University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Drake
UNI men’s basketball battles in-state rival Drake on the road
1/29/2025 10:39:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Panthers set to match up with reigning MVC Tournament champions on Wednesday night in Des Moines.
UNI men's basketball (13-8 / 7-3 MVC) at Indiana State (9-11 / 3-6 MVC)
- 6 p.m. CT | Jan. 29, 2025
- Knapp Center | Des Moines, Iowa (6,6424)
- MVC TV Network (ESPN+) (Brad Wells: Play-by-Play / Adam Emmenecker: Analyst)
- Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)
- LIVE STATS
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- In-state Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) rivals will clash on Wednesday night as the UNI men's basketball team heads to Des Moines to take on the reigning MVC Tournament champion Drake Bulldogs in league action.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at the Knapp Center, with live coverage available on MVC TV Network (ESPN+), as well as the Panther Sports Radio Network with J.W. Cox and Kevin Boyle on the call.
The Panthers hold a 53-33 lead in the all-time series, but are 2-9 in the last 11 meetings. UNI won its last matchup with the Bulldogs last February at home by a score of 91-77.
At the midway point of the conference schedule, the Panthers, tied with Belmont for third in the league standings, one game behind Drake and two games back of first place Bradley, will look to close out the month of January strong after scoring a 74-56 road win at Indiana State last Saturday against the reigning MVC regular season champions. Northern Iowa held the Sycamores, who boast the league's top scoring offense, to under 35% from the field and dominated the game in transition.
Jacob Hutson finished with a game-high 19 points and a career-best 12 rebounds for his first career double-double against Indiana State, with Ben Schwieger recording 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. Trey Campbell tallied 14 points, five boards, five assists, three steals and two blocks in the win, while Tytan Anderson posted 14 points and six rebounds. Leon Bond III finished with six points, as Max Weisbrod recorded four points and a pair of rebounds.
Northern Iowa continues to maintain a hot shooting hand this season, ranking fifth in all of Division I with a 50.1% shooting clip, shooting over 50% in ten of its 21 games this year. UNI is also 20th nationally in effective field goal percentage (56.7%).
Anderson, the MVC's leader in made free throws (99) and attempts (138) 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 6.4 rebounds a game on 56.5% shooting. Anderson is also ten 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 has notched 12.3 points and 3.9 rebounds, while Campbell has posted 10.9 points and a team-high 64 assists. Schwieger, who is nine points shy of his 500th career point, has put up 9.6 points and 4.4 boards per game as a starter in the Panther lineup in the last 12 contests. Will Hornseth, meanwhile, is shooting at a high percentage in his freshman season, posting a 73.1% clip on 49-of-67 shooting.
SCOUTING DRAKE
The reigning MVC Tournament champions continue their impressive run through the league in search of a seventh 20+ win season. Drake returns home after narrowly edging Missouri State in overtime in Springfield, 69-62.
Led by first year head coach Ben McCollum, a four-time Division II national champion at Northwest Missouri State, Drake was picked fifth in the MVC's preseason poll, with Bennett Stirtz and Cam Manyawu both earning preseason third team honors.
The Bulldogs boast the nation's second best scoring defense with just 58 points allowed per game. Drake also leads the league in steals per game (9.2) and three-point percentage defense (30.1%).
Stirtz leads Drake with 17.7 points a game and also ranks in the top-15 nationally in assists, assists per game and assist/ turnover ratio. Mitch Mascari and Daniel Abreu also are averaging over ten points per game, as Manyawu leads the Bulldogs with 5.9 rebounds per game.
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.
