UNI men's basketball faces off with Belmont in trip to Nashville

UNI men's basketball at Belmont

4 p.m. CT | Jan. 14, 2023
Nashville, Tenn. | Curb Event Center (5,000)
ESPN3 (Steve Layman, Greg Sage, Noah Syverson)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Riding a league-best four-game winning streak, UNI men's basketball heads south to Nashville as it matches up against the Belmont Bruins for the first time in program history.

Coming off an eight-point win over Murray State on Tuesday night at home, the Panthers are 2-1 in road games against Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) opponents this winter. Both UNI and Belmont enter Saturday's game in a four-way tie for second in the league standings with a 5-2 record.

UNI PANTHERS
The Panthers trailed by as many as 9 points on Tuesday night in the program's first-ever game against Murray State after a slow first half offensively. Aided by a scoring flurry from Bowen Born and a record-breaking rebounding performance from Tytan Anderson, UNI scored 24 of the final 33 total points in the game to take control of the game and seal a 75-67 win over the Racers.

Born finished the night with a game-high 23 points and 4 assists, marking his fifth 20+ point performance in the last seven games. Anderson's 18 rebounds set a new single-game program record against an MVC opponent, and also tied the program's record for most rebounds in a home game. He also notched his eighth double-double of the year with 11 points. Landon Wolf sank a career-best 5 made three-pointers, while Cole Henry tallied 14 points, including 12 in the second half.

Bowen Born has averaged 20.8 points per game in his last 13 outings, and leads the MVC in overall scoring (339 points) and scoring average (19.9 points per game). Born's 9 highest scoring games of his career have all come this season.

30 points vs. Northern Illinois (Nov. 26)
29 points vs. Evansville (Dec. 3)
27 points vs. Southern Illinois (Jan. 7)
27 points vs. Towson (Dec. 17)
27 points vs. Toledo (Dec. 6)
25 points at Illinois State (Dec. 31)
23 points vs. Missouri State (Dec. 28)
23 points vs. Murray State (Jan. 10)
22 points at Bradley (Nov. 30)

Anderson's 8 double-doubles rank 10th most in the nation. He also leads the league in rebounds per game (9.8) and defensive rebounds per contest (7.2). Anderson's 166 total rebounds this season are 13th most in the country.

The Panthers have averaged an MVC-low 14.6 personal fouls per game. As a result, UNI has also averaged 17.8 free throw attempts per game, 3rd most in the conference.

Head coach Ben Jacobson is also chasing MVC history with 179 conference only wins, 3rd most in league history. Jacobson is 3 wins shy of passing former Creighton coach Dana Altman for 2nd all-time in MVC history with 182 conference wins.

BELMONT BRUINS
Playing their first season in the MVC this year, the Bruins have jumped out to a 12-6 start this season. Belmont pulled out a comfortable 74-59 win at Valparaiso in its last outing on Tuesday in northwest Indiana.

The Bruins went an impressive 25-8 during their final season in the Ohio Valley Conference last year, finishing second in the league standings to Murray State. Belmont earned an at-large bid to the NIT, where the Bruins fell to Vanderbilt in the opening round. The Bruins are one of 6 teams from the 2022 NIT field on the Panthers' schedule this year.

Picked 6th in the MVC's preseason poll (just one spot behind UNI), guard Ben Sheppard was named to the league's Preseason First Team. Sheppard leads a trio of Bruins averaging over 12 points a game with 17.8 points per contest, while also posting a team-high 4.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per a game. Cade Tyson has notched 13.1 points per game this year, while Drew Friberg has tallied 12.6 points a game, shooting 39.8% from beyond the arc.

Belmont enters Saturday's game leading the MVC in three-point shooting percentage and made three-pointers per game (9.8).

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