The Sun Devil men's basketball team will head to Puerto Rico to participate in the tenth Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the first round opponent will be Northern Iowa. The game will be played on Thursday, November 17 at 5:30 Atlantic Time (2:30 p.m. in Arizona) and will be televised by ESPNU.
The Panthers recorded their eighth NCAA tournament bid last year, and their first back-to-back tournament seasons since 2009-10. NIU, who had a 70 RPI last year, was 23-13 in 2015-16 and won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title. The Panthers fell to Texas A&M in double overtime in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Panthers 2014-15 season was overshadowed by Wichita State's 17-1 conference record. NIU went 31-4 overall and won the Missouri Valley Tournament championship and finished 16-2 in the Missouri Valley. They made it to the third round of the NCAA tournament that year but were knocked off by Louisville. UNI's RPI was 11. Northern Iowa is one of four teams participating in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off who competed in the postseason in 2016.
The Panthers recorded their eighth NCAA tournament bid last year, and their first back-to-back tournament seasons since 2009-10. NIU, who had a 70 RPI last year, was 23-13 in 2015-16 and won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title. The Panthers fell to Texas A&M in double overtime in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Panthers 2014-15 season was overshadowed by Wichita State's 17-1 conference record. NIU went 31-4 overall and won the Missouri Valley Tournament championship and finished 16-2 in the Missouri Valley. They made it to the third round of the NCAA tournament that year but were knocked off by Louisville. UNI's RPI was 11. Northern Iowa is one of four teams participating in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off who competed in the postseason in 2016.
The Puerto Rico classic has hosted ASU once before in November of 1999 when the Sun Devils went 1-2 with a win against American-Puerto Rico. The winner/losers of the first round game between ASU/NIU will play the winner/losers of the Tulane/Oklahoma game.