The Northern Iowa men open the Missouri Valley Conference race with a Wednesday afternoon game at Illinois-Chicago. The Panthers open the Valley race with a record of 8-2. The Flames are 4-6 overall and opened conference play with a heartbreaking 87-84 loss at Belmont.

That’s UNI coach Ben Jacobson, who says defensive rebounding will be one of the keys for the Panthers.

Jacobson says he is not concerned with recent struggles at the foul line. The Panthers have misfired 21 times at the charity stripe in the last two games and are just 66 percent on the season.

That will be a four o’clock tip off in Chicago on Wednesday.