Northern Iowa struggled to stop North Carolina at the 3-point arc on Wednesday, while Texas Tech encountered difficulties preventing Villanova from scoring in the paint.
After double-digit losses, the teams are seeking improvement in their defensive performance Thursday afternoon when the Panthers face the Red Raiders in a consolation semifinal at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Northern Iowa (1-3) opened the tournament with a 91-69 loss to the 14th-ranked Tar Heels in a game the Panthers led by six at halftime. UNI was outscored 56-28 in the second half as it allowed the Tar Heels to make nine of their 12 treys in the final 20 minutes.
“We worked really hard, had a great first half and all of a sudden the game is four, five possessions, you go from being up six to you are down three,” Northern Iowa guard Nate Heise said on the team’s radio postgame show. “The whole thing changes in two minutes after you spend 20 minutes playing great. We needed to fight that off better. We did not.”
When Northern Iowa’s defense struggled, its offense faltered significantly. After shooting 60 percent in the first half, the Panthers shot 32.1 percent in the second half to wind up at 45.3 percent overall.
Unlike Northern Iowa, Texas Tech trailed for the final 28:50 of its 85-69 loss to Villanova. The Red Raiders (3-1) played their first opponent from a power six conference and gave up 26 points at the foul line and 26 in the paint while shooting 41.2 percent.
“We got punked,” Red Raiders guard Devan Cambridge said. “We’ve got to be better tomorrow.”
Texas Tech’s Pop Issac scored 16 points but was an inefficient 4-for-14 from the field. Joe Toussaint added 15 and eight assists, but the Red Raiders faltered against the toughest defense they have seen in the early going.
“It was just physical,” Toussaint said. “We mentally prepared for that, but I don’t really think we were ready for that.”
–Field Level Media