(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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Three more road wins so far in @ValleyHoops as @BradleyUMBB @BelmontMBB & @UIC_MBB capture road wins. Looks like @DrakeBulldogsMB will do so too. #FatherHarry
Well @RacersWBB followed the men's example and swept Iowa in the @ValleyHoops race! Racers are 6-1 & if @BelmontWBB holds on to their Iowa sweep, the Bruins and Racers will be tied for first. What a trip for those two teams! #FatherHarry
After today's action, @EIUWBB is 8-0 in @OVCSports play. 4 teams @usiwbb @TTUWBB @LRTrojans @LindenwoodWBB are tied at 6-2. Six other teams are under .500. Great race to the finish lies ahead. #FatherHarry
Really entertaining game between @BelmontMBB & @UEAthletics_MBB. Under four minutes left in a one point game. Gabriel Pozzato back in the Aces' lineup. Rogers is playing like I've expected. Triples are dropping. It's fun and @kylejpeach bringing it on #ThePlus #FatherHarry
