The 2016–17 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Iowa during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by eleventh-year head coach Ben Jacobson, played their home games at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, IA as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the regular season 14–16, 9–9 in MVC play to finish in a tie for third place. As the No. 3 seed in the MVC tournament, they lost to Missouri State in the quarterfinals.
Previous season The Panthers finished the 2015–16 season with a record of 23–13, 11–7 in Missouri Valley play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They defeated Southern Illinois, Wichita State, and Evansville to win the Missouri Valley tournament and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As a No. 11 seed, they defeated Texas in the first round to advance to the second round, where they lost to Texas A&M.
Preseason The Panthers were picked to finish in third place in the MVC preseason poll. Jeremy Morgan was selected as preseason Missouri Valley Conference player of the year.
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Aarias Austin 1 G 6'4" 180 Junior Gurnee, IL Transferred to Minnesota State Paul Jesperson 4 G 6'0" 206 RS senior Merrill, WI Graduated Matt Bohannon 5 G 6'4" 195 Senior Marion, IA Graduated Wes Washpun 11 G 6'1" 175 Senior Cedar Rapids, IA Graduated Robert Kanar 22 G 6'1" 180 RS sophomore Mundelein, IL Transferred to Missouri–Kansas City
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous school Hunter Rhodes 21 G 6'0" 175 Junior Canton, IL Junior college transferred from Kirkwood CC Jordan Ashton 23 G 6'4" 195 RS senior Mount Pleantsant, MI Transferred from Iowa State. Will be eligible to play immediately since Ashton graduated from Iowa State.
2016 recruiting class
2017 recruiting class
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Missouri Valley Conference regular season
! colspan="9" style=| Missouri Valley tournament
Panther Sports Network (PSN) Cedar Falls Utilities Ch. 15/HD415; KCRG-TV Ch. 9.2; WHO-DT Ch. 13.2; KGCW Ch. 26, Time Warner CableKC Channel 324, Comcast SportsNet Chicago
References