The Northern Iowa Panthers are returning to the site of one of their biggest victories in school history, as they earned an 11 seed and a match-up in the N-C-A-A Basketball Tournament against sixth seed Texas Friday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Panthers upset then top-ranked Kansas in the tournament in Oklahoma City their last time there as they advanced to the Sweet 16. Coach Ben Jacobson says it’s nice to go back.

“You know for some of us, it’s familiar,” Jacobson says, “And I think that’s good. They guys who are playing, they guys who really matter, they have not been there before. For some of us it’s nice to be able to go back there, but we’ve got a different team. Those guys haven’t been there,” Jacobson says. Jacobson says he’s only watched a few of the Longhorn’s games, but knows their coach Shaka Smart well from games against his former V-C-U team.

He says he doesn’t know enough about Smart’s Texas team to know if it is like his teams at V-C-U. Jacobson does like the Friday game over Thursday. “One of the things talking about about it all week and getting asked different questions… if I had my choice, I’d rather play on Friday,” Jacobson says. “You do have the extra day of prep, you have a little more time to make travel plans. It takes a little bit of the anxiety out of it because you’ve got that extra 24 hours to do the stuff on the front end.” He is happy with the 11 seed.

He says he thought they would be a 12 seed and would have been surprised to be a 13 seed, and is”mildly surprised” they are a 12. U-N-I had big wins over North Carolina and Iowa State in the non-conference, but started conference play at 2-6 and were 10-11 overall before going on a late season run and winning the M-V-C Tournament. Jacobson says the team has never stopped playing hard and pushing for a change to get back to the N-C-A-A’s.

“Now we didn’t play very good for two-and-a-half weeks, but even in this last six weeks, we have played like a team that’s got something to prove. So, I think that will absolutely be a part of what we do this week,” according to Jacobson. U-N-I is now 22-12. Texas was 20-12 and 11-7 in the Big 12 where they finished fourth.

(Learfield Sports)

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — Tyonna Snow recorded her second straight double-double with 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds and No. 3 seed Missouri State won its 10th Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in 15 trips with a 71-58 victory over top-seeded Northern Iowa on Sunday to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Missouri State (24-9) won its first title since 2006 — for its 14th appearance in the NCAAs. It was the first time in conference history that a third-seeded team won the championship. Liza Fruendt made three 3-pointers and added 16 points for Missouri State. Snow won the MVP after scoring 52 points and grabbing 34 rebounds in their three tournament wins.

Regular-season MVC champion Northern Iowa (22-10) was led by Madison Weekly with 17 points and Sharnae Lamar’s 16. They were both named to the all-tournament team. The Panthers made just 3 of 19 from distance and were outrebounded 40-22.

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Max Scherzer had another solid outing and Ryan Zimmerman made his spring training debut as the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals played to a 4-4 tie on Sunday. Zimmerman, bothered by plantar fasciitis in his left foot since early last season, singled and drove in a run in his first spring at-bat. Scherzer allowed one run and two hits over four innings. He walked one and hit two batters, but also struck out five.

St. Louis starter Michael Wacha was touched for three first-inning runs and allowed six hits while striking out two. He also was charged with a balk and a wild pitch in his two full innings of work. Jeremy Hazelbaker had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run for the Cardinals. Bryce Harper hit a two-run double off Wacha in the first inning.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Donnie Duncan, a former Oklahoma athletic director and Iowa State football coach, has died at the age of 75. Son-in-law Patrick Reardon says Duncan, who suffered from cancer, died in his sleep Saturday in Dallas. Duncan was on Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma football staff from 1973-78, and he helped the Sooners go 62-6-2.

He went 18-24-2 in four seasons at Iowa State. His 1980 and 1981 Cyclone squads were ranked, and the 1981 Cyclones began 5-1-1 and were ranked as high as No. 11 in The Associated Press poll. Duncan’s squads went 3-1 against Iowa, including three straight wins in 1980, 1981 and 1982.

Duncan was executive director of the Sun Bowl and Gator Bowl before returning to Oklahoma. He was athletic director from 1986-96. He became Big 12 director of football operations when the conference formed in 1996.