Kings of the North

Iowa Rivalry Takes Center Stage

(St. Louis, MO) – Drake and Northern Iowa consistently finish in the top third of the Missouri Valley Conference standings. Wednesday, we will find out who can currently claim to be the Valley’s kings of the north.

During the MVC Game of the Week, Drake (18-2, 8-2) entertains UNI (13-8, 7-3) at 6:00 pm on Gray Media television stations. The two Iowa rivals hope to keep themselves in the hunt for a conference title and assert themselves as ‘kings of the north’.

Iowa Rivalry

These two neighbors have played 86 times. While Northern Iowa has dominated the overall numbers (52-34), the Bulldogs have won seven of the last nine games. By-the-way, they’ve split their six Arch Madness encounters.

Drake has won the last two, Arch Madness titles and the Bulldogs are riding a four-season streak of finishing second in the league race. During those four seasons Loyola, UNI, Bradley and Indiana State claimed the regular season titles. UNI captured regular season crowns in 2020 and 2022.

Each head coach has enjoyed outstanding success. UNI’s Ben Jacobson is coaching in his nineteenth season and is a five time MVC coach of the year. He is the Valley’s all-time winningest coach in conference action. Drake’s Ben McCollum has enjoyed historic success in the Division 2 ranks and has obviously brought that success with him to Des Moines.

McCollum won four national championships at Northwest Missouri State, and he is a native Iowan. Jacobson’s tenure at UNI is longer than his 19 in the lead chair. ‘Coach Jake’ was a five-year Panther assistant before becoming the head coach.

While there is not one Iowa native on the Drake squad, ‘Des Moines Hometown Team’ has five players from the Kansas City area and three more from Missouri. Expect future McCollum teams to recruit the ‘Hawkeye State’ more vigorously.

UNI boasts of seven players from Iowa, three from Wisconsin and one from Minnesota. That has been the hotbed of Jacobson’s recruiting success for years.

McCollum says the rivalry between the two programs is very real.

Jacobson echoes those sentiments. The ‘Dean of Valley Coaches’ says rivalry games just mean more. They mean more to the fans, but also to the players and coaches.

Halfway Point Evaluation

Drake has won six straight games and UNI two-in-a-row. Each is chasing Bradley (9-1) and contending with Belmont (7-3) for the Valley’s’ top spot. Win-loss records matter, but both of these coaches are focused on long-term success and player development.

McCollum says his team is growing in maturity and is still learning the various ways they have to play to be successful. The first-year Drake leader is willing to adapt some of his style to fit his roster’s personnel.

Coming from a ‘business-like’ victory at Indiana State, Jacobson says his team’s physicality, intensity on both ends of the floor were very good.

Injuries are a concern for every team and Northern Iowa has been without its two predicted point guards all season. One of them, Cael Schmitt has returned and played limited minutes during the last three games. However, forward Leon Bond sustained a knee injury Saturday, that will keep him out of the lineup for a while, and perhaps for the rest of the season.

(That MRI was conducted after this interview and UNI continues to monitor the situation)

Kings of the North Matchups

These two teams don’t have similar personnel, but they employ similar styles. They are efficient, methodical and do what it takes to succeed. For each of these coaches, the process is just as important as the result.

Drake plays at the slowest pace in college basketball and Northern Iowa doesn’t exactly play like Bugs Bunny. But the two are the Valley’s top two shooting teams in league play and yet in this ‘three-point era of college hoops, they rank ninth (UNI) and twelfth (Drake) in long distance connections.

Drake leads the league in scoring defense and rebound margin and part of that distinction can be tied to their ‘pace of play’ and their scrappy approach to every facet of the game. McCollum says his team makes the extra effort plays and have to play with grit.

Knowing this game will be filled with long possessions, Jacobson wants his team to stay ultra-focused. He says Drake runs great offensive patterns and they keep running them over and over to find a crack in the opposing defense. Jacobson notes, rebounding will be a key component to Wednesday night’s game.

The Players 

Drake’s Bennett Stirtz is the odds-on favorite to be the Valley’s player of the year. Jacobson says Stirtz’s unique ability and mental approach provide a big challenge. The Bulldogs are loaded with experienced players, and players that have competed alongside one another.

McCollum is looking forward to matching wits with coach Jacobson. He says he admires the way Jacobson gives back to community and is ‘what mid-major basketball is all about’. He says the Panthers play hard and determined basketball.

Stirtz leads the Valley in scoring, assists and steals. His teammates at both Northwest Missouri and Drake, Mitch Mascari (11.9 ppg) and Daniel Abreu (11.3) are outstanding shooters.

UNI’s Tytan Anderson is fourth in scoring, third in rebounds ranks in the Valley’s top eleven in both steals and assists. Without Bond, Jacobson will need additional contributions from Ben Schwieger, center Jacob Hutson and the league’s top three-point shooter Trey Campbell.

Coach Jacobson says when Schwieger’s confidence grows he will be a unique, game-changing player.

Head to YouTube to watch our entire conversation with Ben McCollum or our interactions with Ben Jacobson.

Starting the second half of the Valley season with a rivalry victory will be huge for whichever team secures it. They will hover near the top of the standings and at least briefly, will be known as the kings of the north.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo of Ben Jacobson, courtesy of unipanthers.com.