UNI vs. Loyola-Chicago in MVC tournament: Time, TV, live stream, prediction, 3 keys to the game

No. 1-seed Panthers and No. 4-seed Ramblers meet in conference tournament semifinal a week after OT thriller

Cole Bair

Mar. 5, 2022 9:20 am

Northern Iowa's AJ Green (4) heads to the basket past Illinois State's Howard Fleming Jr. (3) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Friday, March 4, 2022, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

ST. LOUIS — After a workmanlike 78-65 quarterfinal win over Illinois State, Northern Iowa (19-10) faces Loyola-Chicago Saturday in a Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball tournament semifinal game.

The fourth-seeded Ramblers (23-7) quickly silenced any thoughts of a quarterfinal upset Friday, jumping out to a 15-point lead over No. 5-seed Bradley in the first 15 minutes and cruising to a 66-50 win.

Ranked fourth in the country in effective field goal percentage, Loyola-Chicago is driven by sharpshooters Lucas Williamson and Braden Norris. Aheer Uguak’s two-way versatility and polished centers Thomas Welch and Chris Knight offer a stiff challenge for UNI’s undersized lineup. The Ramblers are also benefiting from the return of guard Marquise Kennedy, a regular starter who came off the bench and scored nine points in Friday’s win over the Braves.

The Panthers trail in the all-time series 14-11, but are coming off a historic 102-96 overtime win over the Ramblers last Saturday at McLeod Center that clinched the regular-season MVC Championship.

Here are three keys for UNI’s rubber game against Loyola-Chicago:

1. The Great Wall > Leaning Tower of Pisa

Friday’s quarterfinal win would have been much more difficult if it weren’t for the Panthers’ ability to play quality defense without fouling.

Watch closely and it’s easy to see how well UNI “walls up” during one-on-one interior defense, and even when it sends double teams. It was good enough Friday to commit only nine fouls compared to 17 by Illinois State.

The Ramblers’ skill level is likely to increase the speed of Saturday’s game, making it more difficult to keep position and not foul. The matchup creates as high stakes as ever for the Panthers to meet or exceed their 13.9 fouls per game, which ranks 20th in the country.

2. The ‘Big 3’

Throughout 29 games this season AJ Green (17) and Noah Carter (9) have combined to lead UNI in scoring 26 times.

The likely candidates to be the Panthers’ third scorer has routinely been Trae Berhow — who was in Friday’s win with 15 points — or Nate Heise or Bowen Born.

Born, who’s unquestionably played the best basketball of his young career the past two months, scored a career-high 20 in last Saturday’s win over the Ramblers.

All signs point toward it being important to watch how Berhow Born, and the MVC’s sixth man of the year start Saturday’s game.

3. Cardinal direction dictation

While UNI exceeded its season average for points (75.4) in its win over Illinois State, many of its possessions that ended without a quality missed shot were the result of brief bouts of stagnation and an imbalance of east-west versus north-south cutting.

Critiquing a well-oiled Panthers offense might seem overly critical, but with Loyola-Chicago having put up 85 and 96 points in the previous two meetings the margin for error shrinks considerably.

Coach Ben Jacobson pointed out that his team’s offense is always in “attack mode” after Friday’s quarterfinal win, but it still left some proverbial meat on the bone against the Redbirds.