Conference Play – Round One

No Home Court Advantage

(West Africa) – There was no home court advantage during round one of Missouri Valley Conference play. While league teams have gone 29-2 in home non-conference games, this week they went 3-3.

Certainly, it is a small sample size, but these road conference wins remind us that the Valley is incredibly competitive and nothing is a given. Two teams headed into MVC with undefeated records, and both were handed their first losses of the season.

Round One – The First Game

Indiana State opened round one of MVC play with a resounding 77-48 win over Southern Ilinois. The high-powered Sycamore (6-1, 1-0) offense was ‘held’ to 77 points, but its defense was elite. SIU (4-2, 0-1) made just 30% of its shots and 15% from deep.

Playing without guard Ryan Conwell the Sycamores received 22 points from Isaiah Swope and double digit performances from Xavier Bledson (in for Conwell), Julian Larry and Jayson Kent. Indiana State had just seven turnovers and Kent nearly had another double-double. The 6’8 wing grabbed nine misses off the glass.

Xavier Johnson and Clarence Rupert shared Saluki scoring honors with 16 points.

SIU leaves league play to host Saint Louis on Saturday and Oklahoma State on Tuesday. Indiana State visits Bradley for a Saturday afternoon game (1:00 pm) on ESPNU.

Round One – Road Wins

The Valley’s preseason favorite and preseason last place team met Wednesday with the visiting Drake Bulldogs (6-1, 1-0) defeating the Beacons of Valparaiso. While the final score wasn’t close (83-65) the Beacons (4-3, 0-1) led early on their home floor and trailed by just one point at the break.

Darnell Brodie, who may land on the Valley’ ‘Most Improved Team’ for the second straight year was huge difference-maker. Twenty-one points, nine rebounds and two blocks on a 9/11 shooting night were outstanding. All nine Bulldogs that played also scored.

Isaiah Stafford led Valpo with 20 points. The young Beacons failed to create points off turnovers, second chance points or fast break points.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday. Valpo travels to Belmont and Drake entertains Missouri State (3:00 pm on ESPN+).

Belmont’s win at Northern Iowa might have been the biggest surprise of these round one games. The Bruins went into the McLeod Center and overwhelmed the Panthers 90 to 70.

Belmont winning in Cedar Falls isn’t ‘man bites dog’ territory, but the margin of victory, just might be. Four Bruins (5-3, 1-0) reached double figures with Cade Tyson leading with 22 points. Casey Alexander continues to bring talented big man Malik Dia off the bench where he scored 16 points in eighteen minutes. Belmont scored 53 points during the game’s pivotal second half.

UNI (2-5, 0-1) has struggled during second sessions of several of their games and it was its downfall again. Rebounding was a problem as Belmont grabbed eleven more than UNI. Bowen Born, who is playing through injuries continues to struggle with his shot. Trey Campbell led the Panthers with 13 points.

Both teams resume league play Saturday as Belmont hosts Valparaiso and UNI travels to Evansville (1:00 pm on ESPN+).

Illinois State stole a road victory at Illinois Chicago. The Redbirds (4-3, 1-0) came from behind to defeat UIC (5-3, 0-1) by a score of 69-64. The Flames led by double digits in the first half and by six at the break, but stout Redbird defense sparked the comeback. UIC made just 25% from deep and 33% overall in that final stanza.

Darius Burford led the Redbirds with 20 points and Fillip Skobalj (17) led the Flames.

Illinois State welcomes Murray State to CEFCU Arena on Sunday (2:00 pm – MVC TV Network).

Round One – Unblemished No More

Just when we’ve settled in that Bradley will be a dominant team, they visit Murray State and drop a seven point decision to the Racers. Bradley (6-1,0-1) was riding high fresh off its SoCal Challenge championship and playing the toughest (to this point) schedule in the Valley.

Murray State (3-3, 1-0) had only one previous Division 1 victory and had struggled in closing out games. It was the perfect scenario for the Braves to steal a road conference win. The Racers shot a blistering .565 from the field and sliced up the outstanding Bradley defense for 42 first half points.

Murray made just five three-pointers, but JaCobi Wood completed three times from distance and tied teammate Rob Perry with a team-high 19 points.

While Bradley bigs Darius Hannah (19 points & ten rebounds) and Malevy Leons (14 & 6) and Ahmet Jonovic (11 points) were solid, the Brave starting guards experienced cold shooting performances. Connor Hickman and Duke Deen combined to make just five of their 18 shot attempts.

Saturday Bradley entertains Indiana State and Sunday the Racers visit Illinois State.

When Evansville visited Missouri State the game featured two red-hot teams. The Purple Aces (6-1, 0-1) brought their undefeated record into a contest with a Bears team that had won five straight games.

Missouri State (6-1, 1-0) played without their leading scorer in Alston Mason and a key rotational player in Damien Mayo. The Bears dominated the glass with a ten rebound advantage and outscored the Aces by 15 free-throw line points.

Bears’ coach Dana Ford went with just six players most of the game and the result was overpowering. Chance Moore (28 points) and Matthew Lee (20) each played over 39 minutes. N.J. Benson recorded a double-double (16 points & 13 rebounds). Lee added eight assists.

UE coach David Ragland employed ten different players and freshman Chuckie Bailey III came off the bench to post a career night scoring 27 of UE’s 47 bench points.

Saturday the Bears play at Drake and Evansville entertains Northern Iowa.

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