(St. Louis, MO) – For the second year in-a-row the Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion is relegated to a three-letter tournament. Last year it was Murray State losing a heart breaker to Belmont and this year the Bruins felt the gut wrenching pain of a Music City Madness upset.
Craig Bradshaw – belmontbruins.com
Rick Byrd’s Bruins (20-11) have won eight conference championships in the last 11 years, but will be missing the big dance this year due to the 97-96 overtime loss to Austin Peay.
Heading to the National Invitation Tournament is a good consolation prize. Having to play on the road at Georgia … not so much. The Bulldogs (19-13) are a high scoring team with four players averaging double figures in scoring. Headlining that group are 5-10 guard J.J. Frazier (17.0) and 6-8 Yante Maten (16.2). Frazier and Kenny Gaines have combined to bury 157 three-pointers and Head Coach Mark Fox can deploy eight players that are taller than 6-5.
Byrd’s team responds with a smaller, but skilled team led by the nation’s leading field goal percentage shooter in Evan Bradds (72%) who averages 17.8 points per game and was the Player of the Year in the OVC. Craig Bradshaw (16.4), the OVC’s pre-season player of the year, Taylor Barnette and Amanze Egekeze have been in a lot of pressure situations for Belmont.
The wild card for Belmont to prevail might be point guard Austin Luke. The sophomore hands out over six assists per game and finds a way to get his older teammates the ball for high percentage shots.
Wednesday’s game tips at 6 pm Central time and is Belmont’s fourth appearance in the NIT.
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Flooding, lightning strikes, etc. have cost @RacersHoops two home games. Had to play 'neutral site' tonight instead of at home and Wednesday's goes from home to away. Tough break for the Racers, and the whole area has been hit with difficulties. #FatherHarry
Murray State's scheduled home game Wednesday vs. Southern Illinois being moved to Banterra Center in Carbondale. #ValleyHoops
Gigantic game for @BradleyUMBB today in Des Moines. If they have a chance to catch @DrakeBulldogsMB, they have to win today. The Bulldogs can basically win the title today. @BustingBrackets breaks it all down. #FatherHarry https://bit.ly/3EGiVgi
Not rooting for any particular @ValleyHoops, but chaos is always fun. If things break certain ways, after today there could be a six-way tie for fifth place.
Fun to listen to @MLBLarry on the @SIU_Basketball/@BelmontMBB game tonight. Good job brother. #FatherHarry
