HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - It was like watching big brother take on little brother in the driveway.

From the opening possession, the Marquette men's basketball team was in no mood to let the University of Northern Iowa hang around Friday night.

The 15th-ranked Golden Eagles used their tremendous quickness, athletic ability and overall basketball skill to overwhelm the Panthers, 73-43, in the nightcap of the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the Sears Centre.

"We've been playing down to the level of our opponents a lot this year," Marquette senior guard Dominic James said. "We wanted to come out and make a statement.

"It was by far our best performance of the year."

Marquette, a 25-win team a year ago, handed UNI its most lopsided defeat since the 2000-01 season - a 74-42 whipping at Iowa.

The Panthers turned it over four times in their first seven possessions as Marquette raced to a 10-2 lead. UNI closed within four at 12-8, but the Golden Eagles broke it open with a 20-0 surge.

"We just didn't dig in and stick to our game plan," said UNI freshman Johnny Moran, who had five points, six rebounds and a season-high five turnovers. "We gave them offensive rebounds and transition points. Those things are demoralizing."

Senior guards Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and James, who came in averaging nearly 52.5 combined points per game, had 14 points during the game-changing flurry.

UNI head coach Ben Jacobson used three timeouts in the eight-minute stretch to break Marquette's rhythm, but nothing worked.

"I really thought the key was the first six, seven minutes of the game," Jacobson said. "We had it reasonable at 12-8, and I tried to impress upon our team afterward that we need to take pride in that.

"We had a plan in place and the score was 12-8, but I didn't feel we took enough pride in that. We didn't dig in and build off that."

UNI (3-2) had 10 first-half turnovers and Marquette (5-0) turned them into 13 points.

By the time intermission came, Marquette's terrific trio outscored uNI in the opening 20 minutes, 25-18. Marquette also owned a 20-10 rebounding advantage, including eight offensive rebounds.

"We knew they may not have the most talented players, but we knew they were a good team because of the way they execute," James said of UNI. "We just wanted to take them out of everything they did, and I think we did that for the most part."

UNI's 43-point total was its lowest since tallying 42 in the semifinals of last year's Missouri Valley Conference tournament against Illinois State. The Panthers shot a season-low 35.3 percent from the field, including a woeful 3 of 21 from beyond the arc.

"We knew they were a very good defensive team watching them on film, but I was impressed how well they talked defensively," Jacobson said. "They are just a very, very good defense.

"That's as well as we've been defended this year, for sure. That's part of the learning experience we'll go through as a team.

"We need to learn from the way Marquette defends. That's something we need to get better at."

Matthews led three Golden Eagles in double figures with 17 points and seven rebounds. Lazar Hayward had 15 points and eight rebounds, while McNeal chipped in 13 points. Marquette was 11 of 27 from beyond the arc, including four during the strech of 20 unanswered points.

"They were very good," Moran said. "We knew they were good in transition, we knew they were experienced, and we knew they were good on the glass. We knew all those things, but we just didn't do a good job of executing, and it obviously showed."

Kwadzo Ahlegbe matched his career high with 11 points for UNI, while Jordan Eglseder had eight points and six rebounds in his first start of the season.

Freshman Anthony James, who hadn't played in the first four games for the Panthers, came off the bench with 6 1/2 minutes left. The coaching staff was pondering whether to redshirt James or not.

"We think he can do some things to help our basketball team this year," Jacobson said.

UNI has a quick turnaround as it plays Auburn at 4:30 p.m. today.

"We'll find out how we bounce back," Jacobson said. "We weren't in any position at all to win this game tonight, so we'll need to learn fast."

Contact Matt Coss at (319) 291-1468 or matt.coss@wcfcourier.com

N. Iowa Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Koch 25 2-6 2-2 0 2 2 6

Eglseder 22 4-6 0-0 6 0 3 8

Ahelegbe 28 5-9 0-0 1 5 1 11

Moran 25 2-7 0-0 6 2 2 5

Farokhmanesh 26 1-6 0-0 1 1 3 3

Haak 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Montgomery 14 0-3 1-3 5 0 1 1

Brown 17 0-2 0-0 2 1 4 0

Dunham 13 2-6 0-0 0 1 2 4

O'Rear 19 1-3 1-2 6 1 2 3

James 7 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2

Team 2

Totals 200 18-51 4-7 29 13 21 43

Marquette Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Burke 30 0-0 1-4 6 0 3 1

Hayward 28 5-11 3-6 8 1 2 15

James 21 3-10 0-0 3 6 0 8

McNeal 22 5-9 0-0 3 3 1 13

Matthews 26 5-8 5-6 7 2 2 17

Cubillan 22 2-6 1-2 3 3 1 7

Acker 19 2-6 0-0 1 3 0 4

Butler 17 1-1 2-2 4 2 1 4

Hazel 10 1-1 2-2 2 0 5 4

Frozena 5 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 0

Team 3

Totals 200 24-53 14-22 42 20 15 73

Northern Iowa 18 25 - 43

Marquette 37 36 - 73

3-point goals - UNI 3-21 (Farokhmanesh 1-6, Moran 1-6, Ahelegbe 1-2, Montgomery 0-2, Brown 0-2, James 0-2, DUnham 0-1); Marquette 11-27 (McNeal 3-4, Cubillan 2-5, James 2-5, Hayward 2-5, Matthews 2-4). Turnovers - UNI 14 (Moran 5, Brown 5); Marquette 10 (Matthews 3, Hayward 3). Steals - UNI 5 (Ahelegbe 2); Marquette 8 (James 2, McNeal 2). Blocks - UNI 1 (Eglseder); Marquette 1 (Burke).

Officials - Frank Raposo, Tim Kelly, Ron Tyburski. Att. - 3,087.

RUNOUTS

Score: Marquette 73, UNI 43

Leaders of the pack: Wesley Matthews led Marquette with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Kwadzo Ahelegbe matched his career-high with 11 points for UNI.

Off the bench: Lucas O'Rear had three points and six rebounds in 19 minutes for the Panthers.

Game changer: Marquette went on a 20-0 run midway through the first half to take a commanding 32-8 lead.

Next up: UNI (3-2) plays Auburn at 4:30 p.m. today in its final game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge.