University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
St. John's
Panther men’s basketball takes on St. John’s in NCAA first round Friday in San Diego
3/18/2026 5:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MVC, Big East Tournament champions set to meet in opening round of March Madness in southern California.
[12] UNI men's basketball (23-12 / 11-9 MVC) vs. [5] #10/9 St. John's (28-6 / 18-2 Big East)
- 6:10 p.m. CT
- Friday, March 20, 2026
- San Diego, Calif. | Viejas Arena (11,559)
- WATCH (CBS) [Kevin Harlan: Play-by-Play / Robbie Hummel & Stan Van Gundy: Analysts / Lauren Shehadi: Sideline)
- LISTEN (Panther Sports Radio Network) [J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst]
- LIVE RESULTS
- TOURNAMENT BRACKET
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The tournament champions of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) take the floor on the national stage beginning Friday night as the UNI men's basketball team takes on the St. John's Red Storm in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Tournament in San Diego in west region action.
Live coverage of the game can be found on CBS with tip-off scheduled for 6:10 p.m. CT at Viejas Arena on the San Diego State University campus. Radio coverage can be found on the Panther Sports Radio Network (93.5 The Mix) and the Varsity Network app, with additional national radio coverage available on Westwood One with Kevin Kugler and P.J. Carlesimo.
Panther fans in attendance in southern California are welcome to attend a pregame rally at Novo Brazil Brewing Mission Valley (1640 Camino del Rio North, Suite 341) beginning at 1 p.m. PT. Attendees are also reminded that Viejas Arena implements a clear bag policy.
Friday's matchup with the Red Storm will be the first all-time meeting between Northern Iowa and St. John's as the Panthers make their ninth NCAA Division I Tournament appearance.
The 12th-seeded Panthers, champions of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Tournament, earned their league's automatic berth by becoming the first team in conference history to win Arch Madness with four wins in four days, as well as the lowest seeded champion in the 50-year history of the tournament. Northern Iowa defeated Evansville, Illinois State, Bradley and UIC en route to their sixth MVC Tournament championships and fifth under the leadership of head coach Ben Jacobson.
UNI holds a 5-8 all-time record in the NCAA Division I Tournament, having won at least one game in each of its last three appearances. The Panthers are 4-5 in first round matchups with their last three opening round wins coming against UNLV (2010), Wyoming (2015) and Texas (2016). A full list of the Panthers' national postseason appearances can be found below.
The Panthers are one of six teams in this year's NCAA Tournament to win their conference postseason title seeded sixth or worse in their respective league. UNI, along with Big Ten Tournament champion Purdue, are also the only two automatic bids in the field to have won four games in four consecutive days. Idaho (Big Sky) and Prairie View A&M (SWAC) both won their conference tournaments with four wins in five days.
UNI has made a national postseason tournament ten times in its 20 years under the leadership of Jacobson. The MVC has posted a 13-4 record in the NCAA Tournament since 2012, which has included two wins by the Panthers in their last two appearances.
Northern Iowa will seek its first win over a ranked opponent since the 2021-22 season on Friday (#16 St. Bonaventure), as well as its first against a top-ten ranked foe since Dec. 2015 against No. 5 Iowa State.
UNI leads all of Division I men's basketball in scoring defense with 61.3 points allowed per game, giving up 70+ points just six times this season. The Panthers are 16-3 when holding teams to 60 or fewer points this year.
Northern Iowa also ranks third in Division I in three-point percentage defense, limiting opponents to just 28.5% from beyond the arc. Entering the NCAA Tournament, the Panthers have held 15 of their last 25 opponents under 30% from three-point range.
UNI's scoring defense is currently on pace for the fifth-best mark since transitioning to a Division I program (1980-81). The Panthers have made the NCAA Tournament four times when giving up an average of 61 points or fewer per game. The Panthers are also top-30 in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.407).
UNI's opponents have shot over 50% only four times this year. Northern Iowa has also registered over 100 total blocks this season for the first time since 2007-08, its second season under Jacobson.
Trey Campbell looks to continue to add to the Panther record book in his final collegiate season. A Second Team All-MVC selection, the MVC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and the only player to record 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds and 300 career assists in team history, Campbell's 131 career starts at UNI are third-most in program history, and the most among all active players in the MVC. Campbell is also third in team history in career steals (171), fifth in three-point field goal attempts (580), fourth in made three-pointers (219), ninth in field goal attempts (1,148) and 12th in scoring (1,389). He also ranks sixth in single-season steals (57) and seventh in assists (135).
