The Basics
The Drake (17-6, 8-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play) men's basketball team will return to the Knapp Center to host rival UNI (12-10, 8-4) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
 
Broadcast Information
Wednesday's game against Missouri State will be televised live on the MVC Sports Network consisting of Bally Sports Midwest and NBC Sports Chicago. The states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska will be blacked out on ESPN+, but the game will stream on the Bally Sports app and BallySports.com in the Bally Sports Midwest, Indiana, Kansas City and South footprints.

102.1/1350 ESPN Des Moines is the radio home of Drake men's basketball with Michael Admire back to describe the play-by-play with Paul Doerrfeld providing analysis.

Scouting UNI
The Panthers had won three games in a row before a 79-71 loss at Indiana State on Saturday. Norwalk, Iowa, native Bowen Born paced UNI with 20 points against the Sycamores while freshman swingman Michael Duax added 17 points and seven rebounds in the setback.

Born, a sophomore guard, is near the top of MVC in scoring averaging 18.8 points this season. Sophomore swingman Tytan Anderson has been a force on the boards logging 9.4 rebounds per game to pair with 13.2 points per game. Sophomore guard Nate Heise has been out since Nov. 11 against Richmond.

The Panthers finished non-conference play with a 4-6 record but are off to an 8-4 MVC start.

UNI was picked to finish fifth in the 2022-23 MVC preseason poll after winning the 2021-22 MVC regular season title.

Currently the longest-tenured head coach in the Missouri Valley Conference, Ben Jacobson owns a 334-210 record in his 17 seasons at the helm of the UNI men's basketball program.

Series vs. UNI
UNI leads the all-time series, 51-31.

The two teams split their meetings last season, with both teams winning in their rival's arena. Drake prevailed in overtime at UNI, 82-74 on Jan. 22, 2022, behind a team-high 18 points from Roman Penn.
 
The matchup in Des Moines last year also needed OT with the Panthers clipping the Bulldogs, 74-69 despite a 15 point and 8 rebound performance by Tucker DeVries. Drake had won four consecutive games in the series before the Feb. 5, 2022 loss at the Knapp Center.

Drake owns a 20-19 record at home against UNI.

Sturtz Works
Standing just 6'3" and weighing 180 pounds, Garrett Sturtz is now the all-time leading rebounder in Drake men's basketball history with 858 career rebounds and counting. Sturtz broke Melvin Mathis' (1982-86) mark of 854.
 
Gritty Road Win
Drake held Belmont to just one 3-pointer (1-for-16) on Sunday to snap the Bruins' seven-game win streak with a gritty 79-61 road victory. The Bulldogs have won three straight road games.
 
Roman Penn and Sturtz led Drake in scoring with 16 points. Penn dished out a team-high seven assists while Conor Enright totaled a career-high six assists of his own in a starting role. Nate Ferguson delivered 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
 
Up Next
Drake will begin a two-game road swing at Valparaiso on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m.