Arch Madness Game Eight Preview

Northern Iowa & Valparaiso

(St. Louis, MO) – Arch Madness has rolled into its second day. The 35th edition of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament is rich with tradition, and yet Valparaiso is making just its third appearance in the downtown St. Louis event. Our game eight preview features our conversation with Northern Iowa announcer JW Cox.

Cox points to the team’s six-game winning streak as one of the real ‘highs’ of the season, which led to a first-place opportunity in a home game with Drake.

“The high is the stretch heading into that Drake game, when the Panthers were able to really get things rolling. The team learned they could be competitive and challenge for a league title and that set up that big showdown.”

That controversial loss might have been the ‘low’ of the season. UNI fans felt officiating was a critical part of a narrow loss to the Bulldogs.

Leon Bond III’s injury impacted the team in several key ways, but he returned to limited duty during the season’s last game. Cox says he expects Bond to play around ten minutes in tonight’s contest.

Without Bond, they lost a little physicality, offensive firepower and defensive prowess.

“He is so eager to get back out there,” said Cox. “The biggest blow that that injury took to the team was the way he was becoming a huge ‘on ball’ defender and a part of what they wanted to do on defense.“

Game Eight Preview – Valpo

One of Northern Iowa’s (20-11, 14-6) league losses occurred at Valparaiso. The Beacons (14-18) won it 80-73. Cox says there is a wild card associated with Friday’s game. Valley ‘Freshman of the Year‘ All Wright wasn’t playing much when the Panthers lost to Valpo.

 

Tytan Anderson, Jacob Hutson and Tre Campbell are UNI’s most know commodities. So I asked Cox who might be an ‘ace-in-the-hole’ for head coach Ben Jacobson. He named Ben Schwieger.

 

Game time on your local Gray Media TV stations is set for 8:30 pm.

Do Good