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

UNI’s Difficult Schedule

Jacobson and the Panthers have earned the nickname ‘Jake & The Giant Killers’. The 17-year veteran schedules topflight opponents and very often takes them down. Jacobson-coached teams have defeated two, Number One ranked opponents and nine nationally ranked teams overall.

Under Jacobson the Panthers have defeated 24 ‘power five conference’ foes in 17 seasons. They’ll play three such adversaries during this season’s ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’. They open the Bahamas-based event with Number 17 North Carolina. The field includes Number 14 Arkansas, Number 23 Villanova, Memphis, Michigan, Stanford and Texas Tech.

Underrated North Texas (87 Kenpom.com) and South Florida, Richmond and Toledo are all high-level, mid-major programs. North Texas, last year’s National Invitation Tournament champion has a new coach and has moved to the American Athletic Conference. South Florida also hails from the AAC.

Richmond coach Chris Mooney has accumulated over 340 career wins and many expect the Spiders to rebound from an ‘off year’. Toledo returns two starters from its 27-win team and head coach Tod Kawalczyk has racked up 391 career victories.

Loras College, Prairie View A&M, Alcorn State and Northern Illinois round out the Panther schedule.

With a loaded roster and a healthy schedule, the Panthers have the right ingredients to build a national resume.

The Missouri Valley Conference consists of twelve teams and league members play twenty, conference games. Each team plays nine Valley opponents in a home and home fashion and then play two other teams one time.

UNI’s league schedule finds them playing at Illinois State and hosting Indiana State. A two-game road trip in late January to Drake and at Bradley could be the critical portion of UNI’s league slate.