January 31, 2006 — Creighton hands a newly ranked Northern Iowa team a 63-55 loss in Omaha.
The Panthers came into the late January game 9-2 in the MVC and 19-3 overall, led by Ben Jacobsen and the frontline of Grant Stout and Eric Coleman. Stout posted a double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Coleman was effective (13 points, 7 boards), but Jacobsen was harassed all evening by the Bluejays’ guards.
And it was those guards — Josh Dotzler (10 points), Johnny Mathies (7 points), and Nick Porter (16 points) — who combined for almost half of Creighton’s points on the evening. Throw in 11 points and 8 rebounds from Anthony Tolliver and Dane Watts’ 6 points and 9 rebounds, and the Bluejays were able to overcome a small halftime deficit to strip UNI of its ranking.
