The Northern Iowa Panthers (11) may have lost out on the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular season title, but their path to a tournament victory starts against the Bradley Braves.

Northern Iowa saw its 16-game win streak snapped in the regular season finale with Wichita State, which determined the MVC Tournament's top seed. The Panthers had previously beaten the Shockers on their home court, but their foes returned the favor last week.

CLICK HERE to watch the game live via WatchESPN. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET in St. Louis, Mo.

With their coach, Ben Jacobson, named the MVC's Coach of the Year, Northern Iowa is trying to win in St. Louis in a tournament game for the first time in their last five trips.

"The loss at VCU, the loss to Evansville, the loss on Saturday - each game counts as one. And when you make it more than that, the more it has an impact on the next game," Jacobson said in a pregame press conference, according to ESPN. "The three losses, some of the games we've won that you can consider bigger games where you can get distracted, these guys have not. This is no different."

Bradley is 3-15 in MVC play and 9-23 overall, but they are coming off a 52-50 overtime win against Drake in the tournament's first round.

"I'm really proud of the program that we have and the foundation that we have," Jacobson said. "We don't shy away from those expectations, but at no time does it haunt us in any way. That's what this is about. You're going to be striving toward a championship, that's it."