KXEL Presents: The Home of the Panthers Basketball Pre-Game Podcast - December 3, 2022

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Welcome

to the Home of the Panthers podcast produced by News Talk 1540 KXCL and presented by Imon Communications.

Experience the Imon Difference.

The Missouri Valley Conference schedule continues for the UNI Panthers today.

UNI meets the purple aces of Evansville at the McLeod Center.

Last year the Panthers got the sweep in this

two-game series.

We're going to talk about that.

We're going to talk about Panther basketball playing conference games already in December and more.

Now with sophomore guard Bowen Bourne.

Bowen, thanks for being back with us as part of our pregame coverage.

Yeah, thanks for having me on.

This is something that you and I got a taste of last year.

The entire Missouri Valley Conference had one of these games in December.

This year it's two.

The conference has gotten bigger.

What's challenging?

What's fun about playing conference opponents already just a month into the season?

Yeah, I think you know initially when you think about it, I think it's just a super big mindset change, you know, it's

Conference games are always tougher a little bit different than the non-conference games And so non-conference games have a little bit of just randomness to them just because you're playing different teams You're playing guys that you're not super familiar with and then you hop into these random, you know kind of conference games right in the middle

And yeah, it just changes it up a little bit.

It just makes your practices a little bit better.

You know, the games just simply mean more.

You know, there's more importance to them.

You need to win as many conference games as you can because at the end of the day, you know, that's where the seeding for the arch madness comes in.

And so, yeah, I think there's a big mindset shift just in terms of

You know, now that you're playing a conference game, you're playing teams that know you, you're playing teams that, um, and guys that you've played against, you know, in previous years that know your strengths, know your weaknesses.

And so it just makes it, you know, more competitive, which also makes it fun.

Last year, the scheduling was new for the Valley, but it's not something that's new to other conferences.

The Big Ten, for example, always has a couple of games

early on against conference opponents before the real meat of the conference schedule arrives.

Was there anything that you were looking at last year going into this situation the first time that helped you kind of wrap your mind around exactly what you described this being a conference game all of a sudden with a different sort of intensity?

Yeah, I mean, I think it was difficult like last year.

I think

you know, we didn't prepare well enough.

And so that's kind of helped us.

You know, obviously last year was the first year that they had kind of introduced it.

You know, we were obviously coming off of a super big win and we went in to Bradley last year and kind of, you know, took them pretty lightly and they ended up coming out with the win.

And so I think, you know, that has also helped that now we are, you know, kind of one year removed from the initial, you know,

Conference game in the middle this season because it was weird, you know I remember talking about it with coach Jake saying you know It's just it's just a little different because like I mentioned there is a mindset shift and there is a little bit of a of more of a care factor because it is a conference game and so Having yeah having one year of it under your belt also helps just

because you just have more practice and you have more experience with what those games are going to be like because they are, yeah, they are super different just because of the physicality and in the scouting, you know, it's all just, you know, basically taken up a notch.

And so it is, again, it's difficult, but that's also what makes it fun because it is more competitive and you know, the games are going to be really good.

We're talking with UNI Panther men's basketball sophomore Bo and born the Panthers and the purple aces of Evansville getting together today game two in the Missouri Valley Conference schedule for UNI.

Let me I guess propose a devil's advocate type question.

You know, you're going to be a different team at the beginning of December than you're going to be at the beginning of January.

And that might be for better or worse.

So maybe it's a wash ultimately, but does that take something away?

You're not the team that you're going to be in a month.

I mean, it kind of doesn't.

It kind of doesn't.

Coach Stig talked to us about this kind of after our last game, you know, where.

these these standings are basically going to sit there you know until we play a next conference game so they're basically going to be there you know whatever your record is if it's 2-0 1-1 or 0-2 we want to give ourselves the best start that we possibly can because you know we're facing it as a team but teams like Evansville Bradley Drake you know all those teams are also

Not the team that they're gonna be when you know March comes and so It is a little you know kind of random because yeah It takes away from you know who you might possibly be in a month You know a month later, but other teams are also going to be growing as well And they're not gonna be the same team that they are you know kind of early December and so yeah, I think it's it's a little bit different But it's also pretty fair because you know everybody that you're playing is also

not super you know experience they've only played a couple games and so it just also you know puts in the importance of being ready and and and being ready for these early conference games because the standings are going to sit where they're going to sit for about a month now and you want to be in the position

to have that to a no spot.

Maybe this isn't a fair question because the schedule is the schedule and you can't do anything about it, but on balance Do you look at these early conference games the matchup earlier in the week against Bradley and today against Evansville ultimately as a net positive or a net negative?

Yeah, I mean, you know, we obviously try to schedule our you know our schedule as hard as we can and we want to play the best teams and so Yeah, it can kind of be

you know, almost a negative in your net just because you might be paired with a team who's not ranked, you know, super high.

And so, but at the end of the day, you're always going out there and you're trying to take care of business.

And so for us, that's regardless of who we would have gotten paired with, we want to go in and come out with two wins in these two early conference games.

And so, yeah, it

It can kind of maybe damage it a little bit, but at the end of the day, your job is to take it one game at a time and try to win as many games as possible.

You and I panther men's basketball sophomore bow and borne with us ahead of the Panthers in the purple aces We've just got a few minutes left to talk about the matchup against today's opponent Evansville and last year 22 point win a big victory for the Panthers the second meeting quite a bit closer Just a five point Panther wins so you and I got both victories.

What was the difference between those two games from what you remember?

Yeah, I feel like last year we played them kind of right at the start of the new year and I feel like that was when we really kind of started had things clicking for us and We really kind of found out you know where our strengths and weaknesses were and kind of up until that point We kind of had a shaky start didn't have the greatest You know be getting to this season that we wanted but I feel like that game was was really a turning point and into kind of you know the team that we ended up being and so

Yeah, obviously, you know, you look at a home game and in a way game, it's obviously tough to win on the road.

But also you mentioned, you know, playing a team the second time, it always just gets a little bit harder and, you know, simply because you've played them before and they can have film and kind of go over that stuff.

always playing a team the second time.

It always just makes it a little bit harder just because they've experienced their team already.

And so, you know, from what I can remember, I just remember, you know, playing Evansville that first time was really kind of a shifting point in our season.

So fans coming to the McLeod Center this afternoon, they know the purple aces around the schedule.

They may not know much else about Evansville.

What would you tell them that they should watch for or know about with this visitor?

Yeah, I mean, they have some good guards.

And again, like with any conference game, I feel like there's a lot of teams in our conference that are really good.

And so just being prepared, you know, for for all that, you know, kind of they're going to throw at us and they have, yes, some solid players and it's our job to kind of limit their players as best as we can.

Bowen, thanks for being back with us and good luck in conference game number two is Panthers try to pick up a victory against the purple aces.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Thanks for listening to the Home of the Panthers podcast presented by I'm On Communications.

Experience the I'm On difference.

I'm Tim Harwood.