Important Early Season Game

Murray State visits Northern Iowa

(St. Louis, MO) – Murray State’s visit to Northern Iowa is an important early season game. The Racers just did the unthinkable, winning at Drake and have a second game on their Iowa road trip in Cedar Falls. UNI just suffered its first conference loss on the road at Valparaiso.

Wednesday’s contest is the ‘MVC – Game of the Week’ and can be seen on Gray Media stations throughout the Valley footprint and on Matrix Midwest in St. Louis.

Murray State (8-7, 2-2) is one of seven Missouri Valley Conference teams tied for fourth place. Bradley (4-0), Indiana State (3-1) and Northern Iowa (3-1) are just in front of that crowded group of teams.

The Racers just snapped Drake’s 28-game, home winning streak and now play a UNI team that is 8-1 inside the McLeod Center. Steve Prohm’s team earned a road win last season against the Panthers.

The Coaches and Comparisons

While Murray State’s time in the Valley has been short, these coaches know each other from Prohm’s time at Iowa State. UNI’s Jacobson is the MVC’s longest tenured coach and has racked up more ‘in-league’ wins than anyone in conference history.

Road teams have won a whopping 11 out of twenty-four Valley contests and Jacobson says one of the things he loves about the MVC is that every game is tough and requires teams to perform at high levels.

Prohm says the Racers’ recent win at Drake did require determination, focus and ‘buy in’ from his players.

Each of these veteran coaches has claimed four regular season championships. While Jacobson has won four, end-of-season, conference tournament titles, Prohm has captured three.

League titles and tournament positioning are all a part of why this is an important early season game.

The Matchup

Both teams lost some key players to graduation and the portal, and yet these are veteran laden teams. Four UNI players transferred that had garnered some kind of Valley-wide honor, but players like Tytan Anderson, Jacob Hutson and Trey Campbell returned and Jacobson added some key veterans.

Murray State needed some rebuilding too. Losing some all-conferenct-type players, Prohm re-loaded with some players of proven abilities. The Racers play a methodical style of offense and defensively they deny the three-point shot. Murray is the Valley’s best and rank fortieth nationally allowing just .292 of their opponents’ three-pointers to succeed.

Jacobson says he really likes the way Prohm has built his roster, noting that Murray’s older players are producing the desired results.

Meanwhile, UNI leads the Valley and is second nationally in field goal percentage (.516). Neither team takes a fast-paced approach to offense and each plays steady defense. UNI allows 67.5 points per game and the Racers yield just 68.7.

Jacobson says ball movement and confidence are the keys to the Panthers’ offensive philosophy.

While Murray played on Sunday, UNI played a road game Saturday. Each coaching staff is working on game-planning and film watching, but Prohm says even in the early stages of the scouting report, he knows the difficulty of playing the Panthers.

Game time on GTN stations is set for 6 pm.

Wood’s Role in an Important Early Season Game

Murray State guard JaCobi Wood is finishing an outstanding career. After playing two seasons at Belmont, the 6’2, preseason all-Valley selection is finishing his third with the Racers.

Wood is closing in on 1,500 career points, 500 assists, 200 three-pointers, 150 steals and likely will reach 500 rebounds by the end of the season.

During Sunday’s win at Drake, the Racers were trying to protect a lead, until Drake finally took the lead with 2:10 left. Wood’s crucial, physical ‘traditional’ three-point-play put the Racers right back in front.

We asked Prohm and Jacobson to reflect on Wood’s leadership and accomplishments.

Please watch our entire interview with Coach Prohm here, and our conversation with Jacobson here.

These two coaches know they are playing in an important early season game.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo of JaCobi Wood, courtesy of goracers.com.