Bears fall to Northern Arizona Friday Night

Friday, January 29

Flagstaff, Ariz.

6:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

8-8,5-6Big Sky

Northern Arizona

5-11,4-6Big Sky

Northern Colo.

Northern Ariz.

Photo by: Maria Saldivar, NAU Athletics

1/29/2021 8:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Matt Johnson II, Daylen Kounz and Bodie Hume combined for 51 points in the loss

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Colorado dropped the first game of a road-home series against Northern Arizona Friday night 68-64 in Flagstaff.

Northern Arizona closed the game on a 13-5 run to steal the win from the Bears.

Matt Johnson II continued to fill up the basket with his third straight 20-plus point game to lead the Bears with 20 points alongside three assists and two rebounds.

.@mattoraw23 doing what he does #BearsStrong🐻🏀 #BigSkyMBB pic.twitter.com/LEmoEOOOOi
— UNC Men's Basketball (@UNC_BearsMBB) January 30, 2021

Both teams struggled to buy a basket early on combining to start the game 2-of-14 over the first six minutes.

The Bears were 1-for-8 to open the game and trailed 16-11. They heated up after that with an 11-0 run to claim the lead at 22-16.

👀👀👀 what a DIME from @Treshon_3! #BearsStrong🐻🏀 #BigSkyMBB pic.twitter.com/0GlUry3nA3
— UNC Men's Basketball (@UNC_BearsMBB) January 30, 2021

UNC would take the lead into the break at 30-28 as they kept NAU without a point for the final 2:01 of the half.

GET THAT OUTTA HERE! @bodiehume with the swat leading to the easy @kjockuch bucket #BearsStrong🐻🏀 #BigSkyMBB pic.twitter.com/jBuLy3Bt6Q
— UNC Men's Basketball (@UNC_BearsMBB) January 30, 2021

The second half was a see-saw affair with neither team leading by more than two possessions at any point.

Johnson II along with Bodie Hume, and Daylen Kountz combined for 31 of UNC's 34 second half points.

Nothing but net for @bodiehume! #BearsStrong🐻🏀 #BigSkyMBB pic.twitter.com/YC8P1acRAm
— UNC Men's Basketball (@UNC_BearsMBB) January 30, 2021

The Bears led by five with 4:04 left but were unable to close the game out as NAU finished on their 13-5 run.

What They Said
Head Coach Steve Smiley
Overall thoughts on tonight's game
It was a disappointing second half effort. Down the stretch, we didn't make enough plays on either side of the ball to win.

What was it offensively from NAU that challenged the team defensively in the second half?
Not much changed in the second half from their attack, but small mental mistakes began to add up. We made more mental mistakes in this game than the previous four games combined, but give NAU credit for making plays down the stretch.

Coming home now how do you want to see the team respond after another close loss?
We certainly need to respond in game two of the series. As we talk about all the time, our margin for error is really small so our attention to detail has to always be at a high level. When it's not, this is the type of result that can happen. We need to play a lot better on Sunday in all phases. We're all disappointed tonight but we'll be ready for Sunday.

Stat of the Game
Northern Arizona's offense was firing on all cylinders in the second half scoring 40 points on 66.7% shooting.

Game Notes
- Matt Johnson led UNC in scoring for the seventh straight game. He is averaging 20.3 points in that span.
- Bodie Hume extended his double-figure scoring streak to nine games with his 16 points.
- Kur Jockuch was a point and rebound shy of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

Schedule Changes
Northern Colorado has a pair of game time changes to its future schedule. The Bears will tip-off at 10:30 am against Southern Utah on February 6. They will now play at 2 pm inside Bank of Colorado Arena on February 11 against Sacramento State.

What's Ahead
UNC will look for the series split on Sunday when they host NAU inside Bank of Colorado Arena at noon.

To stay up to date on all things UNC Men's Basketball, visit UNCBears.com, follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the new UNC Athletics app by clicking here.