Northern Iowa’s Tytan Anderson (32) and Nate Heise (0) celebrate the Panthers’ huge win over Drake last Saturday. (Photo courtesy: UNI Athletics)
Jason Barnes
Staff Writer
The University of Northern Iowa Panthers delivered the Missouri Valley Conference win of the week, last week when they defeated then-first place Drake last Saturday in Cedar Falls.
UNI shot 55 percent from the floor and dominated the rebounding battle to lay a 91-77 whoopin’ on the in-state rival Bulldogs.
Drake had just moved into a first place tie with Indiana State in the MVC standings, with just three league games left. Now the Bulldogs need to win out and hope the Sycamores lose at least once to have a shot at claiming the No. 1 seed in the MVC Arch Madness Tournament next weekend in St. Louis.
The Panthers, who are 16-13 overall on the season, are tied with Belmont for fifth place in the MVC standings. Both clubs are one game behind Southern Illinois for the much-coveted fourth place spot in the standings.
The top four teams earn a first-round bye at Arch Madness, and UNI has given itself a real chance at claiming that fourth place spot, with its final two regular season games this week being against last place Valparaiso (on Tuesday) and Southern Illinois on Saturday.
The Salukis (19-10) have one of the toughest final week schedules. They’ll play third place Bradley on Wednesday, and as previously mentioned, Northern Iowa on Saturday.
Sycamores Have Eyes On A Title
With Drake’s loss to UNI last week, Indiana State has the inside track to claiming its first MVC regular season championship since 2000. The Sycamores are one game up on the Bulldogs with two games to play.
If Indiana State can win its two games this week, Wednesday at Evansville and Saturday at home against Murray State, the Sycamores would claim their third overall MVC crown.
If the Sycamores falter and Drake bypasses them, it would be the Bulldogs’ ninth overall regular season title and first since 2019.
X-Man Going For History
Southern Illinois’ Xavier Johnson, who leads the MVC in scoring at 22.4 points per game, ranks fourth nationally in that category and fifth overall with 200 made FTs.
The senior from Germantown, Md., is looking to become just the third player in MVC history to lead the league in both scoring and assists. The others were Anthony Manuel of Bradley in 1989, and Curt Smith of Drake in 1993.
Only one MVC player in the past 30 seasons has averaged in double-figure scoring with 6.0 or more assists. That was Reed Jackson from Evansville in 1994-95, who averaged 13.8 ppg, 6.0 apg.
MVC Player of the Week — Duke Deen, Bradley
Deen scored his way into the history book this past week for the Braves. Deen finished with an average stat line of 23 PPG, 3.5 APG and 1.5 RPG.
In Wednesday’s matchup at Missouri State, Deen scored a career high 35 points on 13 made FGs including nine 3-point field goals which stands as the Bradley single-game record and the Great Southern Bank Arena record. In the process of his historic night, Deen also eclipsed 1,000 career points at the NCAA DI level.
MVC Newcomer of the Week — Ryan Conwell, Indiana State
Conwell averaged close to a double-double in the 2-0 week for the Sycamores with 16.5 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.5 AST/G, 1.0 STL/G, and 1.0 BLK/G. He shot 50% for the week (11-for-22) and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line.
At Valpo, he had 15 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Against UIC, Conwell had 18 points on 6-for-11 from the floor, also recording a double-double with 11 rebounds.
He chipped in three assists, two blocks, and a steal. Conwell was part of two different scoring streaks by the Sycamores that led them to a double-digit lead in the first half, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds in total in the half.
MVC Freshman of the Week — Johnny Kinziger, Illinois State
Kinziger averaged 15.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game on the week, helping the Redbirds to a 1-1 record including an 81-73 home win over the UNI Panthers.
He also made 45 percent of his shots (9-of-20) from the field over the two games, made half of his eight three-point attempts, and was 9-of-10 at the charity stripe. He started his week with a 21-point effort against UNI in which he was 7-of-10 from the field, 3-of-5 from long range, and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Schedule
Tuesday, February 27
| Away | Home | Time | Location | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Valparaiso |  Northern Iowa | 7 PM | Cedar Falls, IA | TV: PSN TV – CFU Channel 15, KCRG 9.2 Stats Radio: Panther Sports Radio Network |
Wednesday, February 28
| Away | Home | Time | Location | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Drake |  Illinois-Chicago | 7 PM | Chicago, IL | TV: ESPN+ Stats Radio: Flames Network |
 Belmont |  Murray State | 7 PM | Murray, KY | Stats Radio: iHeartRadio |
 Indiana State |  Evansville | 7 PM | Evansville, IN | Stats Radio: 105.5 The Legend |
 Missouri State |  Illinois State | 7 PM | Normal, IL | TV: ESPN+ / 3 Stats Radio: WJBC AM 1230 / FM 93.7 / The Varsity Network |
 Southern Illinois |  Bradley | 7 PM | Peoria, IL | TV: ESPN Plus Stats Radio: SIU Radio Network / 101.5 WCIL FM |
Sunday, March 3
| Away | Home | Time | Location | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois-Chicago | Missouri State | 1 PM | Springfield, MO | TV: ESPN+ Stats Radio: Bears Radio Network |
| Illinois State | Valparaiso | 1 PM | Valparaiso, IN | TV: ESPN+ Stats Radio: WJBC AM 1230 / FM 93.7 / The Varsity Network |
| Northern Iowa | Southern Illinois | 1 PM | Carbondale, IL | TV: ESPN Plus Stats Radio: SIU Radio Network / 101.5 WCIL FM |
| Bradley | Drake | 2:30 PM | Des Moines, IA | TV: ESPN2 Stats Radio: 1350/102.1 ESPN Des Moines |
| Evansville | Belmont | 4 PM | Nashville, TN | Stats |
| Murray State | Indiana State | 4 PM | Terre Haute, IN | Stats Radio: 105.5 The Legend Video |
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
| SCHOOL | ALL | PCT. | MVC | PCT. | HOME | AWAY | NEUT | L10 | STREAK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana State | 24-5 | .828 | 15-3 | .833 | 12-1 | 8-4 | 4-0 | 8-2 | W2 |
| Drake | 23-6 | .793 | 14-4 | .778 | 15-0 | 5-5 | 3-1 | 7-3 | L1 |
| Bradley | 20-9 | .690 | 12-6 | .667 | 12-3 | 6-5 | 2-1 | 6-4 | W2 |
| Southern Illinois | 19-10 | .655 | 11-7 | .611 | 13-4 | 5-5 | 1-1 | 7-3 | W3 |
| Belmont | 17-12 | .586 | 10-8 | .556 | 11-2 | 5-9 | 1-1 | 6-4 | W1 |
| Northern Iowa | 16-13 | .552 | 10-8 | .556 | 10-3 | 5-8 | 1-2 | 5-5 | W1 |
| Murray State | 12-17 | .414 | 9-9 | .500 | 8-7 | 4-8 | 0-2 | 4-6 | W1 |
| Illinois State | 14-15 | .483 | 8-10 | .444 | 9-6 | 4-7 | 1-2 | 5-5 | L1 |
| Missouri State | 15-14 | .517 | 7-11 | .389 | 8-5 | 4-9 | 3-0 | 5-5 | L2 |
| Evansville | 15-14 | .517 | 6-12 | .333 | 10-4 | 4-10 | 1-0 | 4-6 | L5 |
| Illinois-Chicago | 11-18 | .379 | 4-14 | .222 | 6-8 | 3-9 | 2-1 | 3-7 | L1 |
| Valparaiso | 6-23 | .207 | 2-16 | .111 | 5-11 | 1-12 | 0-0 | 0-10 | L10 |