Not this time.
Flashbacks of a past defeat may have filtered through the Northern Iowa crowd Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena, but the Panthers players never flinched during an 81-79 upset of fifth-ranked Iowa State.
“Everybody on our team is fearless,” senior guard Paul Jesperson said. “That is a big part of it. Nobody is going to back down from anybody we play.
“Nobody is afraid of any team we’re going to play.”
Two years ago, Northern Iowa squandered an 18-point lead and suffered a 91-82 overtime loss to the Cyclones at the 2013 Big Four Classic.