A Night That Might Have Saved the Season

Thankful For The Rebound

(St. Louis, MO) – As we celebrate Thanksgiving, Missouri Valley Conference fans everywhere are thankful for a night that might have saved the season. Potential season-defining wins potentially turned around a non-conference season that was headed the wrong direction.

Heading into Wednesday’s games the Valley was a pedestrian 36-31 in the non-con schedule and owned one victory (Evansville over # 1 Kentucky) in 12 contests with the ‘super seven’ conference teams. With a twenty-second ranked ‘strength of schedule’, the league’s RPI was 15th .

That changed dramatically on Wednesday.

Knocking of the Big Boys

Bradley and Northern Iowa altered the narrative in a big way. After a disappointing and uninspiring loss to Northwestern, Bradley bounced back with a decisive victory over the Big 12’s Kansas State. Senior Nate Kennell scored 22 points and the Braves defeated K-State 73-60. The win ended a BU five-game losing streak to Big 12 teams and improved this season’s record to 5-2. Brian Wardle’s team battles nationally ranked Memphis on Tuesday.

After a disappointing last second loss to the Big 12’s West Virginia, Northern Iowa bounced back with a solid win over the Southeastern Conference’s South Carolina. Freshman A.J. Green broke out of a season-long shooting slump to score 26 points and the Panthers (7-1) won 78-72. Suddenly the MVC is 2-0 against the SEC.

Holding Serve With Other Mid-Majors

Defending co-champions, Loyola and Drake each defeated the defending champions from other mid-major conferences. After back-to-back losses, Loyola rebounded to knock off C-USA champion Old Dominion 68-61. Preseason ‘Player of the Year’ Cameron Krutwig scored 22 points as the Ramblers evened their season record at 4-4.

After having their three-game winning streak snapped the day before, Drake’s impressive win over reigning Ohio Valley Champion Murray State, was significant. 63-53 was the final as the 6-2 Bulldogs received a combined 24 points from the Murphy brothers (Anthony 13 & Tremell 11) and 18 points from D.J. Wilkins. Valley teams are 4-1 against OVC squads. Murray State plays at Missouri State on Tuesday.

Looking Forward

Whether Wednesday saved the season and began a trend, or was a flash in the pan is yet to be seen. The Valley went 4 and 19 against the ‘super seven’ last season on the way to a one-bid with a 15th seeded team in the NCAA Tournament. Valley teams are now 3 and 11 against similar competition. MVC teams struggled to a 7-6 record against the OVC.

Missouri State has a Friday date with LSU and Southern Illinois visits the Atlantic Ten’s Saint Louis on Sunday. SIU visits Missouri on December 15. Valparaiso (5-3) still has games with both Central and Eastern Michigan, Charlotte and a huge opportunity at Arkansas.

Drake gets to visit Dayton. Loyola has a matchup with Vanderbilt and Davidson, while Illinois State faces TCU. Evansville still has games with OVC powers Jacksonville State and Murray State.

Opportunities abound for the league to make its mark.

Do Good