A five-game winning streak has moved U.N.I. into contention in the Missouri Valley race and the Panthers look to take another step this evening when they visit Missouri State. At 9-6 in the Valley the Panthers are tied with Indiana State in third place and are just two games behind league leader Wichita State.
U.N.I. beat Missouri State in a hard fought, defensive battle in Cedar Falls and Panther coach Ben Jacobson expects a similar type of game, tonight. “They guard you hard, their rotations are good, they step forward and take charges and then they really fight in terms of rebounding and make sure they block you out and try to limit you to one shot, so all the things fundamentally defensively they try to do a good job of,” Jacobson says.
Jacobson expects another close game as he says the game was tied most of the way in Cedar Falls. Jacobson says the first meeting was a combination of good defense and cold shooting.
“We know we are going to have to defend even better than we did at our place,” he says. And he says they didn’t make some shots they should have and that happened to both teams.
Missouri State is 6-9 in the Valley.