West No. 11 – Northern Iowa (Overall: 22-12, Conf: 11-7)
Team Strengths:
The Northern Iowa Panthers are good at a bunch of things, but they are the absolute best when it comes to preventing opponents’ free throws. No team in the nation gave up fewer free throws this season. They also turn the ball over very infrequently, and play very sound defense.
And on offense, they will launch away from beyond the arc, and hit a very good percentage of them. They used those threes – and a whole lot of Wes Washpun – to bring down not one, but two top-five-ranked teams this season in North Carolina and Iowa State.
UNI is one of those teams that live by the three. However, if those threes suddenly stop falling in the tournament, it will also die by the three. The Panthers just don’t have the size in their roster to score with any consistency inside, which is also why they’ve consistently gotten crushed on the boards. In the wrong matchup, that inability to control the glass could spell doom for the Panthers.
