UNI men's basketball visits Loyola and Illinois State in two-game road swing

UNI men's basketball at Loyola-Chicago

3 p.m. CT | Feb. 13
Chicago, Ill. | Gentile Arena (4,486)
ESPN2 (Clay Matvick: Play-by-Play / Kevin Lehman: Analyst)
1540 KXEL: Panther Sports Radio Network (Gary Rima: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)

UNI men's basketball at Illinois State

7 p.m. CT | Feb. 15
Normal, Ill. | Redbird Arena (10,200)
ESPN+ (Kurt Pegler: Play-by-Play / Sean Johnson: Analyst)
1540 KXEL: Panther Sports Radio Network (Gary Rima: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI men's basketball takes to the road this weekend as the Panthers travel to Illinois for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tests against the Ramblers of Loyola-Chicago on Sunday afternoon and the Illinois State Redbirds on Tuesday night.

The Panthers enter the weekend following a 54-44 win at home over Southern Illinois on Wednesday night, a victory that propelled UNI to a half game lead atop the MVC standings. UNI held the Salukis without a field goal for a 10 minute, 50 second stretch in the first half, allowing a season-low 19 points in the opening period. In a defensive battle, the Panthers scored 17 points off of 13 SIU turnovers, pulling away late for the 9-point win.

AJ Green led UNI with a game-high 24 points, shooting 4-for-9 from beyond the arc and going a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Bowen Born finished with 8 points, as Trae Berhow scored 7 points with a season-high 11 rebounds. Nate Heise notched 5 points with 10 rebounds, while Noah Carter posted 7 points.

Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
The Rambers return home to the Gentile Center following a 68-61 loss on the road at Bradley on Wednesday. In a back-and-forth duel with the Braves, Loyola briefly took the lead on the Braves but struggled down the stretch, scoring just 5 points in the final 5 and a half minutes of the game. Braden Norris led the Rambers with 14 points, as Lucas Williamson notched 13 points and 5 rebounds. Chris Knight scored 12 points with 3 blocked shots for Loyola, while Aher Uguak grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds.

Picked 2nd in the MVC preseason poll behind Drake, the reigning conference regular season and tournament champions opened the season with 5 straight wins. The Ramblers won 7 of their first 8 MVC games, but have split their last 4 matchups with wins over Illinois State and Missouri State, and losses at Drake and Bradley.

Under the leadership of first year head coach Drew Valentine, Loyola posted a pair of double-digit scorers in Lucas Williamson and Braden Norris. Williamson, a preseason All-MVC Second Team selection and one of 2 remaining players from Loyola's 2018 Final Four team, leads the Rambers with 13.3 points a game and team-high 4.7 rebounds per game. Norris, who earned Third All-MVC Preseason honors, leads Loyola from beyond the arc, shooting 43% while playing just under 33 minutes a game. Defensively, Chris Knight leads with 20 total blocks on the season, while Williamson and Norris each have recorded 27 steals. The highest shooting team in the league, the Rambers lead in shooting percentage from the field (48.4) and from three-point range (38.2), while also moving the ball well with a conference best 15.2 assists per game.

Loyola leads the all-time series 13-11 as the Panthers and Ramblers begin the final regular season series in conference play. The Rambers, who will join the Atlantic-10 Conference next season, have won each of the last 3 meetings, including a sweep of last season's series in Chicago. UNI will seek its first win in the Windy City since Feb. 18, 2015.

Illinois State Redbirds
Illinois State will play host to the Panthers following a Saturday road game at Indiana State. The Redbirds have struggled since the turn of the calendar, winning just 3 of 11 games in 2022, most recently in a 78-75 overtime win over Valparaiso in Normal. UNI looks to complete the regular season sweep of Illinois State for a second consecutive year, and pick up a 3rd straight win at Redbird Arena.

The Panthers hosted Illinois State back on Jan. 29 at the McLeod Center in a game that saw UNI build a 23-point lead in a 79-64 win in Cedar Falls. AJ Green led the Panthers with 24 points, all coming from 6 made three-pointers, while Noah Carter notched 21 points. Tytan Anderson recorded 8 points in the win, as Trae Berhow posted 6 points and 6 rebounds. Liam McChesney led the Redbirds with 19 points and 8 boards, while Antonio Reeves and Mark Freeman each recorded 13 points.

Reeves leads Illinois State with 20.2 points per game this season, while Josiah Strong notched 13 points a game. Since the season-ending injury to leading rebounder Sy Chatman, Kendall Lewis has helped pickup the Redbirds off the glass with 5.4 rebounds per game, as well as on defense with a team-high 28 blocks.

With Illinois State leading the all-time series 44-40, the Panthers look to earn a 6th straight win against the Redbirds. Since last matching up in Cedar Falls 2 weeks ago, UNI has won 3 in a row, while Illinois State has dropped 2 of 3.

PANTHER NOTES

UNI carries the longest active winning streak in the MVC at 5 games into Sunday's matchup with the Rambers. It is the second time this season the Panthers have won 5 games in a row.
All of UNI's previous 5 road games have been decided by 5 points or less. The Panthers are 4-1 during that span with the lone loss coming on Jan. 19 at Valparaiso.
UNI can secure its 12^th winning regular season under head coach Ben Jacobson with its next win.
UNI is 72-9 when scoring 80 points or more under Ben Jacobson.
Noah Carter has scored at least 15 points in 10 of UNI's 13 conference games this season, including a career-high 33 points at Valparaiso.
AJ Green ranks 2nd in the Missouri Valley Conference in points per game in league play (20.5), trailing Missouri State's Isiah Mosley (22.2). Noah Carter is 4th in the MVC with 17.1 points a game in conference only games.
AJ Green is 2nd in the MVC and 17th in the nation with an 89.9% mark at the free throw line. Green is also leading the league in made free throws this season (98).
Tywhon Pickford has the opportunity to tie Marc Sonnen (2008-13) for the most games ever played in program history with UNI's games at Loyola and Illinois State. Sonnen played in 139 career games for the Panthers in his 5 seasons with UNI. Jake Koch (2008-13) and Matt Bohannon (2012-16) sit one game ahead of Pickford in 2nd with 138 games played.
Austin Phyfe is 28 points from passing his father Steve 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.
Bowen Born is 3 points from reaching 400 points in his young career.

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