Jeff Bartl
For the Opelika-Auburn News

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Earlier in the week, Auburn coach Jeff Lebo jokingly mentioned Northern Iowa’s offense consists of 400,000 plays. After Saturday’s game, that number may not seem like much of a stretch.

Northern Iowa’s offensive execution and distinct size advantage gave Auburn fits throughout the Tigers’ 67-61 loss Saturday in their final game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge.

“We just couldn’t defend inside,” Lebo said. “The hurt us down low, and they were getting some easy shots around the basket.”

Most of those shots came from Northern Iowa’s 7-foot-1 center Jordan Eglseder, who consistently found himself near the basket and scored 10 points.

“We were trying run (Eglseder) outside so he couldn’t get so close to the basket,” said Auburn guard DeWayne Reed. “He’s just so big that we couldn’t do much against him.”

Still, Auburn matched Northern Iowa (6-2) with 20 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle 31-30. The Panthers turned to the outside shot when needed, nailing 8 of 17 attempts, including four by Ali Farokhmanesh, who finished with a team-high 14 points.

The Panthers shot 54 percent from the field for the game while Auburn struggled for the second consecutive night. The Tigers shot a combined 15-for-58 from 3-point range during their two-game stint in
Chicago.

“We just have to do a better job of taking better shots and knocking down the ones when we have good looks,” Lebo said. “We took some bad shots, and when you take bad shots like that the momentum can shift.”

Which is what happened Saturday.

Auburn (3-3) led 28-20 with 3:18 remaining in the first half. The Tigers had an opportunity to extend the lead, but Tay Waller’s questionable shot gave the ball to the Panthers. Northern Iowa scored the next 8 points and tied the game heading into halftime. Then with the game tied at 34, Northern Iowa broke the game open with a 10-0 run for a 44-34 lead with less than 14 minutes left in the second half. Overall, the Panthers outscored the Tigers 24-6 over the course of a 10-plus minute period and Auburn never recovered.

“Their offense has a good balance of an inside and an outside game that really hurt us,” Lebo said. “They beat us inside ,and they knocked down their shots from the outside.”

Reed followed up his 22-point game Friday with another solid showing Saturday, scoring a game-high 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field and a 4-for-4 performance from the free-throw line.

“(Reed’s) play has really been a bright spot,” Lebo said. “He’s getting better and better and really played well for us this weekend.”

“I’m just trying to play my game, that’s all,” Reed said. “I’ve been playing well and had some shots fall for me.”

Korvotney Barber was back in the starting lineup Saturday after coming off the bench Friday against Dayton because of a broken nose and scored 11 points in 31 minutes. Waller added 10 for Auburn.

Northern Iowa’s Johnny Moran contributed 13 points.

Auburn finishes the round-robin tournament with a disappointing 1-3 record, falling to Mercer, Dayton and Northern Iowa and beating Beathune-Cookman.