First Place Battle Tonight

(St. Louis, MO) – One team will stand alone atop the Missouri Valley Conference race after the league reaches the half way point of the season. When Loyola (16-4, 6-2) visits the surprising Drake Bulldogs (12-9, 6-2) first place is at stake.

As Valley Associate Commissioner points out, every MVC team since 1991-92 to lead the race at the mid point of the conference season has played post-season basketball. Loyola, picked third in the preseason poll has won five straight games and Drake, picked tenth, have both been successful because they have won road games.

Valley teams are 31-10 at home in conference games. Loyola is 3-1 away from Gentile Arena and Drake is 2-2 when away from the Knapp Center. Drake hasn’t lost at home yet this season (8-0), one of those trends will come to an end tonight.

This should prove to be an entertaining game.

Do you want offense?

Drake leads the Valley in scoring, free throw percentage, assists, turn-over margin and assist/turnover margin. Preseason all conference star Reed Timmer is the unquestioned leader of this magical turn around team. He’s the league’s second leading scorer (18.5 ppg) and leads the conference in free throw percentage (.892).

Loyola leads the conference in field goal percentage (.506) and is second in 3-point percentage (.409) and they are second to Drake in both assists and assist/turnover ratio.

These teams know how to run their offensive sets and they understand the concept of sharing the basketball.

Conversely, neither team rebounds the ball that well and their defenses are suspect.

What they know how to do is win. Drake is 6-3 in games decided by five points or less. Head coach Niko Medved has convinced a team that had won a total of 14 games the last TWO years that they are good enough to win, if they play ‘team’ basketball.

The Ramblers are 14-1 with Clayton Custer in the lineup!

Loyola is 14-1 with Clayton Custer in the lineup. The Iowa State transfer has become arguably the best point guard in the Valley. After an impressive sophomore season (11.6 ppg; 2.4 rebounds per game and 3.0 assists per game), the Overalnd Park, Kansas native has become a dominant Valley player.

Custer leads the league in assist/turnover ratio, is fourth in steals, third in free-throw percentage, third in assists and 14^th in scoring. Let me say it again, the Ramblers are 14-1 with Custer in the lineup and 2 and 3 when he missed games due to injury. Head coach Porter Moser says unabashedly that Custer is providing exactly what he expected him to provide when he rejoined high school teammate Ben Richardson in Chicago.

The post battle in tonight’s game between Loyola freshman Cameron Krutwig (last week’s Newcomer of the Week) and Drake sophomore Nick McGlynn will be entertaining. McGlynn might be the most improved player in the Valley and is averaging 11.3 points per game, rebounding well and is growing as a shot blocker. Krutwig is a physical presence and like McGlynn is adept at passing out of the post to accomplished three-point shooters.

These teams are so similar, in that they have interchangeable parts at many positions. Loyola has an overall size advantage and the MVC’s reigning ‘6^th Man’ Aundre Jackson could be the difference in this game. The 6’5 senior is an inside/outside matchup problem for most teams. He averages 12.1 points per game, by converting 43% of his shots from deep and almost 60% of his shots overall.

When he comes off the bench, I would suspect that C.J. Rivers will be tasked with guarding him, but the Cahokia native will be three inches shorter than the athletic Jackson.

Drake senior Graham Woodward has been making his mark coming off Niko Medved’s bench. The 6’ senior guard sparks the offense and provides leadership while giving Timmer or De’Antae McMurray a breather.

Tonight will be special and while one team will come out on top and lead the league race, they will have a one game lead over tonight’s opponent and just a two-game lead on at least three teams. After tonight’s games, the top eight Missouri Valley teams will be separated by a grand total of four games.

The game tips at 7 pm on ESPN3.

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