Four Valley Teams Playing Postseason Hoops

Where and When?

(St. Louis, MO) – Four Valley teams will be playing postseason basketball this week. It all starts tonight as Missouri State takes on former Loyola Chicago coach Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners. Two Missouri Valley Conference teams are in the National Invitation Tournament. Loyola is back in the NCAA Tournament, while Drake is participating in the College Basketball Insider Tournament.

Before we get to the times and television locations, let’s remember LUC’s magical 2018 Final Four journey.

 

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Watch all three of Loyola Chicago’s March Madness buzzer beater shots https://t.co/nWhQUBninh via @YouTube

— Harry Schroeder (@FatherHarry1) March 15, 2022

 

National Invitation Tournament

Missouri State (23-10) @ Oklahoma (18-15) – Tuesday 6 pm – ESPN

Dana Ford and the Bears face an old nemesis in Porter Moser, now at Oklahoma. As you would expect, a Moser coached team is defensive minded. OU (30 KenPom) owns the 33^rd best KenPom defensive rating. Moser has a high-level defensive-stopper guard in Jordan Goldwire and an efficient post player in Tanner Groves. Sound familiar?

This will be Ford’s second postseason game. He led Tennessee State to the 2016 CIT.

Northern Iowa (19-11) @ Saint Louis (23-11) – Wednesday 7 pm – ESPN+

The Panthers visit a Saint Louis team with similar frustrations and successes. Both entered the season with high expectations, but SLU lost leading scorer Jevonte Perkins before the season started and UNI played the entire season with a diminished Austin Phyfe (covid complications). Each fared well this season, just not as well as they hoped.

UNI’s A.J. Green was the Missouri Valley’s Player of the year and Saint Louis point guard Yuri Collins was an all-A10 selection. SLU will utilize a bigger and more athletic lineup and UNI will be more perimeter oriented.

NCAA Tournament

# 10 Loyola Chicago (25-7) v. # 7 Ohio State (19-11) – Thursday 11:15 am – CBS

The odds-makers call this game ‘even’. Loyola is used to big time opposition during the NCAA Tournament. During the 2018 Final Four season, they routinely knocked off ‘power 6 conference’ teams and last year they defeated the Big Ten’s Illinois.

Buckeye forward E.J. Liddell (Belleville, Illinois) will be a matchup problem for the Ramblers. The 6’7, 240 pound junior averages 19.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game and is a physical force. Perhaps Aher Uguak draws that defensive assignment, but Loyola’s ability to take the opposition’s best player out of the equation, is one of their postseason success recipes.

CBI Tournament

Purdue Fort Wayne (21-11) v. Drake (24-10) – Saturday 11:00 am – FloHoops

Drake and PFW are guard oriented teams that offer plenty of perimeter talent. Former Loyola Rambler Jalon Pipkins (13.6 ppg) is the Mastodons’ second leading scorer. Guard Jarred Godfrey is the team’s leading scorer (15.2). The Mastodons won just eight games last season, while the Bulldogs split two games in the NCAA Tournament. Coach Darian DeVries has guided the Bulldogs to 94 wins in just four seasons.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo credit – Maeve Coulter