By Joel Wauters, UNI Athletics
DALLAS — The UNI men’s basketball team gave the SMU Mustangs all they could handle on Wednesday night as the Panthers’ 2024-25 season came to a close in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) inside Moody Coliseum in a 73-63 loss.
Facing off against the top-seed in the 32-team tournament, Northern Iowa sank eight three-point baskets, including four from Trey Campbell while shooting 40% from the floor in the program’s third all-time tournament appearance and first since 2022. The Panthers used a strong second half run to open up a six-point lead out of the break, but was unable to match SMU’s size and rebounding ability.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Panthers opened the matchup with back-to-back triples to make a statement in the opening period from Tytan Anderson and Max Weisbrod. A tightly contested opening frame, UNI held the lead for just over 13 minutes in the first frame with a pair of five-point scoring runs helping maintain the Northern Iowa lead. Anderson led the Panthers in the first 20 minutes with ten points on three-of-four shooting from the floor, with Cael Schmitt knocked down a pair of triples in the half for six points as UNI went into the locker trailing by one, 33-32.
A 9-2 run for the Panthers opened the second half and gave UNI its largest lead of the game at six points. Five of the nine points in the run came from Jacob Hutson before Ben Schwieger buried back-to-back jumpers to put UNI ahead by six at 45-39. SMU would answer with an 11-2 run to take a three-point lead before Campbell tied the game at 52 with just under 11 minutes to play. Late turnovers and a stout defensive effort by the Mustangs however would slow the Panther offense down despite another strong spurt from Campbell as Northern Iowa would come up short in the ten-point loss.
Campbell finished the night with a team-high 16 points with six rebounds and four assists, while Anderson posted 14 points and five boards in the loss. Hutson recorded nine points along with three rebounds and three assists, with Schmitt adding eight points. Schwieger tallied seven points with a team-high nine rebounds, as Weisbrod scored five points and Will Hornseth four points.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
- SMU leads UNI 3-1 in the all-time series after Wednesday’s game and is now 2-0 vs. the Panthers in postseason play. Wednesday was the first time UNI and SMU played each other in the postseason since the 2011 CIT.
- Northern Iowa falls to 2-3 all-time in NIT games in program history. The Panthers beat Saint Joseph’s in 2012 and Saint Louis in 2022 in the opening rounds.
- UNI was outrebounded 44-30 by the Mustangs, including 11-2 in offensive rebounds.
- Tytan Anderson finishes his collegiate career 12th all-time in scoring in program history with 1,383 points. He also finishes as the seventh player in team history to notch 800 career rebounds, while also finishing seventh all-time in steals (149) and tied for the second-most games played in school history (139).
- Center Jacob Hutson concludes his college career with 940 total points, including 676 in his two seasons as a Panther, 88th most in team history. Hutson also finishes with 263 rebounds at UNI.
- Cael Schmitt finishes his career with 1,584 points, including 71 in his lone season at Northern Iowa. Schmitt also finishes with 193 career three-point field goals (14 as a Panther).
- Will Hornseth concludes his freshman season shooting 71-of-104 from the floor for a 68.2% clip, breaking Austin Phyfe’s 2019-20 single season field goal percentage record with at least 50 made shots.