Drake men's basketball holds off Northern Iowa for regular-season sweep

CEDAR FALLS — Drake men's basketball extended Northern Iowa's losing streak to six games with an 82-74 win over the Panthers on Wednesday at the McLeod Center.

"It's the time of year where it's just figuring out a way to win," Drake coach Darian DeVries said after his Bulldogs notched another conference victory. "It's all about trying to put a plan together for those 40 minutes and come away with a win any way you can get (one)."

Drake (22-6, 13-4 Missouri Valley Conference) and UNI went back and forth in the first half, with the Bulldogs shooting 55.2% from the field and the Panthers making 46.4% of their shots. But with eight 3-pointers in the first half, Drake pulled ahead 41-31 at halftime.

UNI's Bowen Born seemed to end his scoring slump in the first half. He was held to nine points against Evansville and five points against Indiana State but had 10 in the first 20 minutes against Drake.

Tytan Anderson scored a layup to give UNI (12-15, 8-9 MVC) the first points of the second half. The boost was short-lived as the Bulldogs kept a double-digit lead for most of the period. The Panthers hurt themselves early in the second period, going 0-for-5 from the foul line. UNI finished 9-of-16 for the second half.

UNI got hot, though, shooting 65.2% in the second half and moving within five points with 3:40 remaining in regulation after free throws from Trey Campbell and Landon Wolf. The Panthers' defense stepped up, stopping Drake after those scores to cut the deficit to three.

Drake sunk all 10 of its second-half free throws to secure the win.

Tucker DeVries led the Bulldogs with 19 points, and three other Drake players scored in double-digits.

Born had 16 points for UNI, which puts him 14 away from 1,000 career points with the Panthers.

Drake recovers from early miscommunication

The Roman Penn-to-Darnell Brodie — and vice versa — connection is usually a thing of beauty for the Bulldogs. But that wasn’t the case early on against UNI. Three pass attempts between those two players ended up in Panthers’ hands.

"They're just some back-door passes that Roman didn't see coming," Darian DeVries said. "It wasn't anything too crazy. But like I told the guys at halftime, we had seven turnovers (in the first half). We only had three or four in the second."

Brodie and Penn weren’t the only Bulldogs who struggled to keep possession, with uncharacteristic mistakes from players like Conor Enright and Garrett Sturtz. Now that Drake fans are finally seeing a healthy Penn play, there's no denying his veteran presence on the court made up for those mistakes. His teammates did their part, as well.

Drake made up for those early errors with strong defense of its own against the Panthers. The Bulldogs allowed only four UNI players to score in the first half. More Panthers added to the score sheet in the second, but the Bulldogs' offense responded to keep distance between the two teams.

Drake had seven steals and forced 13 turnovers. UNI's numbers were close, but the Bulldogs' ability to put together a complete game won out.

UNI struggles with 3-point defense

Drake made 11 shots from beyond the arc while shooting 47.8%. UNI didn’t challenge the Bulldogs at all on several of those shots, even leaving D.J. Wilkins — Drake’s career 3-pointers leader — open multiple times.

The Bulldogs hit eight 3-pointers in the first half but only three in the second. The Panthers are 10th in the MVC in 3-point percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 34.8% from beyond the arc.

"Defensively, we weren't good enough in the first half," UNI coach Ben Jacobson said. "They're too good of a basketball team. They're playing really well on top of being good.

"I thought the five or six mistakes, we had one in transition ... and it was a short pass to DeVries for three. An offensive rebound ended up in a three. Miscommunication ended up in a three. And two or three more where they involved the ball screen with Penn where we just didn't get out and get him stopped. All of a sudden you got five or six possessions and they take advantage of most of them."

Some of that can be attributed to inexperience; UNI has two freshman and two sophomores in its starting lineup. The Panthers will need to tighten up their defense to snap this losing streak.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake men's basketball completes regular-season sweep of Northern Iowa