CEDAR FALLS – UNI men’s basketball (1-2) has a chance to even its record when it takes on No. 16 Arkansas in a midweek matchup.
UNI is coming off a three-game home stretch that opened with preseason Southland favorite Nicholls State and University of Vermont, predicted to finish second in the America East. The Panthers’ first win came over Dubuque, 95-58. UNI improved to 67-7 when scoring 80 points or more under head coach Ben Jacobson.
UNI is 18-43 against ranked opponents. As an MVC member, UNI has 10 wins against top-25 programs, with the most recent victory coming Dec. 10, 2019, against No. 23 Colorado. That’s also the most recent league road win against a ranked team.
This will be the first meeting for UNI and Arkansas (2-0). Arkansas is led by JD Notae, who leads the SEC with 48 points through two games. Notae scored 30 points in the Razorbacks’ season opener against Mercer, making it the third time in his career that he has scored 30 or more points in a single game.
After an NCAA tournament run that ended in the Elite 8 last year, Arkansas was picked to finish third in the SEC this season. Two players were named to the preseason teams with Notae on the first team and Davonte Davis added to the second team. Chris Lykes, a transfer with 1,256 points at Miami, is ranked on multiple national lists of returning players.
LINEUP COMPARISONS BY ELIGIBILITY – UNI vs. Arkansas
Seniors/graduate seniors: 2 / 5
Juniors: 2 / 2
Sophomores: 3 / 5
Freshmen/redshirt freshmen: 9 / 2
UNI NOTES
Coach Jacobson of UNI ranks fourth all-time in MVC history in total victories, with 301 as a coach in the league. Henry Iba is the all-time leader with 486 wins at Oklahoma State during their tenure in the Conference. Eddie Hickey (Creighton/Saint Louis) is next with 337 and Dana Altman of Creighton has 327. Jacboson’s 160 MVC wins also rank fourth (behind the same three).
AJ Green is one of six MVC student-athletes on the Watch List for the 2021-22 Lou Henson National Men’s Basketball Player of the Year award. The MVC has the most of any league.
AJ Green, UNI
ShanQuan Hemphill, Drake
Tyreke Key, Indiana State
Roman Penn, Drake
Isiaih Mosely, Missouri State
Gaige Prim, Missouri State
UNI has four current players on the program’s top-100 all-time scoring list with AJ Green at No. 19 (1,214 points), Trae Berhow at No. 49 (1,250 career points between UNI and Pepperdine with 950 points at UNI), and Austin Phyfe at No. 69 (795 points). Tywhon Pickford moved up to tie for No. 86 this week (658 points).
