CEDAR FALLS – UNI men’s basketball tips off the first of its final five non-conference games of the regular season as the Panthers play host to the Richmond Spiders on Wednesday night inside the McLeod Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT with live coverage available on PSN/ESPN+, as well as the Panther Sports Radio Network.
UNI Athletics will also be collecting donations for Toys For Tots ahead of the game. Each individual who donates at least one toy at Wednesday’s game with two tier four tickets to UNI’s December 12 home game against Prairie View A&M. Drop-off bins will be available at the McLeod Center entrances. Tickets are also available for purchase online at UNIpanthers.com/tickets.
The Panthers will look to rebound after a pair of tough losses last week to open Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) play at home against Belmont and on the road at Evansville. In Northern Iowa’s loss last Saturday against the Purple Aces, four Panther starters cracked double-digit scoring figures in a physical game but came up short in an overtime thriller at the Ford Center.
Northern Iowa seeks its first win over Richmond since 2014 on Wednesday having dropped the last four matchups. The Spiders were victorious at home last year over the Panthers by a score of 68-55.
Tytan Anderson finished with a season-high 20-point performance with eight made field goals against Evansville, while Nate Heise recorded 19 points and set a new career-high with five assists and three triples. Jacob Hutson notched a season-best 17 points with four assists and eight made baskets, as Bowen Born tallied a season-high 17 points, while also recording season-bests in rebounds (5), assists (4), steals (4) and field goals made (6). Cole Henry posted a season-high seven points, with Trey Campbell making a season-best three made three-pointers to finish with nine points.
UNI is 80-11 (.879) under head coach Ben Jacobson when scoring 80+ points, and have won 18 of its last 21 games when scoring 80 or more points. Coming off a loss under Jacobson, the Panthers are 103-86 (.544).
Anderson enters Wednesday’s contest on a 40-game scoring streak with at least one point scored, while Born carries the program’s fifth-highest career free throw percentage into the game against the Spiders (84.1%). Born is also three attempts away from passing Marc Sonnen (2009-13) for sixth on the program’s all-time three-point attempts list, as well as five made three-pointers from passing Nick Nurse (1986-89) for ninth in school history.
With UNI’s next victory, Ben Jacobson can pass former Creighton and Saint Louis coach Eddie Hickey for second-place on the Missouri Valley Conference’s (MVC) all-time wins list with 338. Former Oklahoma State coach Henry P. Iba is the MVC’s all-time wins leader with 486 victories.
RICHMOND SPIDERS
The Spiders return to Cedar Falls for the first time in two years having won four of the previous five matchups against UNI, and come to town following an 88-69 home win over William & Mary last Saturday. Richmond was picked to finish 11th in the 15-member Atlantic-10 Conference (A-10) after a 15-18 campaign last year that resulted in an 11th place finish in the league with a 7-11 mark. Senior center Neal Quinn was the lone Spider to pick up preseason all-conference honors, being selected to the A-10’s Preseason Third Team.
Capitalizing on Richmond turnovers will be a key priority for the Panthers as the Spiders enter Wednesday’s game with the lowest turnover average in the nation with just 7.4 giveaways per game. Richmond also ranks eighth nationally with a 1.88 assist/turnover ratio. Jordan King leads the Spiders with a 21 points per game average, ranking in the top-15 in the country in made field goals, while also posting the eighth-best three-point shooting clip in the nation (50%). Quinn carries a 5.12 rebounding average into Wednesday’s contest, while also shooting a team-high 63.3% from the field.
UNI men’s basketball (2-6 / 0-2 MVC) vs. Richmond (5-3 / 0-0 Atlantic-10)
Dec. 6, 2023 | 7 p.m. CT
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
PSN/ESPN+ (Eric Braley: Play-by-Play / Kevin Lehman: Analyst)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)
