UNI Wins Big, Moves on to Round of 32

The UNI Panther's entered the NCAA Tournament  with plenty of momentum after finishing the season winning 20 of their last 21 games en route to a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship. The 5th seeded Panther's carried that momentum into Fridays game against the 12th seeded Wyoming Cowboys. Five minutes into the game the Cowboy's lead the Panther's 9-8. UNI 's Nate Bus then sunk a three point bucket to spark a 10 point Panther run. The run gave UNI momentum as the  Panther's were able to generate a 9 point halftime lead.  In the second half the Panther's continued to play impressively on both sides of the ball, and out scored the Cowboy's 36-30 in the half, which gave UNI an impressive 71-54 victory. UNI used a well balanced attack on offense which included five players scoring in double digits. UNI senior and MVC player of the year, Seth Tuttle, had another big game with 14 points and 9 rebounds, but it was the Panther's bench that turned out to be the game changer as UNI's bench outscored Wyoming's bench 32-2. UNI's impressive bench play was led by reserve guard Paul Jesperson scored 16 points while shooting 3 for 6 from behind the arc.

With the win UNI set a school record for most wins in a season with 31 wins the Panther's will advance to the round of 32 in this years's NCAA tournament and will face the 4th seeded Louisville Cardinals on Sunday, March  22nd at 8:40 P.M..  Louisville will be a tough mach up for the Panther's as the Cardinals  finished the season with a 25-8 record which included a narrow 57-55 victory in the round of 64 against UC Irvine. Louisville's offense is lead by guard Terry Rozier who has averaged 17 points per a game this season. Rozier is one of Louisville's best shooters and made over 40-3 pointers this season. The Panther's offense will be tested by Louisville's impressive defense which ranks in the top 20 in points allowed, blocks, and steals per game.  The winner of this match up will move on to the Sweet 16 and will face the winner of the Villanova vs. North Carolina State game.