Northern Iowa: 2026 Missouri Valley Men's Basketball Champions

 

ST. LOUIS -- Trey Campbell hit six 3-pointers in scoring 23 points as Northern Iowa defeated UIC 84-69 on Sunday to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and earn an automatic NCAA bid.

Northern Iowa: 2015-16 Missouri Valley Men's basketball Champions

ST. LOUIS -- Wes Washpun was given the chance to send Northern Iowa to the NCAA Tournament. He had to wait a second before he knew he had done it.

Washpun hit a jumper from the top of the key that bounced high off the back of the rim and fell in at the buzzer to give the Panthers a 56-54 victory over Evansville on Sunday in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game.

Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson had a timeout but didn't call it. Instead letting Washpun decide the game He stood alone, dribbling the ball until he started for the basket, made a crossover move, clearing just enough space for the straight-on jumper.

"That's what he allowed me to take so that's what I had to take," Washpun said of the defense. "Not a better feeling in the world."

The Panthers led by as many as 17 points before giving up the lead in the final minutes.

"We gave up the momentum and then we had to find a way to win," Jacobson said. "A lot of times, that doesn't happen. Usually, you don't beat them."

Washpun, named the tournament MVP, made two big shots in the final minute, also scoring from the key to put Northern Iowa up by two with 50 seconds to go.

D.J. Balentine's reverse layup tied it with 24.9 seconds remaining on Evansville's third scoring chance in the same possession. Then Northern Iowa held it for the final shot.

Washpun had 18 points, five rebounds and three assists for Northern Iowa (22-12), following up a 20-point effort in an overtime victory over top seed Wichita State in the semifinals. Klint Carlson added 17 points for the Panthers, who repeated as champion.

They dispatched Evansville (25-9) for the third time this season -- by a total of seven points.

Famous Northern Iowa alum Kurt Warner gave the team motivational support via texts.

"He just kept telling us to live in the moment," said Jeremy Morgan, who added 14 points and four blocks.

Balentine had 20 points and Jaylon Brown added 18 for Evansville, which hasn't made it to the NCAA Tournament since 1999. The conference tourney winner gets an automatic bid and Wichita State could get an at-large bid.

Northern Iowa has won the tournament four of the last eight years, and enters the NCAA Tournament having won 12 of 13 games.

"Coach Jacobson told us it's harder to do what we did this year, when you go through a little bit of a rut and pick yourself back up," Washpun said of the Panthers who started 2-6 in conference play.

The Panthers twice led by 17 points, late in the first half and in the opening minute after the break when Morgan's 3-pointer made it 35-18.

Brown and Balentine had big second halves for Evansville, scoring 16 and 15 points. Evansville twice led by a point in the closing minutes.

"We just played a lot harder, we had better rhythm and I just thought we played faster," coach Marty Simmons said. "Those are all things we certainly wanted to do in the first half. No excuses."

Northern Iowa led 32-18 at halftime, the second-fewest points scored in the first half by Evansville this season. The Purple Aces mustered just 16 in the first half at Northern Iowa in the regular season finale.

A 21-4 run capped by five points from Carlson gave Northern Iowa a 26-9 lead.

Carlson had 13 points in the half and Balentine, the leading active scorer in the NCAA, was held without a point for more than 17 minutes.

TIP-INS

Teams in the title game grabbed all the all-tournament spots, with Carlson and Morgan also representing Northern Iowa and Evansville represented by Balentine and Brown.

NORTHERN IOWA: Carlson averages 6.6 points but was 8 for 12 from the field and added five rebounds. Morgan was 4 for 5 from 3-point range.

EVANSVILLE: The Purple Aces shot 23 percent in the first half, 50 percent in the second half. Egidiju Mockevicius had 18 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Jacobson was so relieved to win that he had no immediate reaction when asked what seed Northern Iowa deserves. "No. Are you crazy?" he said. Evansville, which won the CIT last year, could land in the NIT.

"I'm sure it will be anxious," Simmons said. "There's nothing easy for us."

Northern Iowa: 2014-15 Missouri Valley Men's Basketball Champions

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley player of the year looked the part when it counted. His Northern Iowa teammates stepped up, too, when the game looked hopeless.

Seth Tuttle had 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists, leading the 11th-ranked Panthers back from an 18-point first-half deficit to beat Illinois State 69-60 in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship game on Sunday.

"I knew we weren't out of it," said forward Nate Buss, who had 15 points with two blocks. "We're not ranked 11th in the country for nothing. We're not just going to lay down and die.

"We knew we were going to come back."

The Panthers (30-3) took control with a 25-4 run that erased a 36-22 halftime deficit. Jeremy Morgan had three 3-pointers in the run and Tuttle, the Valley player of the year and tournament MVP, added eight points, often getting loose from constant double-teaming.

"He really exerted his will," Illinois State coach Dan Muller said. "When we're in zone, they got it in to Tuttle, when we went man, they got it in to Tuttle."

Daishon Knight had 16 points for fourth-seeded Illinois State (21-12), which needed a win to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998. Knight had 25 points in the Redbirds' semifinal upset of top seed Wichita State.

Northern Iowa won the title for the third time in seven years and has won 19 of 20 games.

"That was different than just about every game I've been a part of," coach Ben Jacobson said. "We had more than our hands full at halftime."

The winners shot 23 percent in the first half and 54 percent the rest of the way, and held Illinois State to 33 percent in the second half.

"We were the ones on our heels and we just told each other 'That's what we've got to do, we've got to reverse it,' " Tuttle said. "It was a lot of fun to be a part of that."

Deontae Hawkins added 14 points with four 3-pointers for Illinois State, which did much of the scoring on transition in the first half but couldn't capitalize on early chances in the second.

"We missed three layups in the first 4 minutes," Muller said. "If we make those, we keep the lead even though they're scoring."

Illinois State made eight of its first 12 shots, four of them 3-pointers, and led 33-15 with 2:44 to go in the half. Reserve Justin McCloud made all three of his 3-point attempts. The 18-point bulge was four points more than Northern Iowa's largest margin of defeat in a loss at Wichita State that decided the Valley title in the regular season finale.

"We went on a nice little run," Tuttle said. "You could feel it turn, and it was turning there for a quite a while."

Northern Iowa began the game just 5 for 27 from the field, three of the shots swatted back byReggie Lynch.

TIP-INS

Illinois State: McCloud totaled nine points in the first two tournament games and reached double figures in one of the previous 17 games. ... Muller played for the Redbirds' last tourney title team.

Northern Iowa: Buss, who entered the tournament averaging 6.6 points, also had a team-high 23 points in the quarterfinals against Bradley. "It's been kind of a tough season for me. I just came in trying to wipe my slate clean, trying to clear my head and not think about it so much."... The Panthers went almost 7 minutes between points during one stretch in the first half, then hit seven of their first nine shots after the break.

ALL-TOURNEY TEAM

Buss also made the all-tournament team for Northern Iowa along Knight and Lynch from Illinois State and Wichita State's Fred VanVleet.

NEXT UP

Illinois State: NIT, maybe.

Northern Iowa: NCAA Tournament.