Northern Iowa visits UIC after McDermott's 27-point showing

Northern Iowa Panthers (15-14, 10-8 MVC) at UIC Flames (12-15, 9-9 MVC)

Chicago; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Northern Iowa visits UIC after Maya McDermott scored 27 points in Northern Iowa's 80-79 loss to the Drake Bulldogs.

The Flames have gone 8-5 at home. UIC is fifth in the MVC with 14.6 assists per game led by Kristian Young averaging 3.3.

The Panthers are 10-8 in MVC play. Northern Iowa ranks seventh in the MVC with 14.1 assists per game led by McDermott averaging 4.6.

UIC averages 66.8 points per game, 1.9 fewer points than the 68.7 Northern Iowa gives up. Northern Iowa has shot at a 44.9% rate from the field this season, 1.4 percentage points greater than the 43.5% shooting opponents of UIC have averaged.

The Flames and Panthers match up Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Makiyah Williams is scoring 10.1 points per game with 3.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists for the Flames. Ky Dempsey-Toney is averaging 11.7 points and seven rebounds over the last 10 games.

McDermott is shooting 44.7% and averaging 19.2 points for the Panthers. Emerson Green is averaging 11.7 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Flames: 6-4, averaging 66.2 points, 32.6 rebounds, 16.0 assists, 7.9 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 43.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 59.1 points per game.

Panthers: 5-5, averaging 72.2 points, 31.3 rebounds, 12.9 assists, 9.7 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 43.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.