Men's basketball takes on Indiana State in home MVC contest

UNI men's basketball vs. Indiana State

7 p.m. CT | Jan. 11
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
ESPN+ (Brad Wells: Play-by-Play / Kevin Lehman: Analyst)
1540 KXEL: Panther Sports Radio Network (Gary Rima: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Coming off a thrilling weekend of action on the road, UNI men's basketball returns home on Tuesday night to host the Sycamores of Indiana State at 7 p.m. at the McLeod Center.

The Panthers return to Cedar Falls coming off an impressive road victory at Missouri State on Saturday night. Down by 10 points in the final 6 minutes of the opening period, the Panthers went on a 13-4 run to trail by one point at the halftime break. UNI would shoot 20-for-22 at the free throw in the second half and hold off a late Missouri State rally for the one-point victory. AJ Green led the way for the Panthers with a 33-point performance, capped by a career-high 13 free throws for his 5th career game of 30+ points. Noah Carter recorded 16 points in the win, continuing his streak of scoring at least 15 points in each conference matchup this season. Bowen Born scored a season-high 11 points, while Trae Berhow posted 9 points with a team-high 8 rebounds.

Indiana State (8-6) returns to action for the first time since Jan. 2, when the Sycamores held off a late Bradley run at home to pick up their first win in MVC play this season, 76-71. The Sycamores are led by first year head coach Josh Schertz, who took over the Indiana State program after an impressive run at Division II Lincoln Memorial, where he amassed a record of 337-69.

Picked 9th in the MVC preseason poll, the Sycamores have recorded the 4th highest scoring offense in the league at 75.9 points per game. Indiana State also leads the MVC with 27.4 defensive rebounds a game, and the 2nd highest free throw percentage at 75.1%. With Tyreke Key, Indiana State's All-MVC First Team preseason selection out with a season-ending injury, the Sycamores have relied on a pair of key scorers in Cooper Neese and Cameron Hunter. Neese leads Indiana State with both 16.3 points per game and 34 minute a game, with Henry leading the way with 6.3 rebounds per game and 14.1 points a game. Henry also leads the MVC in defensive rebounds per game with 5.5 per contest. From beyond the three-point arc, Micah Thomas has hit 38.8% of his shots from distance, while Xavier Bledson has notched 12.1 points per game for Josh Schertz's Sycamores in 9 games this season.

Indiana State holds a narrow 33-29 lead over the Panthers in the all-time series, with UNI posting an 11-6 record at home over the Sycamores since the McLeod Center opened ahead of the 2006-07 season. Both teams split the regular season series with both games being played in Cedar Falls. UNI was victorious in the most recent matchup on Feb. 7 in a 70-67 game where Noah Carter recorded 25 points, a career-high in conference play. Austin Phyfe scored 17 points with 8 rebounds, while Berhow notched 10 points.

PANTHER NOTES

Head coach Ben Jacobson is tied with former Creighton/Saint Louis Eddie Hickey as the 3rd winningest MVC coach in conference only games in league history. Henry P. Iba (Oklahoma State) leads the MVC with 187 conference wins, while former Creighton coach Dana Altman is second with 182. Jacobson leads all active MVC coaches with 163 league victories.
AJ Green sits 9th on UNI's all-time scoring list. Green is 68 points from becoming the 7th player in program history to reach 1,400 career points.
The Panthers hold holds the two largest margins of victory in league play this season by any team in the MVC, with a 22-point win over Evansville and 27-point victory against Valparaiso.
UNI is 71-8 under Ben Jacobson when scoring 80+ points.
UNI is 26-14 in games against MVC programs with a first-year head coach under Ben Jacobson. The Panthers are also 14-6 during that time span when facing off against a conference opponent with a first-year head coach for the first time.
The Panthers are averaging 82.3 points per game in league play, 10.7 more points than against non-conference opponents (71.6).
UNI has posted 3 consecutive games in which the offense shot 50% or better from the field, a first for the Panthers since January 2020.
Austin Phyfe is 62 points from passing his father, Steve Phyfe, in career points scored for the Panthers. Steve Phyfe, who played at UNI from 1987-90 and was part of the program's first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament team in 1990, scored 912 career points for the Panthers, ranking 55th in program history.

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