CEDAR FALLS – In-state rivals will clash for the second time this season as UNI men’s basketball takes on the Drake Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) action inside the McLeod Center.
Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT with live coverage available on ESPN+ and the Panther Sports Radio Network. Tickets can be purchased online at UNIpanthers.com/tickets, or by calling the ticket office directly at 319-273-4849.
Fans are encouraged to wear purple as part of the team’s annual Purple Out. UNI students will also have a chance to win a $1,000 scholarship drawing during the game. Click HERE for rules and eligibility to win.
Northern Iowa matches up with the Bulldogs for the 86th time looking to snap a three-game skid to Drake. Playing shorthanded in their last meeting on Jan. 27 in Des Moines, the Panthers built a ten-point lead on the Bulldogs early in the second half before Drake stormed back for a 77-63 win.
Nate Heise finished the night with a team-high 20 points for his sixth 20+ point game of the season, tying a career-high with nine made field goals along with five rebounds. Bowen Born tallied 14 points with a game-high four assists, while Tytan Anderson recorded 13 points and four rebounds. Cole Henry posted a six-point performance, with Michael Duax finishing with five points and both Jacob Hutson and Kyle Pock each posting four points each.
Heise continues to lead the Panthers in scoring with 13.9 points per game, as well as a 6.2 rebounds per contest average. Born has recorded 13.2 points while also leading the MVC and ranking 11th nationally with a 91% free throw shooting mark (71-of-78). Born, who recently cracked UNI’s top-ten all-time scoring list and made his 200th career three-point basket, is currently on pace to finish as the third-best single-season free throw percentage in program history. He has also scored in double-digit figures in 17 of his last 20 games.
Anderson, who is riding a 60-game streak of scoring at least one point, is averaging a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game with 11.6 points per contest. At the three-point arc, Campbell is shooting 42.3% to the tune of 9.1 points a game, while Hutson posts a shooting clip at 56% with a career-best 8.8 points per game as the Panthers’ key inside man. Campbell can also become the latest member of the program’s 500 career point club with his next six points.
DRAKE BULLDOGS
Entering the week receiving votes in the latest AP top-25 poll, Drake has surged into a tie with Indiana State atop the MVC standings in the home stretch of the regular season. The Bulldogs, the defending MVC Tournament champions, last topped the league standings in 2018-19 when it tied for the conference’s regular season crown with Loyola-Chicago.
Tucker DeVries, the reigning Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year, dropped 29 points on UNI back on Jan. 27 inside the Knapp Center, as Conor Enright scored 14 points. Darnell Brodie led Drake with eight rebounds, plus 11 points. Head coach Darian DeVries, who played at UNI from 1994 to 1998 is 7-5 coaching against his alma mater.
Posting the league’s best assist/turnover ratio (1.63), Drake’s 48.7% shooting clip is second in the MVC and top-25 in the nation. DeVries leads the Bulldogs on the season with 20.8 points per game and is shooting 44.6% from the field, including 36% from beyond the arc. Atin Wright has notched 14.2 points, with Kevin Overton and Darnell Brodie each posting 12 points a game. Brodie leads the MVC with an 8.3 rebounds per game average.
UNI men’s basketball (15-13 / 9-8 MVC) vs. RV Drake Bulldogs (23-5 / 14-3 MVC)
5 p.m. CT | Feb. 24, 2024
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
ESPN+ (Eric Braley: Play-by-Play / Adam DeJoode: Analyst)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)
