northern iowa/evansville...

[IE]

One Win Streak Has To Fall When 7-4 UE Hosts 10-2 UNI Friday

Northern Iowa has won seven games in a row. Evansville has won all six at home this season. One of those streaks must end Friday night when the 7-4 Purple Aces host the 10-2 Panthers at Roberts Stadium at 7:05.

The busiest stretch of the season for UE (5 games in 11 days) begins against one of Evansville's toughest opponents. UNI has won seven straight since losing by three points at Iowa on December 7.

Friday is also the first night that fans can vote for the Aces' All-Time Basketball Team. Ushers and cheerleaders will be passing out ballots at the game. Voting continues through the end of January.

THIS IS A FIRST
For the first time in its Division I history, Evansville has gone through the first 11 games of the season with five players still scoring in double figures. The entire starting lineup of Lucious Wagner (12.8), Andre Burton (12.5), Bradley Strickland (11.0), Matt Webster (10.8) and Kyle Anslinger (10.5) has averaged 10 points or more since the second game of the season.

GOING FOR 7 IN A ROW AT HOME
Evansville is 6-0 at home this season and begins a three-game homestand Friday. This is the longest homecourt winning streak for the Purple Aces since they won 14 straight over the course of two seasons?1998-99 and '99-00. Friday's game also begins the busiest stretch of the season for UE?five games in 11 days. Four of the five are at home.

7 WINS EQUAL 2003-04 TOTAL
Evansville picked up its seventh win on December 22 when Kyle Anslinger hit an 18-foot buzzer-beater to defeat Creighton, 63-61. Last season, UE?s seventh?and final?win came on March 5 in the first round of the State Farm MVC Tournament.

THE SERIES
UE leads the series against Northern Iowa 16-8, but the Panthers have won four of the last five. UNI?s 67-53 win at Evansville last January was its first at Roberts Stadium after 11 straight losses.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Northern Iowa is 10-2 and has lost only at Iowa 76-73 and at Cincinnati 76-70 in two overtimes. Four players score in double figures, led by guard Ben Jacobson at 17.6. Jacobson has hit 27 of his 50 three-point tries. Freshman Eric Coleman is one of the Valley?s top newcomers, at 13.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg.

LOU FINALLY GETS HIS DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Senior guard Lucious Wagner had come within one assist or one rebound of a double-double three times in his career before finally getting it Sunday at SMS with 11 points and a career-high 10 assists. Wagner leads the Aces in scoring (12.8), assists (5.4) and steals (1.2).

BURTON TURNING OFFENSIVE
Senior forward Andre Burton scored 21 points Sunday at SMS, three shy of his career high. Burton is averaging 14.6 points in his last five games after averaging 10.7 in his first six.

 

[IE]

Rebounding is top priority for Aces



After back-to-back losses, rebounding is what the University of Evansville basketball team wants and needs to do tonight at Roberts Stadium against Northern Iowa.

The Aces (7-4) need to rebound better to get back on track after Southwest Missouri State whipped them on the boards, 42-27, en route to a 78-75 victory on Sunday in Springfield.

Tonight's tipoff is at 7:05 and will air on WYNG-ESPN 94.9 FM and WUEV 91.5 FM. Northern Iowa (10-2), the defending Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champion, is on a seven-game winning streak. "Rebounding has been our nemesis all season," UE coach Steve Merfeld said after Thursday's practice.

"There's no question we need to do a better job on the backboards against a very good team like Northern Iowa.

"Our big guys (sophomores Bradley Strickland and Matt Webster) aren't dominant rebounders at this stage of their careers, so it's one of those things we work on every day. We're going to need them (tonight)."

Strickland, a 6-foot-9 center from Atlanta who possesses a 40-inch vertical jump, admitted as much.

"Second-chance points (by the opposition) have hurt us in all our losses," said Strickland, who is third on the team in rebounding with a 5.0 average behind Webster (5.5) and Andre Burton (5.2). "It's definitely something I have to get better at to help my team.

"It's something I want to do early. It's big to play well from the beginning at both ends. It's not just rebounding; we have to get the ball inside on the offensive end, too. We're a little bigger than (Northern Iowa). We have to make them work to guard us."

Strickland said the ultimate goal of being effective inside is to open up the entire floor.

"When we establish ourselves inside and then go out, it just opens up everything," said Strickland, who averages 11.0 points. "That way their guards have to help defensively, which opens things up for our shooters."

Both teams feature only two true inside threats and three natural guards. But Evansville has a size advantage at every spot, at least against the Panther's starters.

