(St. Louis, MO) – There are no red lines for the Missouri Valley Conference. When teams in your bracket lose a game, a little red line runs through your selection. Wichita State and Northern Iowa avoided the red line on Friday.
UNI (31-3) won easily and the Shockers (29-4) had to come from behind to edge Indiana. MVC teams are 5-0 this postseason, with the two most important wins coming Friday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Panthers Get Up Early
The Panthers won it 71-54 as five players scored double figures, led by Paul Jesperson’s 16. UNI led by 11 at the half and cruised to the win. Head Coach Ben Jacobson is now 3-0 in second round NCAA games.
Paul Jesperson – unipanthers.com
Others in double figures were Seth Tuttle with 14, 13 for Nate Buss and 10 each for Deon Mitchell and Wes Washpun.
Northern Iowa played their patented defense, holding Wyoming to 54 points. Jacobson’s team yields less than 56 points per game, but pushed the pace a little bit more than usual. UNI buried nine three pointers, led by Jesperson’s 3 of 6 performance.
Shockers Fight Through
Wichita State did not look like themselves in the first half of their game with Indiana. They trailed by three, but were kept in the game by the heroic play of Fred VanVleet. With Ron Baker struggling with his shot, VanVleet took over the scoring load, finishing with 27 points.
Ron Baker
WSU couldn’t buy a three pointer, making two of 13, so they drove to the rim, drawing fouls and making 85% of their 34 free throws. While Baker couldn’t ‘throw it in the ocean (3 of 13 from the field), he collected five steals and made nine of 10 free throws.
Zach Brown scored a career high 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Next up for Wichita State, the Kansas Jayhawks. They’ll finally meet one another on the court.
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ICYMI: Semifinal # 2 today at #ArchMadness will feature a contrast of styles as # 5 @UIC_MBB faces # 4 @RacersHoops in the 2:30 game.
It's final: @UNImbb 68 @UEAthletics_MBB 59. The Panthers get @Redbird_MBB on Friday night. Campbell finishes with 23 points. Smith with a double-double. AJ Casey was great with 23 & 10. Panthers with 16 assists.
4:05 left: @UNImbb 57 @UEAthletics_MBB 54. Aces' ball. UNI upside? Campbell with 21 points. Down side - Bond 0/6 from deep. UE upside? Casey with 20 & 9. Down Side? 2/11 from deep in the second half. Anybody's game at #ArchMadness
7:25 left: @UNImbb 55 @UEAthletics_MBB 52. Trey Campbell with 21 points for the Panthers and AJ Casey with 18 for the Aces. Tristan Smith is such a game changer. He has 8 pts & 9 rebounds, but that doesn't tell the story. #ArchMadness
