MVC Ranks No. 9 -- The Missouri Valley Conference ranks No. 9 as a league in the NET rankings (Jan. 8). Indiana State leads nine MVC teams among the Top 152 as ISU sits at No. 31. The MVC finished 15th as a league in the Conference NET last year. (The Valley is also up six spots from 16 to 10 in the KenPom league rankings.)
Efficiency = NCAAs -- Indiana State is 36 in offensive efficiency in KenPom. Since 2012, 10 of 12 MVC teams in the Top 35 of KenPom’s OE have earned a spot in the NCAA Tourney (UNI, 2020 - COVID; MOST, 2022 - played in the NIT).
Winning Ways -- Drake and Belmont are two of the winningest programs in the NCAA since the start of the 2019-20 campaign (and through games of 1/7/2024). Drake ranks 8th (110 wins), while Belmont is tied with Duke (108 wins).
Non-Conf Success -- The MVC finished the non-conference regular-season schedule with an 84-48 (.636) record. The +36 ledger (games over .500) is the best in MVC men’s hoops since the 2017-18 campaign, when the Valley was 87-46 (+41), which included post-season play that season.
Sweet Shooting -- Indiana State leads the nation in effective field goal percentage (61.3), is 5th in FG percentage (51.3) and 6th in 3FG percentage (41.0). The Sycamores’ 51.3 is the second-best in the MVC during the shot-clock era.
Young Guns -- Valparaiso is one of the youngest teams in the nation (per KenPom), as the Beacons rank No. 356 (of 362) in experience.
Home Cooking -- The Valley won 83.3 percent of its non-MVC home games (55-11) -- that percentage matches the 14th best in the MVC in the past 50 seasons. Drake earned a win in its final non-league home game of the year (vs. Alcorn State) and extended its non-conference homecourt winning streak to 43 games - the third-best in MVC history. The MVC is 15-9 in home games during league play so far.
Block Party -- UIC leads the MVC and ranks third in the nation in blocks per game (6.5). Only one MVC team since 1987 has recorded 5.0 blocks per game for an entire season.
Defending the Shot -- Since 2010, all but three teams that have led the MVC in FG percentage defense have played in the NCAA Tournament. UIC’s current 38.8 figure leads the MVC and ranks 18th nationally.
Johnson is No. 2 -- Xavier Johnson of Southern Illinois ranks No. 2 in the NCAA in scoring (24.3 ppg). Hersey Hawkins of Bradley was the last MVC player to lead the nation in scoring (1987-88).
Valley Runs Deep -- Notably, MVC men’s teams are 12-3 in their first game in the NCAA Tournament dating back to 2012. The league has now combined for 20 wins in the NCAA Tournament in the past 10 NCAA championships and has earned multiple bids 16 times since 1994. Since 2013, The Valley has had two Final Four appearances, and an MVC team has reached a Sweet 16 a total of 12 times since 1985.
Nation’s 2nd Oldest -- Founded in 1907, the Missouri Valley Conference is the nation’s second-oldest Division I athletic conference (behind only the Big Ten). The MVC is celebrating its 117th season in 2023-24.
In March 2024, The Valley will conduct its 34th St. Louis-based postseason men’s basketball championship. With 34-straight years at the same neutral site, Arch Madness is the second-longest neutral site tenured collegiate tourney in the nation (following only the Big East in New York City). This year's tournament dates are March 7-10 (Thursday-Sunday) at Enterprise Center.
Belmont BRUINS
- Belmont forced a season-high 15 Drake turnovers and limited Drake to a season-low 65 points.
- Senior guard Keishawn Davidson has scored a season-high 14 points against both MVC Iowa schools - 14 points at Northern Iowa Nov. 29 and 14 points vs. Drake Jan. 7.
BRADLEY BRAVES
- "Hickman"ia -- Connor Hickman became the first Braves since Terry Roberts in the 2021-22 season to record back to back 20+ point games for Bradley. Hickman shot 56% from the field this past week and 60%.
- Massive Margins -- Bradley has recorded three straight 20+ point wins since coming back from Christmas break. (vs Truman State +22, at Valparaiso +25, vs Missouri State +26).
- Darius Hannah SZN -- Darius Hannah became just the seventh Brave all-time to shoot 8/8 from the floor or better. In the Braves' home game against Missouri State, Hannah tied his career high for points (19) and continued to stay on track to place top 3 in career FG% at Bradley (currently at 60%).
DRAKE BULLDOGS
- Tucker DeVries averaged 17.5 points per game, 6.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds in two games last week. DeVries finished with a game-high 22 points (8-14 shooting from the field) and six assists in an 88-71 win over Illinois State on Tuesday. He added 13 points and again dished out six assists in the loss at Belmont on Sunday.
