Missouri Valley Conference Notebook
by Neal Heston
First to 20 wins?
The UNI Panthers are nearing their school-record of 23 wins, but they also have the opportunity to become the first 20-win team in the nation on Tuesday. Illinois also has the chance to hit the 20-win plateau on Tuesday when it plays at Wisconsin. Duke and Memphis can reach 20 on Wednesday.
Don’t think it will be easy, though. The Panthers head to Creighton (which will be televised on ESPNU at 8:05 p.m.), where the team has dropped its last eight decisions. UNI’s last victory over the Bluejays was in December of 2003 – an 82-73 decision over a ranked Creighton squad. Probabilities are high for the Panthers to roll in ranked in the top 25.
Top 25
For the conference being rated so highly, the MVC has yet to field a top 25 team. UNI, which sat at No. 28 last week, had a high chance of making it this Monday, especially with all of the upsets this weekend. Sure enough, the Panthers were ranked 25th in this weeks AP Top 25.
Postseason Watch
NCAA:
- Northern Iowa – The Panthers are now in the top 25. The way UNI is rolling right now, it’s not a matter of if they will get in the tourney, but how high of a seed they’ll earn. A lot of people currently have them as a five seed.
- Southern Illinois – Defense keeps winning it for the Salukis, and domination over Creighton last Tuesday makes SIU a lock right now.
- Creighton – The Bluejays lost a little ground at Southern Illinois last week, but who can really blame anyone for losing there? What would have stung more was if Creighton had failed to come back from a 23-6 deficit at home against Wichita State.
- Wichita State – The Shockers lost a heartbreaker on Saturday to fall into a second-place tie with Creighton, but a big home test awaits this weekend with Southern Illinois. If WSU wants to look like a desirable at-large, it will need to earn at least one or two victories against SIU, UNI or Creighton.
NIT: Missouri State, Bradley
Still Breathing: Drake (reeling though)
Recapping Last Week
Largest Leap: Bradley
The Braves took care of Missouri State and survived at Evansville. They are finally looking like the strong team many expected. With Missouri State on the slate again this weekend, BU can take a huge step backward if it looks past cellar-dwelling Illinois State on Wednesday.
Stepping Back: Missouri State
It’s more of a tip-toe back. The Bears didn’t necessarily improve their resume last week, but it doesn’t look so bad to lose at Bradley, where Northern Iowa and Creighton have both fallen.
Hoopville’s MVC Player of the Week: Marcellus Sommerville, Bradley
The hot Braves have been led by none other than the red-hot player. Sommerville sank 17 points in the Braves triumph over Missouri State and tied a career-high 28 points in BU’s overtime win at Evansville.
Northern Iowa (19-3, 9-2)
UNI has already marked a program-record five conference road wins this season after surviving at Evansville and Drake last week. Junior guard Brooks McKowen has been a huge piece to that. He scored 18 at Evansville to lead the Panthers and sank 2-of-3 free throws near the end of the game at Drake to send UNI to a 51-49 win. He, Grant Stout and Ben Jacobson all averaged double figures in scoring last week.
The next two contests will be anything but simple: at Creighton and at home against Indiana State. Creighton makes sense in that statement, but why Indiana State (which has lost 11 straight games)? David Moss returned for the Sycamores to score 11 points. He and Eric Gray should rejoin forces and cause headaches for a lot of Valley defenses.
Southern Illinois (16-5, 9-2)
No worries. After a couple setbacks, the Salukis have rebounded for three consecutive victories. The offense still has a little trouble hitting the 70-point mark, but who needs to score that much when you’re giving up a mere 50 points per game (last week). Jamaal Tatum, Matt Shaw, Tony Young, Randal Falker… the list of threats goes on.
Similar to UNI, this week will be anything but easy – hosting what should be a rejuvenated Indiana State team and hitting the road versus one of the “big four” – Wichita State on Saturday.
Wichita State (17-5, 8-3)
The Shockers were extremely close to wrapping up a big week on Saturday after jumping out to a 23-6 lead at Creighton. But it is Creighton. A heartbreaking sinker by Anthony Tolliver propelled the Bluejays past WSU to keep Creighton in the title hunt.
