Northern Iowa Basketball: 2023-24 season preview and outlook for the Panthers

Northern Iowa Basketball looks like a team that is ready to claim the Missouri Valley Conference title. The Panthers have won two of the last four Valley regular season titles and coach Ben Jacobson has his deepest roster in years.

UNI returns over 90 percent of last year’s minutes played and all but one of last year’s top-ten scorers. Mix in starting guard who missed all of last season due to injury, a high-level transfer and three dynamic freshmen and you have the makings of a title contending team.

Those recent titles were the third and fourth for Jacobson who has won 335 games (third most in league history) and 183 conference contests. He is four Valley victories away from tying coaching legend Henry Iba for the MVC record.

Jacobson has built a schedule that will give the Panthers ample opportunities to build a national reputation and prepare his team for its conference gauntlet.

Returners Bowen Born and Tytan Anderson were recently named to preseason all-Valley teams. Born is a first-teamer and Anderson, the league’s leading rebounder (8.5 per game) landed on the second team.

UNI is coming off a 14-win season, that saw them lose Heise after two games and their starting center, Austin Phyfe never played. Heise’s return brings scoring, defense and leadership to an already outstanding backcourt and the signing of Loyola’s Jacob Hutson to fill the void in the middle makes this an outstanding team.

All-freshman team member Michael Duax and all-bench team member Landon Wolf return along with starting guard Trey Campbell. Jacobson has seven legitimate starting options, a strong bench and a cohesive unit that traveled to Brazil for summer basketball action.