Wednesday, January 18, 2017 7:00 p.m.
McLeod Center, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Just two weeks ago, Loyola defeated UNI handily at Gentile Arena, 77-66. It was a game Loyola needed badly after starting conference play with a loss at Drake and a blowout loss at home to Illinois State. The Loyola ship was righted with the win, and the Ramblers followed with a solid win at Bradley, a gutsy performance in a loss at Wichita State, and a come from behind win against Missouri State. UNI got their first win of the season Sunday, when they demolished Drake in Cedar Falls.

With the loss at Loyola, the Panthers have adjusted their starting lineup and shuffled minutes to some players. Juwan McCloud, who came off the bench to lead UNI in scoring against Loyola, has joined the starters. Freshman Spencer Haldeman is now coming in first from the bench, but still getting starter’s minutes. Junior Ted Friedman and freshman Isiah Brown are seeing fewer minutes, redshirt freshman forward Luke McDonnell is seeing a few more minutes. MVC Preseason Player of the Year Jeremy Morgan was held to only seven points against the Ramblers two weeks ago, but after a respectable out against WSU and sitting out a game against Bradley, he bounced back to score 21 in their win Sunday against Drake.

Sunday’s 79-60 win over Drake halted a seven-game UNI losing streak, their longest losing streak in 17 seasons. And Coach Jacobson seemed somewhat intent upon securing that first league win, as he played only seven players more than three minutes in the game. Klint Carlson, Jeremy Morgan, and Jordan Ashton combined to split only eight minutes of rest in that game, despite UNI leading by 20 points at halftime and 23 points with 5 ½ minutes left. Coach Jacobson and Drake midseason head coaching replacement Jeff Rutter both served as assistants under Greg McDermott.

Bennett Koch tied with Jeremy Morgan for game high points honors against Drake, scoring a season-high 21 points and missing his career high by one point. Senior guard Jordan Ashton (a transfer from Iowa State) may have also found his groove, as he scored a career high 17 in his 39 minutes against Drake and has averaged 13.0 ppg over his last four games.

The uneven scheduling in the MVC means that Loyola is done for the regular season with Northern Iowa after this game, before playing even one game against Indiana State, Evansville, or Southern Illinois. Finishing up with UNI so early this year might be an advantage for Loyola, as the Panthers are well coached and have been trimming their losing margins before getting a confidence-building win last time out against Drake. Have the Panthers turned the corner that many expected them to turn several games ago? Or is the UNI team really going to be the worst team of the Jacobson-McDermott era?

Although the Panthers had impressive wins over Arizona State and Oklahoma early in the season, both those teams have fallen to .500 or below. Arizona State’s best win was against 9-8 Colorado at home. Oklahoma’s best win was a home win against Texas Tech, one of only two wins Oklahoma has had against teams with a winning record. In fact, UNI is currently 0-9 against teams that are over .500. Another quirk is the Panthers are 0-10 when they score less than 70 points. They are 5-1 when scoring over 70 points.

Don’t expect the Panthers to pack it in for the rest of the season, especially under a coach like Ben Jacobson, especially at home, and especially in Jeremy Morgan’s senior season. They will fight hard in every game over the remainder of the schedule, and at home they will have their loud and dedicated fan base to support them. Whether they have enough talent and healthy players to win against Loyola at home this year is another question—hopefully Loyola brings back at least one win from Iowa this year.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 117aaa.pdf

Northern Iowa game notes: http://unipanthers.com/documents/2017/1 ... df?id=2119

TV/Streaming video: CSN Chicago/ESPN 3 http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index/_/i ... thern-iowa

Vegas odds: UNI by 1

To me this is the biggest game of the year thus far ... a team we should beat but in a hostile environment! Go Ramblers get it done!

JCT pointed out amusingly in his preview of the first game that UNI's roster sounds like a list of Nixon Watergate operatives. I'd add that it looks like the Cabinet from the Warren G. Harding administration. Even the few African American players on the team are pasty-faced. Must be something in the water...

But that's neither here nor there.

This game is an early challenge to the New Eight Game Winning Streak. We've had the Panther's number for the past year or so, sweeping them last season and taking the first game this year. But I'm afraid they might have righted the ship after a rough conference start with their convincing win against Drake and will start to show the form that had them rated #2 in preseason polls behind only Wichita State.

I predict a close contest with the Ramblers prevailing 74-72. Look for Clayton Custer to bust out offensively.

I'm hoping to see Bruno get the green light to attack the basket more; he's a proven to be a solid finisher when given the chance. I wouldn't be shocked to see him mirror McCloud as it seems Porters been matching Bruno up with other Freshmen point guards when possible (he frequently was matched up against McCloud and Brown when he played against UNI/Bradley).

Teams coming off short rest so hopefully they still have legs.

Coach knows his defense,,,,,I really think he knows the UNI offense and how to defend it. At the end of the home game against UNI they started to creep back in when they were playing a younger lineup. I think to start the season they were just going to build around Morgan and found out they were going to need more weapons ....and they are starting to find them...So we will see what Coach comes up with.
I was noticing at the last game when Bruno was next to Milton, Bruno looked taller????

comment on the MSU game. Richardson not a lot of points but lots of little stuff....3 steals...he can play D and exceptional BBall iq. Was happy to see Smith get more time but he still looked gimpy to me

Well as of noon today we are 3 point underdogs--Fair enough !!

It is a MVC roadie therefore tough--BUT if we come out strong and fast with everyone doing their thing, we will win. Our team knows they are good --We know they are good. This game will go far to show the Hoops world that we are. ---Except for the Chgo Media of course--They are connected with DePEWL losers !!
The Big East is too good for them BUT ---

In any case I see a nice but tough road win say 72--66 !!!

RUN RAMBLERS !!

I've got the feeling that we're much better off if we get a lead early rather than trying to come back against UNI. They are a much stronger 2nd half team than 1st half, so you'd especially like to have a halftime lead against this team when you're playing on the road. They made a furious 2nd half near-comeback at home against Missouri State, mostly using a press and suddenly getting hot on threes.

Agreed. Also will be important to stop Koch from getting comfortable early.... he went 8-8 against Drake.

Hate when the games are on Comcast. I have DirecTV so no access to Comcast Sports Net. And WatchESPN blacks out the games in the local market when they are on Comcast. It forces me to find some crappy stream online.

I have DirectTv. I have a local sports pack that gives me most of those 600 level channels. I think it's $10-$15 a month. I don't have the regular sports package with espn. Just use my Roku with espn3 for that.