"You'd like to be able to exploit that," said Merfeld, "but the thing that makes them so good is they have good, experienced guards. Then when you add the presence of their freshman (6-6 forward Eric Coleman) and the fact that (6-8 sophomore Grant) Stout is much improved, they're hard to handle."

Northern Iowa is coming off a 75-55 MVC home win over Illinois State on Monday. The Panthers are 1-0 in the MVC while UE is 1-2.

"We're glad to get them at home," said Merfeld. "We definitely need to improve our rebounding and take care of the basketball like we've been doing. I've been very happy with our assist-to-turnover ratio lately."

Evansville is averaging 16.5 assists and 13.5 turnovers.

Senior point guard Lucious Wagner leads the Aces in scoring (12.8) and assists (5.5). Burton, who has averaged 14.6 points over the past five games, has improved his season average to 12.5. Webster averages 10.8 points and sophomore guard Kyle Anslinger 10.5.

It's the first time in Evansville's Division I history that the Aces have gone 11 games into a season with all five starters still averaging double figures in points.

 

[IE]

UNI has plenty in reserve


For 12 games, Northern Iowa men's basketball coach Greg McDermott has penciled in the same starting lineup.

Grant Stout. Eric Coleman. Erik Crawford. Ben Jacobson. Brooks McKowen.

And while each of them has been steady contributors, McDermott believes a significant reason the Panthers are 10-2 is the experience on his bench.

In particular, McDermott is referring to seniors Chris Foster and Jon Godfread and junior John Little.

Foster, recovering from knee surgery at the end of last season, is averaging nearly six points a game in the last three outings. More importantly, the point guard is starting to look and feel like his old self before the injury. After a sluggish start, Foster has six assists to just one turnover in the last two weeks.

Godfread, who sees spot minutes in the interior, has 14 points in the last three games and has connected on seven of 10 shots. He's been valuable lately, as Coleman endured foul trouble in games against Valparaiso and Illinois State.

Little, meanwhile, has drained five 3-pointers over the past three contests, and is shooting a robust 13-of-25 from beyond the arc. A season ago, Little hit just seven of 28 treys.

"Not a lot of teams have the luxury of bringing three experienced guys off the bench like we do," McDermott said. "When things are a little ragged and you can bring those guys in, sometimes it can calm your team down. It's a nice luxury to have."

UNI's bench has outscored its opposition's reserves in eight of 12 games. And in the four outings the Panthers didn't, they managed to win all four.

Doing a complete 360 -- Evansville has already equaled its win total of seven from last year in 11 games this season. Under second-year coach Steve Merfeld, the Purple Aces are 7-4 and own home wins over Creighton and Western Kentucky. With one more win, Illinois State will match its 10 wins from a season ago.

Chasing 1,000 -- Illinois State's Trey Guidry became the fourth active player in the MVC to eclipse 1,000 career points Monday. Three more players are on the cusp of reaching that milestone in the next two weeks. Southern Illinois' Stetson Hairston has 985 points; UNI's Ben Jacobson has 959 and Indiana State's David Moss is at 951. Darren Brooks is the Valley's active leader with 1,439.

Salukis tough at home -- With Sunday's escape over Drake, SIU has accumulated 16 straight home wins and 29 consecutive league wins at SIU Arena. The 29-game streak is the fourth longest in Valley history, and the three teams who bettered that mark are no longer in the league -- Oklahoma State (41), Cincinnati (41) and Louisville (33).

Playing catch up -- Creighton, which has played just one team with a losing record in 13 games, has led at halftime just once in the past nine games. The Bluejays, in comparison, trailed at intermission only nine times all of last season.

Who's hot? -- Northern Iowa. The Panthers have won seven straight, the school's second-longest win streak in the last 35 years. UNI's 10-2 start is its best since the 1989-90 squad began with the same mark.

Who's not? -- Indiana State. After a 5-2 start, the Sycamores have dropped six straight. In four of those games, coach Royce Waltman's team has shot under 33 percent.

Must-see games

n Today: Southwest Missouri State at Bradley. The Bears and Braves are the top two rebounding teams in the league. Both are 1-1 in the MVC and are nearly identical in offense and defensive output per game.

n Sunday: SIU at Creighton. In past years, this game went a long way in determining the league champ. While it may not have the same magnitude this year, it does feature the top two defenses in the Valley. SIU was the only team in the conference to win at the Qwest Center in Omaha a season ago.

 

[GOAT]

Thanks IE saved me some time love this one. Northern Iowa -4 on Road

 

[IntenseOperator]

late move to (3-) on this one