University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Southern Illinois
Panther men’s basketball looks for regular season sweep of Salukis on Saturday
1/16/2025 2:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UNI seeks to keep pace with MVC leaders with road trip to Carbondale on Saturday night.
UNI men's basketball (11-7 / 5-2 MVC) at Southern Illinois (7-11 / 2-5 MVC)
- 6 p.m. CT | Jan. 18, 2025
- Carbondale, Ill. | Banterra Center (8,284)
- ESPN+ (Mike Trude: Play-by-Play / Jamaal Tatum: Analyst)
- Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)
- LIVE STATS
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Riding a two-game winning streak and sitting just one game out of first-place in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) standings, the UNI men's basketball team will look to complete the regular season sweep of Southern Illinois on Saturday when Panthers battle the Salukis.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at the Banterra Center, with live coverage available on ESPN+, as well as the Panther Sports Radio Network with J.W. Cox and Kevin Boyle on the call.
Northern Iowa defeated SIU back on Dec. 29 inside the McLeod Center by a score of 78-67 to even the all-time series at 39 wins a piece. UNI, which has won the last three matchups with the Salukis, will look to complete its third regular season sweep of SIU in the last four years with a win.
The Panthers have been riding a hot shooting hand this season, ranking fourth in all of Division I with a 51.3% shooting clip, shooting over 50% in ten of its 18 games this year. UNI is also 14th nationally in effective field goal percentage (58%).
The Panthers, currently sitting in a three-way tie for second place in the MVC standings with Drake and Belmont, will look to keep pace with the first-place Bradley Braves after a 73-56 home win over Evansville on Tuesday night. Despite a tough shooting night from the purple and gold, UNI's bench outscored the Purple Aces by a 23-9 margin and held Evansville to 18% shooting from three-point range, a season-low for a Panther opponent this year. Head coach Ben Jacobson also picked up his 200th career win in MVC play with the victory, becoming the first coach in league history to reach that milestone.
Tytan Anderson finished Tuesday's game with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Will Hornseth's pressure inside the paint resulted in a career-high 12 point game. Ben Schwieger also posted a career night against the Purple Aces with ten points and a personal-best 12 rebounds for his first career double-double, as Trey Campbell, the reigning MVC Player of the Week, also notched ten points on three made three pointers. Jacob Hutson tallied nine points in the UNI win, with Max Weisbrod recording eight points.
Anderson, the MVC's leader in made free throws (81) and attempts (114) who also looks to continue climbing the program's top-ten all-time steals list, leads UNI with 14.7 points per game and a team-high 6.3 rebounds a game on 56.4% shooting. Anderson is also 15 assists away from becoming just the fourth player in program history to record 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 200 assists in a UNI career, looking to join Seth Tuttle (2011-15), Eric Coleman (2004-08) and Don Lemons (1975-79) in an elite club of Panther players.
Hutson, who joined UNI's 500 career point club last week, has notched 12 points and 3.4 rebounds, while Campbell has posted 11.4 points and a team-high 54assists. Leon Bond III has tallied 11.1 points and 5.1 rebounds a game in his first season with Northern Iowa with a 58% shooting clip, as Schwieger, who is 35 points shy of his 500th career point, has put up 9.7 points and 4.4 boards per game as a starter in the the Panther lineup in the last nine contests. Hornseth, meanwhile, is shooting at a high percentage in his freshman season, posting a 75% clip on 42-of-56 shooting.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
The Salukis return home to the Banterra Center after a commanding 73-51 road win at Missouri State on Wednesday. SIU dropped three in a row following its Dec. 29 loss at UNI, but bounced back with consecutive victories over the Bears, which also included an 88-78 overtime win at home to kick off a rare back-to-back against the same opponent.
Southern Illinois ranks third in the MVC in both offensive rebounds per game (11.2) and fastbreak points (10.6). The Salukis are also in the top half of the league in assists per game (14.7), blocks per game (3.2) and steals per game (7.4).
Ali Dibba, the MVC's leader in made field goals (111) and field goal attempts (226), leads SIU with 16. 1 points per game, with Kennard Davis Jr. notching 13.9 points. Jarrett Hensley has posted 11.8 points per contest for the Salukis.
Hensley led SIU with 20 points plus six rebounds in its loss at UNI last month, with Dibba scoring ten points. Drew Steffe tallied eight points as Rolyns Aligbe scored seven points with a team-high seven rebounds.
UNI men's basketball action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Men's Basketball), X (@UNImbb) and on Instagram (@uni_basketball). The full 2024-25 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