Will Hornseth, who scored his 500th career point to close out the regular season, was named to the MVC's Most Improved Team this season and looks to continue to be a strong presence inside the paint, recently taking over as UNI's career shooting percentage leader (62.6%) with a minimum of 100 made shots. He has also scored ten or more points in 14 of his last 16 games, while also maintaining the eighth-highest single-season shooting clip in team history (.604).
At the three-point line, Max Weisbrod has also provided a spark for the Panther offense from three-point range in the last month plus. The DeForest, Wisconsin native is currently shooting 38.7% from beyond the arc this season, scoring a season-high 18 points in consecutive games against Belmont and Drake in February, including a UNI career-high six made three-pointers against the Bulldogs. He has also made multiple triples in eight of his last ten outings.
Leon Bond III made his March Madness debut after leading the Panthers with a team-high 26 blocks on the year, while also pulling down 4.8 rebounds per game. Tristan Smith, who has notched 5.1 rebounds a game with 9.1 points has also provided a key spark for the Panthers following his return from injury in early February.
Ben Schwieger, who posted a season-high 18 points in the Arch Madness title game, has scored in double figures 20 times this year, while RJ Taylor enters the NCAA Tournament riding a hot hand after setting new season-best marks for points (10), rebounds (5), blocks (1), field goals made (5) and minutes played in the Panthers' MVC Tournament semifinal win over Bradley.
SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
The regular season and tournament champions of the Big East Conference, the Red Storm travel to the west coast ranked ninth in the latest Associated Press (AP) poll and seeded fifth in the West region.
St. John's has won 19 of its last 20 games, including wins over Providence, Seton Hall and Connecticut to win its conference tournament crown at Madison Square Garden last Saturday in New York.
Friday's first round matchup will pit the Panthers against Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino for the second time ever. The Panthers' played Pitino's then-Louisville Cardinals in the second round of the tournament in 2015 in Seattle, a game won (and later vacated by the NCAA), by Louisville by a score of 66-53.
Known for their size and physicality, the Red Storm rank in the top-20 in free throws made (18.8) and attempts per game (25.8), battling their way to the charit stripe. SJU's size has also helped its defense to 4.9 blocks per game, 19th-most in Division I.
St. John's is led by the 2026 Big East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in Zuby Ejofor, who leads the Red Storm with 16.3 points, plus 7.1 rebounds per game and a league-high 73 total blocked shots.
Bryce Hopkins has notched 13.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, with Oziyah Sellers also posting 10.7 points. Dillon Mitchell has also been a force on the glass with seven boards per game.
UNI's DIVISION I TOURNAMENT RESULTS [Tournament seed]
- 1990 | [14] UNI 74, [3] Missouri 71 - First Round (Richmond, Va.)
- 1990 | [6] Minnesota 81, [14] UNI 78 - Second Round (Richmond, Va.)
- 2004 | [3] Georgia Tech 65, [14] UNI 60 - First Round (Milwaukee, Wisc.)
- 2005 | [6] Wisconsin 57, [11] UNI 52 - First Round (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
- 2006 | [7] Georgetown 54, [10] UNI UNI, 49 - First Round (Dayton, Ohio)
- 2009 | [5] Purdue 61, [12] UNI 56 - First Round (Portland, Ore.)
- 2010 | [9] UNI 69, [8] UNLV 66 - First Round (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
- 2010 | [9] UNI 69, [1] Kansas 67 - Second Round (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
- 2010 | [5] Michigan State 59, [9] UNI 52 - Sweet Sixteen (St. Louis, Mo.)
- 2015 | [5] UNI 71, [12] Wyoming 54 - First Round (Seattle, Wash.)
- 2015 | [4] Louisville 66, [5] UNI 53 - Second Round (Seattle, Wash.)
- 2016 | [11] UNI 75, [6] Texas 72 - First Round (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
- 2016 | [3] Texas A&M 92, [11] UNI 88 (2OT) - Second Round (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
- 2026 | [12] UNI vs. [5] St. John's - First Round (San Diego, Calif.)
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). Schedule and roster information, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
