CEDAR FALLS – UNI men’s basketball will close out its 2023-24 home schedule on Tuesday night as the Panthers welcome the Valparaiso Beacons to the McLeod Center in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) play.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT with live coverage available on Panther Sports Network/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.
Northern Iowa will also recognize forward Cole Henry in a pregame ceremony as part of this year’s senior night celebration. Henry, who has been part of the Panther program since the 2019-20 season, helped contribute to UNI’s last two MVC regular season championships in 2020 and 2022.
The Panther begin the final week of the regular season in a tie with Belmont for fifth place in the league standings with two games to play and a top-four seed and first-round bye at Arch Madness still up for grabs. UNI can finish as high as the three-seed and as low as the eight.
Meeting for the second time this year, the Panthers will look to complete the regular season sweep of the Beacons after scoring an 86-67 win at Valparaiso earlier this month. UNI has won its last three matchups against the Beacons, is 32-5 all-time against Valparaiso and holds an impressive 17-1 all-time record against the Beacons at home.
Northern Iowa welcomes the Beacons to town after scoring a major win over in-state rival Drake on Saturday, 91-77. UNI’s fast-paced and hard-nosed defensive effort against the Bulldogs was led by a dominating 18-point and 18-rebound performance from Tytan Anderson, who tied his career rebounding high and matched his own two school records for rebounds in a home game and rebounds against an MVC opponent. The Panthers shot 55.4% from the field against Drake and outrebounded the Bulldogs by a 42-28 margin.
Nate Heise also tallied 18 points with nine boards in the UNI win, while Bowen Born posted a 16-point performance with three made baskets from beyond the arc. Jacob Hutson recorded 14 points, with Landon Wolf finished with ten points off the bench, Trey Campbell finishing with seven points to record his 500th career point and Cole Henry and RJ Taylor each recording four points each.
Heise continues to lead the Panthers in scoring with 14.1 points per game, as well as a 6.3 rebounds per contest average. With 884 career points, Heise can join UNI’s 900 career point club with his next 16 points scored.
Born has recorded 13.3 points while also ranking second in the MVC and ranking 24th nationally with a 89.2% free throw shooting mark (74-of-83). Born, who recently cracked UNI’s top-ten all-time scoring list and moved into a tie for fourth in school history with his 203rd career three-pointer, is currently on pace to finish with the fourth-best single-season free throw percentage in program history. He has also scored in double-digit figures in 18 of his last 21 games.
Anderson, who is riding a 61-game streak of scoring at least one point, is averaging a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game with 11.6 points per contest. At the three-point arc, Campbell is shooting 41.9% to the tune of nine points a game, while Hutson posts a shooting clip at 56.7% with a career-best nine 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.
VALPARAISO BEACONS
The Beacons make their annual trip to Cedar Falls in the midst of a tough ten-game skid, tied for its longest losing streak since the 1991-92 season. Valparaiso came up short in an 80-68 loss at Murray State last time out over the weekend, its fifth double-digit loss in the last six games.
In their last meeting with the Panthers on Feb. 14, the Beacons found success at the three-point arc, shooting 40% from three-point range (10-of-25) including four made triples from Isaiah Stafford. Valparaiso has struggled to stop opposing offenses this year, posting the nation’s 12th-worst shooting defense at 54.9%
Stafford leads a young Beacon squad with 16.9 points per game, while Cooper Schwieger has notched 12.7 points on 49.8% shooting and a team-high 5.3 rebounds. Darius DeAveiro meanwhile leads the MVC with a 6.5 assist/turnover ratio, with Stafford leading the league in total shot attempts.
UNI men’s basketball (16-13 / 10-8 MVC) vs. Valparaiso (6-23 / 2-16 MVC)
7 p.m. CT | Feb. 27, 2024
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
Panther Sports Network/ESPN+ (Eric Braley: Play-by-Play / Kevin Lehman: Analyst)
Panther Sports Radio Network (J.W. Cox: Play-by-Play / Kevin Boyle: Analyst)