- Atin Wright averaged 17.5 points and 2.5 steals in two games last week. He poured in 21 points (4-7 from 3-point range) all in the first half of an 88-71 win over Illinois State on Wednesday. Wright led the team with 14 points and three steals in Sunday’s loss at Belmont.
- HOME SWEET HOME -- Drake will put its 13-game (dating back to last season) winning streak on the line this Wednesday against Indiana State. The Bulldogs are 8-0 inside the Knapp Center so far this season and 77-9 at home during the Darian DeVries coaching era.
- MOVING ON UP -- DeVries has moved into 11th on Drake’s all-time career scoring list after passing former teammate and current graduate manager Garrett Sturtz. DeVries has 1,396 career points and is closing in on Roman Penn (1,410 points) for 10th on the school’s all-time scoring chart.
EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES
- Top Five: On Saturday, the Purple Aces welcomes 7,928 fans to the Ford Center for their game against Murray State. That total was the 5th-largest crowd to witness a UE game inside the Ford Center since it opened in 2011.
- Back on Track: Gage Bobe was a perfect 4-of-4 from long range on Saturday against Murray State and scored a season-high 12 points. Entering the game, Bobe had missed ten triples in a row dating back to the game at BYU on Dec. 5. It was Bobe’s first double-digit game of the season.
UIC FLAMES
- UIC continues its recent stretch of strong ball security, registering a season-low seven turnovers in the win against Valp (previous was eight vs. Incarnate Word on Dec. 21) and finishing with 10 or fewer giveaways for the fifth consecutive game.
- Isaiah Rivera's 24 points just missed his career high of 25 points set on Nov. 10 against Little Rock. It was Rivera's fourth career 20-point game, all of which have come this season following his transfer from Colorado State.
- Marquise Kennedy's eight rebounds were the most he has recorded in a UIC uniform and one off his career high of nine rebounds, set twice before while at Loyola (most recently on Nov. 9, 2021, vs. Coppin State).
ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS
- Against Southern Illinois, Malachi Poindexter scored in double-figures for the third straight game, and the seventh time this season. Now has six games in which he has made at least two three-point baskets this season. His three assists tied a season-high.
- Kendall Lewis reached double-figure scoring for the fourth time this season and 46th time in his career in the narrow loss to Southern Illinois. His 16 points were his second-highest total this season.
INDIANA STATE SYCAMORES
- Jayson Kent helped lead ISU to remain undefeated in MVC play with back-to-back career games in ISU’s 2-0 week, defeating Evansville at home and Northern Iowa on the road. In game one, Kent recorded his season-high of 18 points and added eight rebounds in the first game, shooting 62.5% from the floor, converting 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Kent scored eight of his points in the final 11 minutes of the game to help hold the lead. In these two MVC wins, Kent averaged a double-double with 21.0 PPG and 10.5 PPG, finished 61.9% from the floor, and shot 13-for-16 from the free-throw line.
- Indiana State is off to its best record under Coach Josh Schertz with the 13-2 overall record.
- Against UNI, Masen Miller 2+ three pointers for the third time this season, knocking down his career high of five against Rice and making a pair of threes against IUPUI.
- Ryan Conwell recorded four steals vs. UNI last Sunday, breaking his season-high previously of three and matching his high in his collegiate career. Six Sycamores made 2+ three-pointers, led by Miller and Kent each with three. Avila, Swope, Larry, and Conwell each recorded two.
MISSOURI STATE BEARS
- Cesare Edwards led the Bears in scoring and rebounding both games on the week, posting a career-high 25 vs. Northern Iowa with 8 rebounds before racking up 17 points at Bradley with 7 boards. He shot 68 percent from the field for the week (17-of-25) and 85.7 percent (6-of-7) at the foul line with a pair of 3-pointers and 3 steals.
- The Bears rank 15th nationally in effective field goal percentage defense (44.7), according to KenPom, which is the top performance in the Missouri Valley this season.
- Sixth-year head coach Dana Ford (98-71) is closing in on 100 wins with the Bears which would make him the eighth MSU coach to reach the century mark in victories. During Ford's six seasons as head coach at Missouri State (2018-present), the Bears are 58-21 (.734) at Great Southern Bank Arena, including a 2-0 mark against the Racers..
- The Bears have been out-rebounded the last two games, but still lead the Missouri Valley Conference in defensive rebounds per game (29.67), total rebounds per game (38.60) and rebound margin (4.6). The Bears rank 15th nationally in defensive rebounding average. MoState is 70-30 under coach Dana Ford when out-rebounding its opponents.
Murray State RACERS
- Brian Moore Jr. is excelling coming off the bench. For the week vs UIC and UE, he was 13-of-19 from the field (.684) and averaged 17.5ppg. Moore also reached the 1500-point mark in his career that includes Northeast Oklahoma A&M and Murray State. In the game vs UIC, Moore's night marked the first 20-point bench game for a Murray State player since he did it against UIC last season (01-14-23) with 21 points.
