Critical Opening Night in the Missouri Valley

You Can’t Lose the First One

(St. Louis, MO) – Only four Missouri Valley Conference teams in the last 27 seasons have lost the conference opener and gone on to win the league title. The Valley’s opening night this week is the earliest conference opening night in the league’s 115-year history.

Wednesday’s four games will precede by one day the earliest known first game, conducted between Houston and Bradley on December 2, 1950. One other game on Thursday will tie the mark.

Ironically, none of the league’s top five teams in the preseason poll will play one another during this 48-hour MVC interlude to non-conference play.

Where to Find the Games

# 5 Southern Illinois (3-3) @ # 8 Evansville (3-6) – 6 pm – ESPN3

The Salukis and Purple Aces split their conference games last season, with each team winning at home. Southern’s Marcus Domask leads the league in minutes played (37.2 per game) and Lance Jones leads in steals and is tied for third in scoring (18.8 per game).

UE’s Jawaun Newton (14.4 ppg) is the Valley’s tenth leading scorer and backcourt mate Shamar Givance is fifth in assists (3.9) and third in steals (1.6).

# 4 Missouri State (4-2) @ # 10 Illinois State (3-4) – 7 pm – ESPN+

While Illinois State holds a 44-34 winning edge during the history of this match up, Missouri State has won the last four. Three of the league’s top five scorers will be involved in this game. Redbird guard Antonio Reeves (21.3 ppg) is the highest scoring Valley player so far, but MSU’s Isiaih Mosely (19.3) and Gaige Prim (18.8) are nipping at his heals. Redbird teammate Sy Chatman is fifth at 17.3.

# 9 Indiana State (3-4) @ # 2 Loyola (5-2) – 7 pm – MVCTV

This is a battle of first year coaches. Indiana State’s Josh Schertz meets Loyola’s Drew Valentine. The two teams split last year’s regular season games, with Loyola breaking that tie with a win at Arch Madness. Both of these teams love to pass the ball. The Ramblers league the league in assists and Indiana State is tied with Northern Iowa for the second most dimes.

# 3 Northern Iowa (2-3) @ #6 Bradley (2-5) – 7 pm – ESPN+

These two split their series last year and both games were played in Cedar Falls. Bradley has the Valley’s best field goal percentage defense and Northern Iowa leads the conference and rank in the nation’s top 20 in three-pointers, with 11 per game. Bradley’s Rienk Mast is second to MSU’s Prim in the rebounding race (10.3 to 8.6) and Panther guard A.J. Green is sixth in the league with a 15.8 points-per-game scoring average.

Thursday Night

# 7 Valparaiso (3-4) @ # 1 Drake (3-3) – 8 pm – Thursday – ESPNU

Valparaiso has all-league forward Ben Krikke back in the lineup and during his four games back in the rotation he’s averaging 17 points per game. Drake boasts of three players averaging double figures, including freshman Tucker DeVries. Valpo has split its last four games against the top ranked Bulldogs. Drake was 14-1 at home last season.

The five top teams in the preseason poll play the bottom five in that ranking. Any upset on Wednesday or Thursday could do serious damage to the title hopes of those top five teams.

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