About the only thing decided so far in the Mo Valley race is ISU Red will finish 9th and Evansville will finish last. A dive on the floor for a loose ball late in Saturday’s loss to Loyola ended with a broken nose for AJ Green. “I don’t remember it being quite like this the last two, three, four years. Other than that? The other thing that’s come back this year is crowds.”ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENTA dive on the floor for a loose ball late in Saturday’s loss to Loyola ended with a broken nose for AJ Green. But overtime was a nightmare for UNI. The Panthers are at Indiana State on Thursday at 6 p.m.With that in mind, here’s what we learned this week at Coach Ben Jacobson’s news conference:Green also dealt with a severe black eye earlier this week, but, according to Jacobson. Green finally canned a jumper, but it was too late.The loss snapped a six-game win streak for UNI (22-4, 11-3) and allowed Loyola (18-9, 10-4) to cut the Panthers’ Missouri Valley Conference lead down to one game.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENTLoyola’s Keith Clemons had 25 points.
Green went scrambling for a loose ball early in the extra period, and slammed his face on the court. It did seem he was out of whack.
Will AJ Green's broken nose play a part in how UNI finishes their season? His bleeding face was treated, and he continued playing.Panther center Austin Phyfe battled Krutwig and had 12 points, a career-best 17 rebounds and seven assists.
ANTHONY JOSHUA will have doctors fix his broken nose before aiming to clean up the heavyweight division in 2018. The fighter was bleeding heavily following a headbutt during his 10th-round stoppage… Jacobson also said this week Green will wear a face mask for protection.“At that point (of the second half) for guys that haven’t played — now you’re 25, 28 minutes into the game — as much as I trust (Pickford), Antwan and Noah (Carter) and (Dahl), they’ve helped us win games, but you get 25 to 28 minutes into a game and you really haven’t played many possessions that’s a tough time,” Jacobson said.After getting behind by 16 points in the first half of Saturday night’s loss, the Panthers rotation shrunk as Jacobson leaned on his starters to get the game back even.CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa’s third Missouri Valley Conference loss at second-place Loyola-Chicago on Saturday night didn’t eliminate its NCAA tournament at-large chances.UNI’s NET ranking dropped from 36 to 40 after its loss to the Ramblers, but with no regular season quad 1 or quad 2 games remaining, it’s likely the Panthers (22-4, 11-3) will need to win all four games before the MVC tournament begins.Key reserves Tywhon Pickford, Justin Dahl and Antwan Kimmons played a combined 10 minutes while all five starters played more than 40 due to the game going into overtime. the Panthers’ leading scorer will not miss any games and has been in good spirits. Cameron Krutwig had 21 points and 11 rebounds. BOXING legend Mike Tyson left Jackass star Steve O with black eyes - when he broke his Throughout the five-minute OT — in which Loyola outscored the Panthers 11-2 — fatigue seemed to catch up with UNI’s starters.With only four games remaining in the regular season, it’s become unmistakably obvious home teams have held a decided advantage against their conference foes.It did, however, shrink the Panthers’ margin for error considerably.“Most likely (AJ) will be wearing a mask ... whether it’s the short-term or the entire rest of the season,” Jacobson said.
Warning This story contains elements that may not be suited for a younger audience (PG-13). UNI is at Indiana State (14-10, 7-6) on Thursday.Green, who was 2-of-10 from the arc to that point, tied the game with a 3-pointer with four seconds left.The Panthers trailed by seven points with 2:38 left in regulation, but Isaiah Brown canned two 3-pointers and Trae Berhow hit a jumper to make it 71-68 with 48 seconds left.CHICAGO — AJ Green got Northern Iowa into overtime, but after smashing his nose on the floor of Gentile Arena, couldn’t lift the Panthers over the finish line, with Loyola winning, 82-73.“AJ getting hit in his face on the floor; he may have broke his nose,” UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said on the Panther Radio Network.