The Saints (5-4, 1-0) loss to the Northern Iowa Panthers (7-1) 82-65 as Siena feel behind as a result of some solid shooting from the Panthers team.

Siena gave up 62% shooting in the second half as they lost another big game away from the Times Union Center. A win would have been the team’s first three game winning streak of the season, but poor defensive and atrocious free throw shooting prevented the team from reaching this mark. To comment more on the free throw shooting, the Saints went 9 for 23 and it by far was the story of the game. Edwin Ubiles lead the Saints with 19 points, followed by Ronald Moore with 16 and Alex Franklin with 13. The issue, however, wasn’t the offensive. In the second half Siena was never able to put together a significant run as Northern Iowa continued to answer every score. The Saints finally go on a decent break where hopefully Fran McCaffery will focus the players toward foul shooting and weak-side defense.

Northern Iowa finished the game shooting 9-16 from beyond the 3-point line. This is their 6th win in a row. All five of their starters ended with double-digit points. Adam Koch killed the Saints on the boards, while senior C Jordan Eglseder and junior Kwadzo Ahelegbe provided the offense. It was one of the few times this season when an opposing team has proven to be more athletic than the Saints. Northern Iowa is a mid-major team that will have to be dealt with when March comes around.

This is the Saint’s last significant non-conference game that would have national implications. The team’s concentrations should turn to winning the MAAC and the MAAC tournament because this slow start will not help them enter into March Madness as an at-large bid.

Added by Matt 12:16am:
Coach McCaffery is going to have to acknowledge the foul shooting, I don’t think there’s any way around that question now– it didn’t lose the game for us, but it was embarrassingly low. On the brightside, Alex had a pretty monster dunk.