Traditional Rivals in the Night Cap

Semifinal Between Bradley and UNI

(St. Louis, MO) – Traditional rivals will meet in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament’s semifinal round. Bradley and Northern Iowa are facing one another for the eightieth time in their storied histories. Bradley leads the all-time series 40-39.

Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson is the longest tenured head coach and Bradley’s Brian Wardle has been on hand the second longest. Jacobson is coaching in his twentieth season and Wardle is in year eleven.

During their previous seven Arch Madness meetings, the Braves have won four times. Northern Iowa has captured five Arch Madness titles and Bradley has collected four. With this visit to the semifinals, the Braves move into a tie with arch rival Illinois State for the most semifinal appearances in the tournament’s 50-year history (24).

These two, highly decorated coaches have split their 24 meetings. The teams split their regular season games and will meet in today’s 5:00 pm semifinal.

While Bradley (21-11) is playing in its fourth straight semifinal game, UNI has reached the final four for the third time in the last five seasons.

Bradley

The Braves survived a double-overtime scare against Valparaiso in the quarterfinals as Alex Huibregste hit a clutch three to send the game into the second extra session. BU prevailed 90-84 as five Braves reached double-figures.

Huibregste finished with 15 points and Jaquan Johnson added 18.

The Braves struggled from long distance Friday, but were the MVC’s second best three-point shooting team during conference play.

Ahmet Jonovic contributed eighteen points and his matchup with UNI’s Will Hornseth will bare watching. Hornseth was named to the league’s most improved team.

Traditional Rivals – Northern Iowa

The Panthers continued their outstanding record with Tristan Smith in the lineup. UNI is 19-6 with the grad transfer in the lineup and 2-6 without him.

Jacobson’s squad defeated Evansville 68-59 on Thursday and Illinois State 74-52 on Friday. While Bradley has reached the twenty-win plateau for the fourth straight season and the seventh under Wardle, this is UNI’s second-straight at that level and the eleventh time uner Jacobson.

Second-team all-Valley guard Trey Campbell will be playing in his 132^nd game in a UNI uniform and is the only Panther to eclipse the 1,000-point mark (1,353), 500 rebounds (503) and 300 (322) assists. Today’s game will be his eighth Arch Madness appearance.

The winner heads to Sunday’s championship game. For Bradley it would be their eleventh title game appearance and UNI’s eighth.

These traditional rivals should give us a good show in today’s night cap.

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