Missouri Valley Coaches – Defense Wins!

(St. Louis, MO) – The old adage ‘defense wins championships’ could be the mantra of the Missouri Valley Conference. League leading Illinois State (14-4, 6-0) allows the fewest points and smallest field goal percentage in the league. Last season three of the top four teams in the standings, also occupied three of the top four spots in those key defensive categories.

On January 4^th, Loyola held pre-season player of the year Jeremy ‘Captain’ Morgan to 7 points, and the Ramblers won. In Saturday’s first place battle with Wichita State, the Redbirds limited the Shockers to .349 shooting, and moved into first place. Drake has been one of the Valley’s highest scoring teams since entering into league play, but Sunday, Northern Iowa threw a trapping defense at the Bulldogs and came away with their first conference win.

UNI head coach Ben Jacobson says Loyola is an underrated defensive team.

 

 

Illinois State’s Dan Muller rewards defensive players with a ‘Special Ops’ recognition. Drake’s Jeff Rutter emphasizes a ‘hustle board’ to his players, so they know what kinds of things are important.

Loyola’s Porter Moser says the Valley has always been a good defensive league.

 

 

Wichita State (15-4, 5-1) has finished first or second place each of the past seven seasons, winning the conference title four of the past five years, including the last three titles. Their ‘play angry’ slogan, is much more than words. The Shockers routinely lead the league in scoring defense and rebounding. They and the Redbirds are currently among the national leaders when crunching defensive statistics.

Northern Iowa (6-11, 1-5) changed their defensive strategy against Drake on Sunday and it resulted in the Panthers’ first conference victory. UNI’s Jacobson says they had to do something different to slow down the offensively aggressive Bulldogs.

 

 

Muller, while somewhat secretive about his ‘Special Ops’ recognitions, says MiKyle McIntosh has recently been added to that squad and that it means a lot to his high scoring junior,

 

 

Southern Illinois (11-8, 4-2) is third in the standings and second in scoring defense (in league play) and head coach Barry Hinson says team chemistry and players getting to know one another is a key factor to their defensive improvement.

 

 

Drake’s (5-13, 3-3) Rutter says SIU is aggressive on the perimeter, and the conference’s leading shot blocker Thik Bol is a unique asset in the Missouri Valley Conference.

 

 

By-the-way, Illinois State isn’t in first place by accident. They lead the league in steals and blocked shots, and are now fourth nationally in shooting percentage defense (.375), and 17^th on the national scene in Ken Pomeroy’s defensive efficiency rating.

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