from the des moines register....
UNI Men's Basketball
Sycamores without Gray vs. Panthers
Northern Iowa will try to bounce back from league loss at Evansville.
By RICK BROWN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
January 9, 2005
Today's Northern Iowa-Indiana State basketball game is strictly black and white.
No Gray.
Indiana State guard Eric Gray is serving the second game of a three-game suspension and will not play against the Panthers in today's 2:05 p.m. game at the Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Ind.
Gray has not played since scoring a career-high 29 points in a 74-69 overtime loss to Drake in Terre Haute on Dec. 30.
Gray left the team after a disagreement with coaches in practice Dec. 31.
He did not travel with the team to a game at Bradley Jan. 2, but returned to practice later in the week.
Coach Royce Waltman suspended Gray for three games, starting with a contest at Illinois State Jan. 6. His suspension will end after a home game against Creighton Jan. 12.
Gray, a sophomore who is averaging 12 points per game, started the first 11 games of the season.
The Sycamores, 5-9 overall and 0-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, have lost seven consecutive games. Five of those losses have been by six points or less or in overtime.
The Sycamores have been competitive in Gray's absence. Indiana State took Bradley to the final minutes before losing, 76-66, and got nipped in the final seconds at Illinois State, 62-61.
Northern Iowa will try to bounce back from a 92-73 loss at Evansville Friday, which snapped its seven-game winning streak.
The Panthers, 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the MVC, fell victim to 67.3 percent field-goal shooting by the Purple Aces.
Evansville made 12 of 20 three-pointers, shot 69 percent from the field in the first half and 65 percent in the second half.
Northern Iowa trailed by eight points at halftime and by six early in the second half, but fell back by shooting 35 percent the second half.