University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Southern Illinois
Panther men’s basketball wraps regular season Sunday at SIU
3/1/2024 3:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UNI looks to wrap up a top-four seed at MVC Tournament with a win. Panthers defeated Salukis on Jan. 20 in Cedar Falls.
UNI men's basketball (17-13 / 11-8 MVC) at Southern Illinois (19-11 / 11-8 MVC)
- 1 p.m. CT | March 3, 2024
- Carbondale, Ill. | Banterra Center (8,284)
- ESPN+ (Noah Reed: Play-by-Play / Mike Trude: Analyst)
- Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI men's basketball's regular season will come to a close on Sunday afternoon as the Panthers head to Carbondale to take on the Southern Illinois Salukis in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) play.
Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT at the Banterra Center with live coverage available onESPN+ and the Panther Sports Radio Network.
Northern Iowa has won four of its last five games and can secure a top-four seed and first-round bye at the MVC Tournament next week in St. Louis with a victory. A UNI loss paired with a Belmont loss to Evansville would potentially put the Panthers into the five-seed based on the March 4 NET rankings, while a Panther loss and Belmont win would make UNI the six-seed.
The Panthers bested the Salukis in their last meeting on Jan. 20 in Cedar Falls in a 61-57 defensive battle against the MVC's top scoring defense. Northern Iowa's win was also a milestone victory for head coach Ben Jacobson, who broke Henry P. Iba's MVC record for conference wins. SIU holds a narrow 39-37 lead in the all-time series, with the Panthers having won just nine games during the rivalry on the road.
UNI's final game of the regular season comes following a 68-54 home win over Valparaiso on Tuesday night. The Panthers were effective in transition, outscoring the Beacons 23-5 in fastbreak points, the third time UNI has posted 20+ fastbreak points in a game this year and second consecutive contest.
Landon Wolf led Northern Iowa in scoring with 14 points on a season-high six made baskets, while Bowen Born tallied 12 points. Tytan Anderson finished the night for with an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double, his fourth of the season and 15th of his career, along with a career-high eight assists and a season-best four steals. Trey Campbell tallied nine points and seven rebounds with Nate Heise recording a seven-point game with six boards. Cole Henry meanwhile finished with six points in his final home game as a Panther.
Heise continues to lead the Panthers in scoring with 13.8 points per game, as well as a 6.3 rebounds per contest average. With 894 career points, Heise can join UNI's 900 career point club with his next six points scored.
Born has recorded 13.3 points while also ranking second in the MVC and ranking 24th nationally with a 89.2% free throw shooting mark (74-of-83). Born, who recently cracked UNI's top-ten all-time scoring list and moved up to fourth in school history with his 205th career three-pointer, is currently on pace to finish with the fourth-best single-season free throw percentage in program history. He has also scored in double-digit figures in 19 of his last 22 games.
Anderson, who is riding a 62-game streak of scoring at least one point, is averaging a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game with 11.6 points per contest. At the three-point arc, Campbell is shooting 41.1% to the tune of nine points a game, while Jacob Hutson posts a shooting clip at 56.3% with a career-best 8.8 points per game as the Panthers' key inside man.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SALUKIS
Hosting the Panthers on their Senior Day, the Salukis enter Sunday's matchup winners of three of their last four, having dropped their last game at Bradley on Wednesday. 86-67. AJ Ferguson led SIU with 16 points and nine rebounds against the Braves, as Jarrett Hensley scored 15 points. Troy D'Amico finished with ten points.
Southern Illinois posts the MVC's top scoring defense, giving up just 67.2 points per game, and has challenged opponent three-point shooting, giving up a league-low 29.7% of shots beyond the arc.
Xavier Johnson's 21.9 points per game lead the league and rank fourth nationally. Johnson also leads the MVC in assists (183), assists per game (6.1), free throw attempts (226), free throw percentage (89.4%), free throws made (202), minutes per game (36:22) and total points (658)
Trent Brown and Troy D'Amico are both notching 9.1 points with Brown leading the Salukis with 69 made three-pointers. Clarence Rupert leads SIU with a team-high 5.8 rebounds while shooting 56.9% from the field.
