CEDAR FALLS – UNI men’s basketball begins a stretch of four games away from home on Friday night as the Panthers visit the Richmond Spiders at the Robins Center in non-conference action.
Both UNI and Richmond picked up wins to open the season on Monday with the Panthers rolling past Wartburg 105-49 inside the McLeod Center, while the Spiders took down VMI in a 21-point win at home. The Panthers and Spiders meet for the third time as part of a four-year scheduling deal, with Richmond slated to return to Cedar Falls next season.
UNI PANTHERS
Bowen Born led UNI with a game-high 19 points against Wartburg as Landon Wolf notched 18 points in his collegiate debut with four made three-point shots. Nate Heise recorded 14 points in the Panther win, while Trey Campbell and Drew Daniel each tallied 11 points. Tytan Anderson set a new career-high with 12 rebounds in the Panther win, while also recording a pair of steals and a career-best 2 blocked shots, as Ege Peksari led UNI with 4 assists.
The Panthers shot 59.7% from the field against the Knights with 13 made three-point baskets. UNI dominated from inside the paint, outscoring Wartburg 48-26 while also posting a rebounding margin of 11. The 56-point victory was the fourth largest in program history.
RICHMOND SPIDERS
The reigning Atlantic-10 Conference tournament champions, the Spiders posted a 24-13 record with a 10-8 mark in league play last season, reaching the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament after a first-round win over Iowa. After losing 3 starters and 8 total members from last year’s roster, Richmond was picked 7th in the Atlantic-10 preseason poll, with senior forward Tyler Burton being selected to the Preseason First Team All-Conference. Burton was named to Second Team All-Atlantic-10 a year ago
The Spiders’ depth and offense in the paint helped make the difference in their 69-48 win over VMI on Monday, led by Jason Nelson’s 13-point effort. Burton notched a 12-point, 11 rebound double-double against the Keydets, while Isaiah Bigelow scored 11 points.
PANTHER NOTES
Richmond leads the all-time series, 3-1. UNI’s lone victory against the Spiders came at home on Nov. 30, 2014 at home in the first meeting of the series, 55-50.
The Spiders are the first of 10 opponents this season for UNI that made a national postseason tournament last year. Three Panther opponents played in last season’s NCAA Tournament (Richmond, San Francisco, Murray State), with 6 teams in the NIT (Virginia, Toledo, Towson, St. Bonaventure, Belmont, Missouri State). Drake also competed in the CBI Tournament.
Head coach Ben Jacobson is 6 wins away from passing Dana Altman as the third winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) history. Jacobson has recorded 322 career wins at UNI, while Altman notched 327 victories at Creighton from 1994 to 2010.
Nate Heise has scored 480 career points. 111 Panthers have notched 500 points in their careers.
Bowen Born ranks 4th in school history with an 84.6% career field goal percentage (94-111).
The Panthers are 77-9 under Ben Jacobson when scoring 80 or more points.
