UNI men's basketball to close non-conference schedule against St. Bonaventure

UNI men's basketball vs. St. Bonaventure

6 p.m. CT | Dec. 21, 2022
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
PSN/ESPN+ (Eric Braley: Play-by-Play / Kevin Lehman: Analyst)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI wraps up its non-conference schedule on Wednesday night as the Panthers take on the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies at 6 p.m. CT inside the McLeod Center. The Panthers' matchup against SBU was originally slated for Thursday night, but was moved up due to impending winter weather.

Saint Bonaventure visits Cedar Falls for the first time in the short three-game history of the series after UNI earned its first win over the Bonnies last November in a 90-80 shootout in western New York. Both programs participated in last season's NIT Tournament, with the Bonnies making it all the way to the semifinal round before falling to eventual champion Xavier at Madison Square Garden.

UNI PANTHERS
The Panthers seek consecutive wins for the first time this year following a big 83-66 win over the reigning Colonial Athletic Association champion Towson Tigers last Saturday in Chicago at the Legends of Basketball Showcase. After trailing by two points at halftime, UNI shot 60.7% from the field in the second period and dominated in the paint and off the bench to storm ahead, drawing contact for multiple trips to the free throw line.

Bowen Born finished with a game-high 27 points against Towson with a career-best 8 assists in the win and 3 steals, while Cole Henry recorded a career-high 15 points. Tytan Anderson tallied 14 points and a game-high 9 rebounds, with Landon Wolf notching 11 points in the 17-point victory.

After recording the third-highest scoring game of his career on Saturday, Born leads the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) with a 19.7 points per game scoring average. Born's five highest scoring games have come in the last seven games.

30 points vs. Northern Illinois (Nov. 26)
29 points vs. Evansville (Dec. 3)
27 points vs. Towson (Dec. 17)
27 points vs. Toledo (Dec. 6)
22 points at Bradley (Nov. 30)

Anderson leads the league with four double-doubles this season, 25th most in the nation. The third-year forward lead the MVC in rebounds per game (9.2) and defensive rebounds a game (6.6) and third in offensive boards per contest (2.5).

The Panthers have averaged an MVC-low 14.8 personal fouls per game. As a result, UNI has also averaged 17.6 free throw attempts per game, second most in the conference.

Head coach Ben Jacobson also continues his march toward MVC history, sitting third on the conference's all-time wins list with 325. Jacobson is three wins shy of passing former Creighton coach Dana Altman (1994-2010) for third on the list.

ST. BONAVENTURE BONNIES
The Bonnies visit Cedar Falls in the midst of a three-game losing streak after splitting their first 12 games of the season. SBU won its final four games in November, but has gone 1-4 in its last five outings, most recently falling to Siena on Monday night. Saint Bonaventure's last four losses have come by a combined average of 10.2 points.

Being the only NCAA Division I team with no points or minutes returning from last season on its active roster, Daryl Banks III leads St. Bonaventure with 16.1 points per game, while Kyrell Luc averaged 14.2 points per contest. Chad Venning has notched 11.3 points a game, while Yan Farrell leads SBU with 7.5 rebounds per game.

Five Bonnies scored in double-digit figures in their loss to Siena on Monday, led by Moses Flowers' 14-point effort and 13 points from Yan. Venning tallied 12 points with 11 points from Banks and 10 from Luc. Siena managed to draw 22 fouls on SBU, forcing Venning to foul out and send the Saints to the free throw line for 26 attempts on the night.

Head coach Mark Schmidt has led the Bonnies to 274 wins in his 16 years at St. Bonaventure, 6th most in Atlantic-10 Conference history.

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