- The Racers get their first road win of the 2023-24 season at UE and their first since last season at Illinois State (Feb. 13). The win over UE (+22) is MSU’s largest margin of victory all-time in MVC play, besting the 17-point win at the Ford Center on New Year’s Day 2023.
- In MSU’s five NCAA DI wins this season, they have outscored the opponent each time from the free throw line for a total advantage of 45 points.
UNI PANTHERS
- Bowen Born led the Panthers in scoring in both of the Panthers' two conference matchups to open the New Year, notching a team-high 21 points in a two-point road win at Missouri State, and a game-high 27 in a home loss to Indiana State. The junior guard sank the go-ahead three-point basket in the final 90 seconds of UNI's victory over the Bears, shooting 48.5% over the last two outings (17-35). Born also went a perfect 11-for-11 at the free throw line, improving his career mark to 85.9%, third-best in school history.
- UNI's next victory will be its 700th in school history as a Division I program. The Panthers are also closing in on their 1,400th all-time win in their 121-year history (1,393).
- Born's career free throw percentage (85.9%) ranks third highest in program history. Born has shot 40-of-41 (97.5%) from the charity stripe this year and ranks second in the nation with the MVC's best shooting clip at the line.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SALUKIS
- Xavier Johnson put together another strong week on the hardwood as the Salukis defeated both Belmont and Illinois State to extend their winning streak to five games. Johnson averaged 22 points, 8.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and two steals in the two wins while shooting 40 percent from behind the arc and 94.1 percent (16-17) from the charity stripe. The Germantown, Md. native led the Salukis with 18 points and eight assists in a home win over the Bruins before scoring 26 with nine assists in a road win at Illinois State. Johnson leads the MVC in scoring with 24.3 ppg and 20+ point games with 10.
- Mr. Do It All -- After averaging just seven points a game a year ago, Xavier Johnson has had a breakout season for the Salukis. The graduate guard has been dominant on both ends of the court for Southern, leading the team in scoring, assists, and steals. Johnson is second in the nation in scoring at 24.3 points per game while also dishing out a league-high 6.1 assists per game. An MVC All-Defensive selection a year ago, Johnson has a team-high 25 steals which ranks fifth in the MVC.
- From Deep --Southern Illinois ranks as the 13th-best shooting team in the nation from behind the arc (39 percent) while also ranking second nationally in three-point percent defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 26.2 percent from deep. SIU held Illinois State without a three in the first half (0-8) last game and 3-for-18 in the game.
- Defense, Defense, Defense -- During SIU's five-game winning streak, SIU has held opponents to just 58 points per game. Opponents are shooting 38 percent from the field and 20.2 percent (19-94) from three. SIU held UIC and Southern Indiana to 50 points.
VALPARAISO BEACONS
- Darius DeAveiro scored in double figures in both games this week including a career-high 19 on Wednesday vs. Bradley, outdoing his previous best of 11. He led the team with seven rebounds against the Braves before grabbing five to go along with 10 points on Saturday at UIC. The Valpo point guard also dished out eight assists over two games this week.
- After missing the previous two games with an injury, Isaiah Stafford poured in 19 points on Saturday at UIC. He drilled three triples and was +4 in the plus/minus department in the Windy City.
- Freshman Kaspar Sepp averaged 7.5 points and 5.0 rebounds over two games this week. He tied a career best with 10 points in Saturday's game at UIC while going 4-for-4 from the field. Sepp collected five rebounds in each contest and went 2-for-2 from 3-point territory this week, the first two made 3s of his collegiate career.
- Battling on the Boards -- Valpo enjoyed its best rebounding margin of the season at +11 on Jan. 6 at UIC, outdoing the Flames 44-33 including 15-8 on the offensive glass. This marked Valpo’s biggest rebounding edge since Feb. 11, 2023 vs. Illinois State (+11). This was just the fourth time total and third against a Division-I opponent that Valpo won the battle on the boards this season. The team’s previous rebounding advantages were vs. Trinity Christian (+8), vs. Southern (+4) and at Elon (+3). This was Valpo’s best rebounding performance in a road game since Feb. 19, 2022 at Evansville (+15).
- Double-Double Details -- Sophomore Jaxon Edwards enjoyed his first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds on Jan. 6 at UIC. This marked Valpo’s second double-double of the season and first since Jerome Palm’s 12 points and 10 rebounds on Nov. 17 at No. 23 Illinois. Edwards boasted his second double-figure scoring output in the last three games (15 points at Elon) and his sixth of the season. This marked his second double-figure rebounding performance and first since 15 on Nov. 17 at No. 23 Illinois.