UNI men's basketball to face McNeese State in Friday night non-conference matchup

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vs Upper Iowa (Exhibition)

Nov 1

TBA

Men's Basketball

vs Cal State Northridge

Nov 6

TBA

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vs South Dakota State

Nov 9

TBA

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vs Furman

Nov 14

TBA

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vs Northern Illinois

Nov 18

TBA

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at UC Irvine

Nov 22

TBA

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vs Loyola-Chicago

Nov 25

3 p.m.

Men's Basketball

vs San Jose State OR Tulsa

Nov 26

1 p.m. OR 3:30 p.m.

Men's Basketball

vs Coe

Dec 1

TBA

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vs Wichita State

Dec 6

TBA

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vs Oakland

Dec 13

TBA

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at Saint Mary's

Dec 22

TBA

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UNI men's basketball vs. McNeese State

7 p.m. CT | Dec. 9, 2022
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
ESPN+ (Brad Wells: Play-by-Play / Kevin Lehman: Analyst)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI men's basketball hosts its third of four consecutive home games on Friday night as the Panthers welcome the Cowboys of McNeese State to the McLeod Center in non-conference action. Four of the Panthers final home contests of the calendar year will be played at home.

Friday's matchup marks the first all-time meeting between the Panthers and Cowboys of the Southland Conference. UNI is 2-1 against current members of the Southland, including wins over Nicholls State in 2006 and Northwestern State in 2004.

UNI PANTHERS
The Panthers look to bounce back following a tough loss to offensive power Toledo on Tuesday night by a score of 83-75. UNI was able to rally using a key 12-0 run in the first half and later a 10-0 run early in the second period, but struggled with turnovers, allowing the Rockets to score 19 points off 18 UNI giveaways.

Bowen Born finished the night with his fourth consecutive game of 22+ points with a 27-point performance on 8-of-14 shooting (57.1%) and 4 made three-point field goals. Trey Campbell scored a career-high 15 points while shooting 60% from the field, as Tytan Anderson notched 13 points and 10 rebounds, as Michael Duax tallied 9 points with a pair of rebounds and 3 steals. Cole Henry scored 4 points in his first start of the season.

Heading into Friday night's game with the Cowboys, Born ranks 3rd in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in total points scored (179) and leads the league in scoring average 22.4. Each of Born's last four games played have registered as the four highest scoring games of his career.

Anderson enters Friday's matchup as the MVC's leader in total rebounds (79), rebounds per game (9.9) and defensive rebounds per contest (7.2). He also leads the league with 4 double-doubles this season, 12th most in the nation.

Head coach Ben Jacobson also continues his march toward MVC history, sitting third on the conference's all-time wins list with 324. Jacobson is four wins shy of passing former Creighton coach Dana Altman for second on the list.

McNEESE STATE COWBOYS
Struggling to a 2-6 start to the season, McNeese State was picked fifth in the Southland Conference preseason poll, well behind preseason favorite Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Sophomore forward Christian Shumate was the lone Cowboys to earn preseason all-conference recognition, being selected to the first team.

Friday's matchup will be the first for McNeese State since Nov. 30 when the Cowboys dropped a 76-40 contest at then-No. 13 Tennessee in Knoxville. McNeese State has since played an exhibition against National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) independent Ecclesia (Ark.) on Dec. 5.

With second year head coach John Aiken at the helm, Shumate leads the Cowboys averaging a double-double through 8 games this season with 12.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Guard Trae English leads McNeese State shooting 37.5% from beyond the arc, and scoring 12.1 points a game with a team-high 17 steals.

Despite being the top rebounding team in the Southland Conference with 37.3 boards per game, the Cowboys have been prone to turn the ball over frequently, averaging 13.5 turnovers a game this season. McNeese State has also struggled at the free throw line, making just 54.2% of its shots from the charity stripe.

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