No. 11 Northern Iowa Faces Bradley in MVC Quarterfinals
Some end of the season conference tournaments are under way in college basketball. The Missouri Valley Conference will have its quarterfinals on Friday with Bradley facing off against Northern Iowa.
Northern Iowa has been one of the surprises this season in college basketball. The Panther are ranked No. 11 in the nation. Northern Iowa on the season is 27-3.
This season the Panthers have lost to Evansville, VCU and this past Saturday to conference rival Wichita State.
Seth Tuttle the player of the year in the MVC was the only Northern Iowa player to scored double figures in the loss on Saturday to the Shockers. He also had 7 rebounds and 6 assists. However, he is one of five seniors on the Panthers team to never win a game in a MVC tournament.
Northern Iowa is 7-1 SU in its past 8 games head to head with Bradley. The Braves are 9-23 on the season and were beaten twice this season by Northern Iowa.
On February 21, the Panthers held Bradley to just 39 points, which is the fewest the Braves have scored since January of 1992.
Of course the defense for Northern Iowa was one of the big reasons the Braves only scored 39 points, but Bradley coach Geno Ford also said his team looked anemic on offense. However, that seems to have been the case for most of the season. Bradley is one of the nation’s worst shooting teams.
The Braves are hitting just 38% of their shots this season and only 35% in their past seven games played.
On Thursday night, Bradley hit only 19 of its 56 shots from the field against Drake during the first round. However, the Braves pulled off an overtime victory of 52-50 and snapped a losing streak of six games.
Auston Barnes had 13 points in the game for Bradley and hit three shots from three-point land. Nate Wells at 7-foot-1 scored 10 points.
Northern Iowa led the MVC this season in scoring and field goal percentage defense. Opponents averaged 54.6 points per game and only 39% from the field.
The Panthers should put away their opponents today and if they can win the semifinals on Saturday a likely conference final matchup will be against their nemesis the Wichita State Shockers for the conference tournament title.
Prediction: Northern Iowa 63 Bradley 47
