Wednesday, January 30, 2019, 6:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Illinois
On what is expected to be one of the coldest nights in Chicago in the past three and a half decades, Northern Iowa visits Gentile Arena for the first meeting between the two teams this season. UNI comes into the game at 9-12 overall and 4-4 in conference, while the Ramblers are 13-8 overall and 6-2 in the league. Tonight’s game marks the halfway point in the conference season.
When it comes to ranking the head coaches in the MVC, Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson usually comes out near the top. In his 13 seasons as head coach at UNI, the Panthers have made four trips to the NCAA Tournament, won four NCAA Tournament games, and finished .500 or better in the MVC in every year but one. The one season where UNI finished below .500 in the Jacobson era was last season, when the Panthers were picked to finish second in the preseason poll and finished second to last.
Panther fans shook off last year’s bad conference showing and came into 2018-19 with a lot of optimism. Many UNI observers have come to the conclusion that the Panthers needed more speed and athleticism in their recruiting targets, and Coach Jacobson delivered by landing a top recruit in AJ Green and some high-scoring jucos. It’s a bit of a new look for UNI, and after a disappointing non-conference season, they have started to pull together and look to be a factor in the MVC conference race.
Expect the Panthers to start 6’4” freshman AJ Green at point guard, 6’5” sophomore Trae Berhow (a transfer from Pepperdine), 6’2” senior Wyatt Lohaus, and 6’7” junior Isaiah Brown as versatile guards, and 6’9” junior Luke McDonnel as the big forward/center. Green is a huge part of the offense as the team’s leader in scoring (14.9 ppg), assists (42), three pointers made (45), and free throw percentage (84.7%). Green plays with a lot of flash—he’s speedy and has some hops, but the freshman is hugely turnover-prone (62 turnovers is nearly double anyone else on the team), he has taken more than 100 shots more than any other player on the team, and his shooting percentage from the field is below 40%.
Berhow and McDonnell are the leading rebounderers at 6.1 and 5.0 repectively. McDonnell is a deceptively good three-point shooter, making 47.8% of his long bombs.
The main offensive firepower off the bench comes from two former starters who have been eclipsed by newcomers—6’1” junior Spencer Haldeman (6.3 ppg) and 6’4 Tywhon Pickford (4.2 ppg). Both shoot below 40% from the field. As a team, UNI has one of the worst shooting percentages in all of college basketball, only 40.3%, which ranks 330th of the 353 Division I teams. UNI has six players averaging double-digit minutes who shoot 40% or worse; Loyola has one.
Here’s an oddity that may say something about how to beat UNI. In every UNI conference loss so far, AJ Green has been the leading scorer. In every conference win, someone other than Green has topped UNI in points.
As for the Ramblers, it’s either feast or famine from the field. In their last 12 games, the Ramblers have shot between 50% and 68% in their eight wins, but 37.3% or worse in their four losses.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2019/1/ ... esday.aspxNorthern Iowa game notes: https://unipanthers.com/documents/2019/ ... df?id=4235 TV/Streaming video: ESPN +
http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/bab31095 ... olachicagoLive stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=234965Vegas odds: Loyola by 10
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