UNI TO FACE DEPAUL IN FIRST ROUND OF 2009 USVI PARADISE JAM

The University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team will face DePaul from the Big East Conference in the first round of the 2009 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, to be held Nov. 20-23, 2009, at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, USVI.

UNI and DePaul will square off in the tournament’s first game, to be held at Noon (Iowa time) on Friday, Nov. 20. The Panthers will face either Tennessee or East Carolina in their second game. The other two first round match ups are Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) versus Boston College, and Purdue against South Dakota State. Purdue, Tennessee, Boston College and UNI each advanced to the NCAA tournament this past March.

The losing teams from the first day’s action will meet in the consolation semifinals on Nov. 21, with the four winning teams meeting in the championship semifinals on Nov. 22. All eight teams will play on Nov. 23, culminating with the championship game that night at 7:30 pm (CST).

Now in its 10th year, the Paradise Jam is annually one of college basketball’s premier early-season neutral-site tournaments. Last year, Connecticut defeated Wisconsin for the Paradise Jam championship. All games will be played at the state-of-the-art University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and at least four of the games will be broadcast nationally by Fox Sports.

UNI returns all five starters and seven of its top eight scorers from last year’s team that finished 23-11 overall and earned both the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships, while making its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in the past six years.


2009 Paradise Jam Schedule – All times Central Standard Time

Friday, Nov. 20

Game 1 – UNI vs. DePaul, Noon
Game 2 – Tennessee vs. East Carolina, 2:30 pm
Game 3 – Boston College vs. Saint Joseph’s, 5 pm
Game 4 – Purdue vs. South Dakota State, 7:30 pm

Saturday, Nov. 21

Game 5 – Loser G1 vs. Loser G2, 5 pm
Game 6 – Loser G3 vs. Loser G4, 7:30 pm

Sunday, Nov. 22

Game 7 – Winner G1 vs. Winner G2, 5 pm
Game 8 – Winner G3 vs. Winner G4, 7:30 pm

Monday, Nov. 23

Game 9 – Loser G5 vs. Loser G6, Noon
Game 10 – Winner G5 vs. Winner G6, 2:30 pm
Game 11 – Loser G7 vs. vs. Loser G8, 5 pm
Game 12 – Winner G7 vs. Winner G8, 7:30 pm