(St. Louis, MO) – With eight games left on the Missouri Valley Conference regular season schedule, tonight is ‘do or die’ for Evansville and Southern Illinois as far as the regular season championship goes.
The Aces and Salukis were once fighting for first place with Wichita State, but are now three games behind the two-time defending champion Shockers. Without wins tonight that race is over (if it isn’t already).
Evansville plays at Northern Iowa where the Panthers rarely lose, and the Salukis visit Wichita where the Shockers NEVER lose. If these two could do the unthinkable and win those games tonight, their desire for a title would remain on life support. Without victories tonight, you can pull the plug.
Northern Iowa owns a .795 winning percentage in the 10-year-old McLeod Center. Wichita State owns the longest home winning streak in the nation at 42 straight victories.
If they both lose, and Illinois State (12-11, 6-4) wins at Loyola, four Valley teams would be tied for second in the standings at 7 and 4. There would be no race for the top spot, but a quite different race would be developing. Missouri State is one game behind those teams at 6-5 and UNI would be lurking in the shadows with a record of 5-6. The race for the spots to avoid seventh place and the Thursday night play in game, and for the second place bye at Arch Madness 2016 would be intense.
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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
