near them.

The Panthers drop to 8-2 on the season heading into a huge game Tuesday at home against Wisconsin.