Panther men's basketball heads west for Diamond Head Classic

UNI men's basketball vs. Liberty (Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic)

2 p.m. CT | Dec. 22
Honolulu, Hawaii | SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center (10,300)
ESPNU (Kanoa Leahy: Play-by-Play / Brooke Weisbrod: Analyst)
1540 KXEL: Panther Sports Radio Network (Gary Rima: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI men's basketball heads west to the sunny beaches of Hawaii as they take on the Liberty Flames (7-4) in the opening game of the 2021 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.

The Panthers (4-5) visit the Hawaiian Islands following a 75-60 win at Marshall last Saturday afternoon in Huntington, W.Va. After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, UNI came to life in the second half thanks to 17 forced turnovers and 18 points scored off of Marshall takeaways. AJ Green led the way with 29 points in the win, his 18^th career game of 25 or more points, while Nate Heise and Cole Henry each scored 12 points. Trae Berhow notched eight points to join UNI's 1,000-point club, as Tytan Anderson recorded a career-high nine rebounds.

Liberty, who have won the last three Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) regular season and tournament titles, come to Hawaii winners in 6 of their previous 7 games, including a 21-point home win over Missouri earlier this month. The preseason ASUN favorites rank 6th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 55.3 points per game, and hold the largest scoring margin in the ASUN at 14.5 points.

The Flames are led by the reigning ASUN Player of the Year and this season's conference preseason player of the year Darius McGhee. One of the top scorer's in Liberty history, McGhee leads the nation in three-point field goal attempts (113) and ranks sixth in made three-pointers (41). McGhee also is averaging 19.5 points per game through 11 games this season, the 30th best scoring average in the country. Redshirt junior forward Blake Preston leads the Flames with 5.4 rebounds per game, while Kyle Rode has notched 3.5 assists a game this season.

Wednesday's game between the Panthers and Flames will mark the first ever meeting between the two programs. UNI is 3-1 all-time against ASUN opponents, following the most recent matchup between the Panthers and North Florida in the 2014 Cancun Challenge.

UNI will play Wyoming or Stanford on December 23, before wrapping up action in the final game on Christmas Day against an opponent to be determined. Click here to see the complete bracket and schedule.

PANTHER NOTES

UNI is making its 2nd appearance in the Diamond Head Classic after finishing in 6th place in 2015. A Missouri Valley Conference team has played in 7 of the 12 tournaments held, with a pair of MVC schools finishing as runners-up (Wichita State, 2014 and Indiana State, 2018).
Saturday's game against Liberty will mark Ben Jacobson's 500th game as the head coach of the UNI men's basketball program. In his 16th season, Jacobson has totaled a record of 305-194 (.611).
The Panthers are averaging 12.1 personal fouls per game, the second lowest average in the entire nation. UNI also leads the MVC with the fewest total turnovers, ranking 27th in the nation.
AJ Green ranks 10th on UNI's all-time scoring list with 1,354 career points. Green joined the program's top-10 scoring list after a 29-point game at Marshall.
Trae Berhow looks to add to his career scoring total after becoming the 44^th member of UNI's 1,000-point club against Marshall. Berhow scored 8 points in UNI's previous game, adding to his career total of 1,312 points between playing at UNI and Pepperdine.
Austin Phyfe (67th, 812 points) and Tywhon Pickford (82nd, 680 points) are also ranked in the top 100 in scoring at UNI.

Noah Carter is 11 points from reaching 500 points in his career.

The Panthers are 195-108 (.643) under Ben Jacobson in games coming off a win.

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