#25/#22 Northern Iowa (24-3, 14-2) @ Evansville (7-20, 1-15)
Roberts Stadium
Evansville, IN 7:05 CT
With the regular season Missouri Valley title already in hand, what else are the Panthers playing for? They are playing for seeding in the Big Dance. An impressive 24-3 record and rankings in both polls, a flury of late season wins can only add to their resume. With their RPI in the top 20 now, it got a boost Friday after a 71-62 home win over Old Dominion. Seeing his career coming to an end shortly, senior Ali Farokhmanesh scored 23 to lead the Panthers.
Evansville once again came up on the wrong side of the scoring column, dropping their Bracket Buster game on Saturday to UIC by a score of 82-80. They gave up a game winning basketball to allow the Flames to grab their only second half lead and the victory. A quick turnaround now, just three days after that loss, the Purple Aces have a shot to play spoiler again. They upset Wichita earlier in the season to knock them out of an at-large spot. While they may not be able to knock UNI out with a loss, a win would give Coach Simmons a quick glimpse of the future.
– Panon
