UNI Men's Basketball Hosts Missouri State

This Weekends Action

Saturday, Feb. 2 – Cedar Falls, Iowa (McLeod Center)
7 p.m. CT
UNI vs Missouri State | ESPN+ | Audio | Stats |

Full Game Notes

THE PANTHERS
• The Panthers move to 9-13 on the season at 4-5 in the MVC after falling to Loyola on Wednesday night.

• The Panthers take on the Bears (11-11, 5-4 MVC) of Missouri State on Saturday.

• Head Coach Ben Jacobson is 259-163 all-time, 17-8 against the Bears and 9-3 in the McLeod Center against Missouri State.

• Coach Jacobson is currently tied with Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) for 5th all-time with 134 MVC victories. Jacobson (259) is 3 wins away from passing Marshall (161) in career victories as an MVC coach.

• UNI has made at least one 3-pointer in 616 straight games – the longest active streak in the Missouri Valley Conference.

• Luke McDonnell finished with 16 points in the Panthers loss to the Ramblers. McDonnell went 7-12 from the field including 2-3 from the three-point arc. AJ Green ended the night with 14 points and finished with a team-high 6 assists.

• Freshman AJ Green leads all Panthers in scoring, averaging 14.9 points per game. Green's 14.4 PPG in league play ranks 9th in the MVC.

• The Panthers average 8.6 three-pointers per game in MVC play, second-most in the league behind only Evansville.

• Four Panthers rank in the top 20 in made three-pointers per game in the MVC. AJ Green ranks 6th (2.0), Trae Berhow ranks 14th (1.7), Spencer Haldeman ranks 15th (1.7), and Wyatt Lohaus ranks 19th (1.4).

• The Panthers average only 10.3 turnovers in Valley play, leading the league in fewest turnovers (111).

• Luke McDonnell ranks 3rd in the league with 2.9 offensive rebounds per game in league play while Trae Berhow hauls in 4.3 defensive rebounds per game, ranking him 12th in that category.

THE BEARS
• The Bears are currently 11-11 overall and 5-4 within the Missouri Valley Conference.

• While the Bears rank in the middle of the conference in scoring, averaging 64.9 points per game, the Bears have the league's top defense, surrendering only 60.9 points per game to league opponents.

• While the Bears give up the fewest points in the league they have given up the second most three-pointers so far this season, an area the Panthers can take advantage of having made the second most threes in conference play this season.

• The Bears have attached the rim all year long and specifically in conference play. Missouri State is second in the league in offensive rebounds, averaging 9.4 offensive rebounds per game.

• Missouri State host two lethal scores in Tulio Da Silva and Keandre Cook. The pair each average over 13 points per game in league play and rank 10th and 11th in the league in scoring.

• Da Silva is a two-way threat, not only is he the Bears second leading scorer but he also leads the team in rebounds and leads the league in offensive rebounding with 31 offensive boards.

• The Bears Jarred Dixon is one of the best in the league from the free throw line. Dixon ranks third in the league with a .806 free throw percentage while teammate Keandre Cook ranks tenth with a .733 free throw percentage.

• The Bears under the direction of first-year head coach Dana Ford. The 34-year-old served the last four years as head coach at Tennessee State University. He is widely regarded as one of the nation's most promising young head coaches and was awarded the Ben Jobe Award in 2016 as the nation's top Division I minority coach.

• Ford orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in NCAA history when he accepted the TSU job in 2014-15 as the nation's youngest Division I head coach at the time.

• He earned Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors and NABC District 19 Coach of the Year laurels that same season.

THE STREAK
UNI has made at least one 3-Pointer in 616 straight games – the longest active streak in the Missouri Valley Conference. The last time UNI failed to make a 3-point basket came Feb. 3, 2000, vs. Southern Illinois in a 72-58 Panther victory in the UNI-Dome. UNI went 0-for-4 from 3-point land vs. the Salukis in that contest.

TURNOVERS
The Panthers average just 10.6 turnovers per game in league play, the fewest in the league.
1. UNI 10.3
2. Missouri State 11.2
3. Loyola 11.2
4. Illinois State 11.6
5. Valparaiso 13.1

MVC GAMES THIS WEEK
Sat., Feb. 2
Valparaiso vs Evansville
Drake vs Indiana State
Southern Illinois vs Bradley
Missouri State vs UNI
Loyola vs Illinois State

MCV STANDINGS
MVC Overall
School                  W-L W-L
Loyola                  7-2 14-8
Illinois State 6-3 13-9
Drake 5-4             16-6
Valparaiso 5-4             12-10
Missouri State 5-4 11-11
Southern Ill. 4-5             11-11
UNI 4-5              9-13
Indiana State 3-6             11-10
Bradley 3-6             11-11
Evansville 3-6              9-13

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UNI Men's Basketball Hosts Missouri State

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Players Mentioned

Trae Berhow

AJ Green

Spencer Haldeman

Wyatt Lohaus

Luke McDonnell

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