CEDAR FALLS – UNI men’s basketball has been picked to finish second in the 2023-24 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) preseason poll. The poll, along with the conference’s three preseason teams, were voted on by the league’s coaches, sports information directors and media members.
Northern Iowa earned 19 of 47 first-place votes with 524 total points, finishing just behind reigning MVC Tournament champion Drake (24 first-place votes / 558 points. The defending regular season conference champion Bradley Braves were picked third (Three first-place votes / 487 points), while Indiana State was tabbed to finish in fourth (402 points), followed by Belmont (400 points).
Additionally, Panther guard Bowen Born and forward Tytan Anderson earned individual recognition by being selected to the Preseason First and Second All-MVC Teams respectively. Drake’s Tucker DeVries was voted the league’s Preseason Player of the Year.
Born, a 5-11 junior from Norwalk, Iowa, earned Second Team All-MVC honors after leading the Panthers with 17.9 points per game last season. Scoring 573 total points a year ago, tenth-most in a single UNI season, Born shot 40.8% from the field and 36.7% from beyond the three-point arc. Entering the 2023-24 season with the fifth-highest career free throw percentage in school history (84.2%), Born scored a career-high 32 points in UNI’s MVC Tournament quarterfinal matchup against Bradley last March, and recorded four games with five or more three-point baskets.
Anderson, 6-6 junior from Eldridge, Iowa, was voted the captain of last season’s MVC Most Improved Team after posting a career year with 12.6 points and a league-leading 8.5 rebounds per game. Notching an MVC-best 11 double-doubles, Anderson averaged 32 minutes a game while shooting 48.4% from the floor and leading the Panthers in both steals (44) and blocks (15). Anderson also set two single-game program records last winter after pulling down a career-high 18 rebounds against Murray State, the most in a home game for UNI and the most by a Panther against an MVC opponent.
Born, Anderson and the Panthers will take to the court for the first time this season on Wednesday, Nov. 1 as they host Coe College in a 7 p.m. CT exhibition inside the McLeod Center. UNI will open the regular season on the road at North Texas in a 7 p.m. CT tip on Nov. 7.
2023-24 MVC MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL [First-Place Votes] (Points)
Drake [24] (558)
UNI [19] (524)
Bradley [3] (487)
Indiana State (402)
Belmont (400)
Missouri State [1] (386)
Murray State (292)
Illinois State (237)
Southern Illinois (218)
UIC (157)
Evansville (95)
Valparaiso (66)
MVC PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Tucker DeVries, Drake
MVC PRESEASON FIRST TEAM
Bowen Born, UNI
Donovan Clay, Missouri State
Tucker DeVries, Drake
Malevy Leons, Bradley
Cade Tyson, Belmont
MVC PRESEASON SECOND TEAM
Tytan Anderson, UNI
Robbie Avila, Indiana State
Darnell Brodie, Drake
Julian Larry, Indiana State
Rob Perry, Murray State
Kenny Strawbridge Jr., Evansville
MVC PRESEASON THIRD TEAM
Darius Burford, Illinois State
Duke Deen, Bradley
Xavier Johnson, Southern Illinois
Chance Moore, Missouri State
Toby Okani, UIC
Isaiah Swope, Indiana State
