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GAME NOTES: The two teams at opposite ends of the Missouri Valley Conference standings mix it up on the hardwood at Roberts Stadium tonight, as 25th-ranked Northern Iowa pays a visit to the Evansville Purple Aces.

Even though they already have the regular-season title sewn up in the MVC, the Panthers have to be careful that they don't lose their intensity down the stretch. On Friday night the team took care of Old Dominion, one of the teams that is on top in the Colonial Athletic Association, handing the Monarchs a 71-62 setback at home. The victory was the second in a row and the eighth in the last nine outings for a UNI team that is perfect at home through 13 games and has now won a school-record 24 games in 2009-10.

As for the Purple Aces, a team that has won just once in MVC action so far this season, they too took a break from league play over the weekend to contend against Illinois-Chicago at home, a meeting that resulted in a narrow 82-80 setback. The defeat was the third in a row and the 17th in the last 18 decisions for a squad that actually did the Panthers a favor just two weeks ago by defeating Wichita State at home.

These schools met on New Year's Day at the McLeod Center where Northern Iowa captured a convincing 65-46 win, which means the Panthers now lead the all- time series by a count of 18-17. UNI has taken 10 in a row from Evansville.

Ali Farokhmanesh saw to it that the Missouri Valley Conference would get off on the right foot in the BracketBusters event over the weekend as he scored a team-best 23 points on 5-of-9 shooting behind the three-point line against Old Dominion. Also scoring in double figures for the home team was Kwadzo Ahelegbe who tallied 10 points and combined with Farokhmanesh to convert 11-of-12 at the free-throw line. Leading the team in scoring in the last three games, Farokhmanesh is actually fourth overall in scoring with his 10.0 ppg, trailing the likes of Adam Koch (12.3 ppg), Jordan Eglseder (12.2 ppg) and Ahelegbe (10.9 ppg). Making the road to the end of the regular season a bit more bumpy is the fact that Eglseder is in the midst of serving a three-game suspension and will not be available against the Purple Aces and that means UNI has to find a replacement for his team-best 7.6 rpg in addition to his point production. However, as long as the defense can hold opponents to just 55.4 ppg, it may not be an issue.

Evansville led by as many as 14 points barely four minutes into the second half on Saturday, but the Purple Aces simply could not hold it together as they allowed UIC to shoot 62.5 percent from the field after the break and watched the Flames flicker at the right time in the waning moments. Except for Kavon Lacey who finished with just a single point, every starter for Evansville hit for double figures beginning with Clint Hopf with his 18 points. James Haarsma added 17 points, Colt Ryan 16 and six assists and Denver Holmes 12 points and five dishes in the losing effort. Over the last five games, the Aces have had four different leading scorers, which in some cases might tell the story of a balanced scoring attack, but in this case it is everything but that as the team struggles to find consistency. Ryan leads the group in scoring with his 14.9 ppg, yet he is shooting just 38.1 percent from the floor as the only player to have started every game for Evansville. Haarsma adds 11.1 ppg and 7.2 rpg and Holmes another 10.7 ppg, yet the Aces are still being outscored by more than four points per game right now.

As long as the Panthers can keep their focus and not look beyond this game they should be alright. However, this has all the makings of a trap game for UNI since it already has earned the title and Evansville has nothing to lose.