Panther men's basketball seeks consecutive road wins at Valparaiso

UNI men's basketball at Valparaiso

6 p.m. CT | Jan. 4, 2023
Valparaiso, Ind. | Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000)
ESPN+ (Todd Ikcow: Play-by-Play / Jamie Stangel: Analyst)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI men's basketball looks for a second consecutive conference road win on Wednesday night as the Panthers visit northwest Indiana to take on the Valparaiso Beacons. The Panthers look to continue building momentum following a 66-60 victory at Illinois State on New Year's Eve, while the Beacons look to snap an 0-4 start to league play following a 68-50 home loss to Indiana State on Sunday.

After splitting the regular season series last winter, the Panthers are 29-5 all-time against Valparaiso, and 7-3 against the Beacons since they joined the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in 2017. UNI holds a 11-4 mark playing inside the Athletics-Recreation Center all-time.

UNI PANTHERS
UNI's defense forced a season-high 20 turnovers by Illinois State and gave the Panther offense ample opportunities in Saturday's road win at CEFCU Arena. Using a 10-0 run to open the second half, the Panthers led by as many as 15 points and held off a late Redbird rally for its first true road victory of the season.

Bowen Born ended the afternoon with a game-high 25 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range. Tytan Anderson scored 16 points with a game-high 9 rebounds and a career-high 6 steals, while Cole Henry tallied 8 points and 7 boards in the win. Trey Campbell finished with 7 points, scored on a series of 5 critical free throws down the stretch.

UNI leads the nation with 67.4 points per game being scored by in-state players. Youngstown State ranks second with 58.2 points a game scored by Ohio natives, while Eastern Michigan is third with 55.2 points per contest from Michigan products.

Born leads the MVC with a 19.9 points per game scoring average. The seven highest scoring games of his career have come in the last ten 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)
25 points at Illinois State (Dec. 31)
23 points vs. Missouri State (Dec. 28)
22 points at Bradley (Nov. 30)

In addition to leading the MVC with five double-doubles and ranking 30th in the nation, Anderson leads the MVC in rebounds per game (9.0) and defensive rebounds a game (6.7). He also sits 4^th in the conference in offensive boards per contest (2.2).

The Panthers have averaged an MVC-low 14.7 personal fouls per game. As a result, UNI has also averaged 18.1 free throw attempts per game, 3rd most in the conference.

Head coach Ben Jacobson also continues his march toward MVC history, sitting one win away from passing former Creighton coach Dana Altman for third on the conference's all-time wins list. Jacobson has won 327 games since his first year as the Panther head coach during the 2006-07 season, while Altman won his 327 games in Omaha from 1994 to 2010.

VALPARAISO BEACONS
The Beacons battled early in their New Year's Day matchup with Indiana State, but gave up two costly scoring runs late in the first half and early into the second period in their 68-50 loss to the MVC's last unbeaten team in league play. Valparaiso pulled within three-points of the Sycamores before giving up an 8-0 run in the final minutes of the opening stanza, before Indiana State scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a 22-point lead.

Valparaiso was held to 29.5% shooting from the field and was outrebounded 8-4 on offensive boards by the Sycamores as Preseason First Team All-MVC forward Ben Krikke led the Beacons with 16 points. Third team guard Kobe King notched 13 points in the loss as Quinton Green totaled 7 points and a team-high 7 rebounds, with Nick Edwards dishing out 5 assists.

Under the leadership of seventh year head coach Matt Lottich, the Beacons were picked ninth in this year's MVC preseason poll. Valparaiso, who made the MVC Tournament championship game in 2020, struggled out the gate dropping 6 of its first 9 games, including its MVC opening games against Belmont and Murray State. The Beacons have split their last 6 games, most recently winning against Stonehill, 77-67 on Dec. 21.

Krikke leads the MVC in field goal shooting with a mark of 53.1%, averaging a team-high 17.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. King has notched 17.1 points a game, while Edwards leads the conference in total assists (69) and ranks second with 4.6 assists per contest. The Beacons have struggled this season from the three-point arc, shooting a league-worst 29% from three-point distance.

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