CEDAR FALLS – UNI men’s basketball will look to split the regular season series with Bradley as the Panthers host the Braves on Sunday afternoon inside the McLeod Center in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) action.
Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT with live coverage available on ESPN2 as well as the Panther Sports Radio Network.
Fans are encouraged to wear black as part of the team’s annual Black Out Game. Tickets can be purchased online at UNIpanthers.com/tickets, or by calling the ticket office directly at 319-273-4849.
Fresh off a split of a two-game road trip, Northern Iowa will attempt to avenge its 85-69 road loss the Braves back on Jan. 31 in Peoria. The Braves hold a narrow 38-36 lead in the all-time series and have won the last four matchups against the Panthers.
Trey Campbell and Bowen Born led the Panthers with 16 points each in their last meeting against Bradley as UNI struggled to keep pace with the Braves’ hot shooting hand, giving up 48.3% of shot attempts. Bradley’s defense also stuffed Northern Iowa at the net with seven blocked shots and forced 13 Panther turnovers.
UNI seeks to string together consecutive wins after rolling past Valparaiso on Wednesday night on the road. The Panthers muscled their way inside the paint and at the three-point arc, shooting a season-high 66.7% from the field to secure the program’s 1,400th all-time victory. Tytan Anderson finished the night with a team-high 20 points, matching a career-high with nine made baskets. Jacob Hutson recorded a season-high 19 points, while Landon Wolf’s three-point shooting helped propel him to 16 points. Born tallied 11 points in the Panther win, as Campbell led UNI with eight rebounds, plus nine points.
Despite missing Wednesday’s game with an ankle injury, Nate Heise continues to lead the Panthers in scoring with 13.8 points per game, as well as a team-high 6.2 rebounds per contest average. Born has recorded 13.3 points while also leading the MVC and ranking 17th nationally with a 90% free throw shooting mark (63-of-70). Born’s accuracy at the free throw line is currently on pace to finish as the third-best single-season mark in program history. He has also scored in double-digit figures in 15 of his last 18 games. Born also has the opportunity to surpass 1,400 career points with his next seven points, and crack the program’s top-ten all-time scoring list with his next ten.
Anderson, who is riding a 58-game streak of scoring at least one point, is averaging 6.1 rebounds per game with 11.6 points per contest. At the three-point arc, Campbell is shooting 42.9% to the tune of 9.2 points a game, while Hutson posts a shooting clip at 57.8% with a career-best 8.8 points per game as the Panthers’ key inside man.
BRADLEY BRAVES
The Braves’ push to secure a top-four seed at the MVC Tournament continues after an 85-73 home win over UIC on Wednesday night. Bradley comes to Cedar Falls having dropped two of its last three, which included losses at Evansville and against Drake last week.
In the last matchup between UNI and Bradley, Connor Hickman led the Braves with an impressive 22-point game at Carver Arena, with Malevy Leons scoring 18 points with eight rebounds, Darius Hannh tallying 12 points and a game-high nine boards and Christian Davis finishing with ten points.
One of the MVC’s top defensive teams, Bradley has held its opponents to 42.3% shooting this season and is second in the league with 7.5 steals per game. The Braves also lead the conference with 13.1 turnovers forced per game.
Hickman leads a quartet of Braves averaging double-dig- it points this year with 14.5, with Leons notching an even 14 points per game, plus a team-high 6.9 rebounds. Duke Deen has posted 13.8 points per contest, while Darius Hannah has tallied 11.8 points with the nation’s second-best field goal percentage (65%).
Final five-game stretch of the regular season begins for the Panthers against the reigning MVC regular season champions. Tickets now available for purchase.
UNI men’s basketball (14-12 / 8-7 MVC) vs. Bradley (18-8 / 10-5 MVC)
Feb. 18, 2024 | 1p.m. CT
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
ESPN2 (Clay Matvick: Play-by-Play / Kevin Lehman: Analyst)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)
