Northern Iowa (11/7/23)

Fans better show up! This team deserves it.

UNI doesn't have the same dominance as they did in late 2010's, however this is still an incredible improvement with scheduling

The spread right now is UNT -5

2 hours ago, CMJ said:

The date wasn't added to the other thread, so given we're only a day away now I figured I'd start the game thread.  Hard not to be excited about this season.  Hell, I'm not sure I've been this eager for a new campaign to start since 2012-2013.  Let's hope things go much, much better than that year did though!!

i shudder just thinking about 2012-2013 and then the next 4 years after. Thank god we are not in that same place

Some game info and odds

https://www.kttc.com/sports/betting/2023/11/07/northern-iowa-north-texas-college-basketball-picks-predictions/

I only saw one mention of the game on Saturday. Why aren't we promoting our best program??? They should have announced that we will be unveiling the NIT Championship banner Tuesday night. Maybe some of the fans that come to the football games would check it out. This wouldn't have cost us a penny. I wish they would hire someone who has a real love for North Texas to promote our sporting events instead of someone from another school who is only here for 2-3 years. 

 

4 hours ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

i shudder just thinking about 2012-2013 and then the next 4 years after. Thank god we are not in that same place

I was there for the Tony Benford era unfortunately 💀

If UNT cared about promoting the banner, they'd have done it on Saturday against Omaha when you're likely to have better attendance due to it being a weekend and you play a weaker opponent so you're more likely to win. Add in the fact that football plays Friday, all eyes would be on basketball this Saturday. Missed opportunity.

just a quick copy/paste to get this in the proper thread:

UNI wasn't particularly good last season (14-18, 9-11 conf), but they do bring back pretty much all their key contributors from last season, including a player injured two games into the season and added a 6'11" transfer from Loyola-Chicago (top program, for those unfamiliar). purely guessing, but I'll assume this is the line-up/rotation we'll see

1. Bowen Born - 5'11" 170, Jr - 17.9ppg, 2.7apg, 36.7% 3-pt
2. Trey Campbell - 6'4" 185, Soph - 7.5ppg, 3.7rpg, 33% 3-pt
3. Michal Duax - 6'6" 215, Soph - 10ppg, 4.7rpg, 57.4% FG%
4. Tytan Anderson - 6'6" 205, Jr - 12.6ppg, 8.5rpg, 15 blocks (team high)
5. Jacob Hutson - 6'11" 250, Jr - 3.5ppg, 1.4rpg, 12-29 (41.4%) 3-pt in three seasons at Loyola-Chicago
Bench
Nate Heise - 6'5" 205, Jr - 12ppg in 2 games in 22-23; 8.6ppg, 4.6rbg, 35.5% 3-pt as Soph in 21-22
Landon Wolf - 6'4" 195 Soph - 7.4ppg, 36.2% 3-pt

small-ish team, but it looks like their 6'5"-ish guards all rebound well for their size. not much for blocking shots...45 as a team (for reference, Abou had 45 last season) and the transfer Hutson has all of 13 in 3 seasons. 

decent perimeter shooting numbers, but considering all these contributors were freshmen/sophomores you'd gotta anticipate some growth year-on-year. 

I think this is gonna be a very difficult test

48 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

just a quick copy/paste to get this in the proper thread:

UNI wasn't particularly good last season (14-18, 9-11 conf), but they do bring back pretty much all their key contributors from last season, including a player injured two games into the season and added a 6'11" transfer from Loyola-Chicago (top program, for those unfamiliar). purely guessing, but I'll assume this is the line-up/rotation we'll see

1. Bowen Born - 5'11" 170, Jr - 17.9ppg, 2.7apg, 36.7% 3-pt
2. Trey Campbell - 6'4" 185, Soph - 7.5ppg, 3.7rpg, 33% 3-pt
3. Michal Duax - 6'6" 215, Soph - 10ppg, 4.7rpg, 57.4% FG%
4. Tytan Anderson - 6'6" 205, Jr - 12.6ppg, 8.5rpg, 15 blocks (team high)
5. Jacob Hutson - 6'11" 250, Jr - 3.5ppg, 1.4rpg, 12-29 (41.4%) 3-pt in three seasons at Loyola-Chicago
Bench
Nate Heise - 6'5" 205, Jr - 12ppg in 2 games in 22-23; 8.6ppg, 4.6rbg, 35.5% 3-pt as Soph in 21-22
Landon Wolf - 6'4" 195 Soph - 7.4ppg, 36.2% 3-pt

small-ish team, but it looks like their 6'5"-ish guards all rebound well for their size. not much for blocking shots...45 as a team (for reference, Abou had 45 last season) and the transfer Hutson has all of 13 in 3 seasons. 

decent perimeter shooting numbers, but considering all these contributors were freshmen/sophomores you'd gotta anticipate some growth year-on-year. 

I think this is gonna be a very difficult test

Good summary.  This is a dangerous game!

The Super Pit
7:00PM CT
ESPN+

 

MGS.com Preview:  Ross Hodge Era Begins Tuesday
OPPONENT Preview:  UNI faces critical first against reigning NIT champions on the road.
Radio:  Varsity Network App
ESPN Game Page
Official NI MBBall
NI Twitter

Edited November 7, 2023 by greenminer

Excited to see how this team looks under Hodge. GMG!

2 hours ago, Green Otaku said:

Excited to see how this team looks under Hodge. GMG!

First games are always tough.  You want to win, but you want to work your starters, then try different player combinations and rotations to see what works in a game situation too.  Curious to see how many players get action.   Hope we get some cushion to let everyone get some action.

4 minutes ago, NT80 said:

First games are always tough.  You want to win, but you want to work your starters, then try different player combinations and rotations to see what works in a game situation too.  Curious to see how many players get action.   Hope we get some cushion to let everyone get some action.

I think Hodge will only play 8 tonight unless we get in foul trouble. I don't know if he trusts the new guys yet. I think he will coach it like he did the exhibition game against Sam Houston. We have some games coming up against Omaha, Angelo State, and Mississippi Valley. Those are games he can experiment with different combinations. Northern Iowa, with everyone back from last year, will be a tough game Probably not the time to see what players are comfortable and know the system. Really need to win at home against a good mid-major program. Can't wait to see the NIT Championship banner go up. GMG!

Any attendance predictions?

I say 3.2K, not expecting much and I won’t ever expect much unless we actually have consistent crowds. Which won’t happen even if we make a sweet 16 run.

 

I do hope I’m wrong 

I hope we have 3K.

 

We should have 5K minimum.

Edited November 7, 2023 by CMJ

1 minute ago, CMJ said:

I hope we have 3K.

 

We should have 5K minimum.

Agreed completely, I would hope we have several hundred students with the promos and such they’ve been doing around campus and on social media.

4.2k

1 hour ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Any attendance predictions?

I say 3.2K, not expecting much and I won’t ever expect much unless we actually have consistent crowds. Which won’t happen even if we make a sweet 16 run.

 

I do hope I’m wrong 

I think that'll be pretty accurate.

4 hours ago, CMJ said:

I hope we have 3K.

 

We should have 5K minimum.

It’s a decent crowd so far with 4 minutes to top we could get to 2-3 thousand maybe….

NT 8 ------- UNI 7

 

15:57 to go

 

 

Already with two treys - looking good early.

Having trouble working it in down low.  UNI with several close shots.  Still feeling our way and knocking the rust off.

Student section looks amazing. Five sections full.

Good lord Aaron you look amazing, we need his NIL deal 5x asap