Two surprises recently have been Karon Bradley off the bench and Matt Braeuer. The two have averaged 11 and 11.5 points the last two games, respectively, which is why the Shockers remain near the top of the Valley.
Next up for the Shockers: Evansville and Southern Illinois. With WSU being 10-1 at home this season, there is an opportunity to get back into first.
Creighton (14-5, 8-3)
Creighton nearly went 0-for-the week with arguably the toughest schedule: at Southern Illinois and versus Wichita State. Thanks to a huge rally, though, the Bluejays are still poised to make a run this week. The problem is the schedule CU has to face this week – a toughy again. Creighton will host Northern Iowa on Tuesday and head to Drake on Saturday. Sure, Drake is currently struggling, but Des Moines has been no easy place to play. SIU and UNI have escaped by a combined three points.
The blessing about this squad is that different players are stepping up on any given night. Against SIU, it was Johnny Mathies and Dane Watts hitting double figures for scoring. On Saturday against WSU, Anthony Tolliver sank 20 points, and Brice Nengsu came off the bench for another 10.
Missouri State (13-6, 6-5)
The reeling Bears have more than likely fallen out of the hunt for the regular season crown – being three games out going into February. Five teams will be too many to overcome in seven contests.
However, that doesn’t mean MSU won’t be a dangerous team, and Sunday’s 80-58 rebound over Indiana State was proof of that. The Bears ruined David Moss’ comeback and pounced all over the Sycamores after shooting almost 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.
This week’s schedule may not include anyone from the Valley’s upper division, but it will be rough for MSU. A hungry Drake squad will head into town searching for a win to turn the season back around on Wednesday, and a red-hot Bradley team will visit on Saturday.
Bradley (12-7, 6-5)
The Braves are close to being added into NCAA Tourney talk, but they will need to win at least three or four more consecutive games to make that. The good news is that looks very possible. Even though three of its next four contests are on the road, BU plays Illinois State twice, Missouri State and Indiana State. Even with David Moss back in Indiana State and the high-powered offense Missouri State, Bradley could very well be 10-5 in the MVC when it plays Southern Illinois on Feb. 14. It all will depend on if Marcellus Sommerville and Patrick O’ Bryant can keep up their hot streaks.
Drake (11-11, 4-7)
It’s as if the MVC waved a piece of meat under the Bulldogs’ nose and whiffed it away. Drake looked promising after a 4-4 start in the conference. All the team needed was a big win over Northern Iowa or Wichita State – squads that Drake has surprised before. It never happened. In one week, the Bulldogs suffered through UNI and Wichita State offenses that just couldn’t miss the basket and dropped a two-point heartbreaker at home to UNI on Saturday.
This week will be just as brutal with Missouri State and Creighton on the schedule. By week’s end, the Bulldogs may be very close to clinching a date in the play-in round.
Illinois State (8-11, 3-8)
ILS will face two very high-powered offenses this week in Bradley and Evansville, so it will be up to a stingy defense to help the Redbirds make the climb to .500. ILS has a tendency to make even the strongest offenses look very mediocre. The magic number so far this season has been 60. When the Redbirds limit their opponent to 59 points or less, ILS is 8-2. When opponents reach 60 or more, ILS is 0-9.
Indiana State (8-11, 1-10)
The return of David Moss may be too late, as all of the non-conference success seems like years ago. The Sycamores are a totally different team without him (as evident with the 11-game losing streak). Just keep this in mind. Moss’ return was spoiled by Missouri State on Sunday, who pounded the Sycamores 80-58. And five of INS’ final conference games are against squads currently fighting for the title.
Evansville (5-14, 1-10)
Jason Holsinger and Matt Webster provided two bright spots during an otherwise dismal week for the Aces. The two averaged 16 and 13.5 points per game respectively. If one more player can step up as consistently as those two, UE could pull some upsets against Illinois State and Wichita State this week.
