MVC – Chaos Continues

Seven Teams With a Shot at the Title

(St. Louis, MO) – Just when we thought Loyola might be pulling away from the pack, Saturday night happened and the Missouri Valley Conference chaos continues. Two games separate the top seven teams in the Missouri Valley Conference! There are eight games left before Valley teams come to St. Louis for Arch Madness. Anything can happen.

An ESPN2 audience had to stay up late to watch Illinois State knock off defending champion Loyola and drag five other teams back into the Valley race. The Redbirds defeated the Ramblers 65-57, forged a tie for first place with Loyola and opened the door for virtually every other Valley team to dream of a conference championship.

The Redbirds and Ramblers are both 7-and-3 and lead Drake (17-6, 6-4) by one game and four teams (Valparaiso, Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa) all tied at 5-and-5, by two. Once again road teams picked up some valuable victories. Drake and SIU were the road winners.

First Place Tie

Illinois State’s third straight victory has catapulted them into a tie with the Ramblers. Keyshawn Evans seems to have solved his shooting problems and Clayton Custer continues to be a mystery. Evans has gone from shooting 25 percent from deep (8-32) in Illinois State’s first five Valley games to converting 53 percent (18 of 34) in the Redbirds’ last five.

By rejoining the ‘Big Three’ of Milik Yarbrough and Phil Fayne as an offensive threat, Evans has pushed the Birds into that first place tie.

In Loyola’s first five games Custer was averaging 13.6 points per game and 3.4 assists. In the last five the reigning ‘Player of the Year’ is averaging 6 points and 1.2 assists. What has happened to ‘The General’? Saturday night Custer scored eight points, didn’t hand out an assist and missed 12 of thirteen three-point efforts.

Drake Is Hanging Around

The Bulldogs earned another road win (they’re 5-3 on the road) and have won six of their last eight games. Rookie head coach Darian DeVries continues to coax great team play out of his roster of newcomers. Hold over Nick McGlynn recorded his league-leading eighth double-double and transfer Brady Ellingson racked up 16 points and Drake edged Indiana State 68-62.

“After halftime, our defensive tenacity improved and we challenged our guys to play with more grit and toughness,” said DeVries. “Brady was a big piece in the second half, hitting big shots when we were stagnant offensively.”

Drake was one of three Valley teams to trail at the half and win their Saturday game. The chaos continues.

Log Jam at 5-and-5

These .500 teams have identical records, but they couldn’t be more different. Valparaiso has lost four straight to fall to 5-and-5 while SIU has won their last two games to climb the ladder. UNI beat Missouri State, snapping the Bears’ three-game win streak. UNI has seemed to trade wins and losses the entire Valley season.

For the second time in recent weeks SIU had to overcome a sizeable deficit to win. Saturday’s ten-point, second half deficit was reduced by solid defense and timely shooting.

Coach Barry Hinson says his team dug in and made plays.

“We made the plays down the stretch,” SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. “The last time we played, they made the plays down the stretch, so you have to give them credit for the last game. Our guys deserve a lot of credit for this game in the second half, the way they came back.”

Avoiding Thursday

If we cast our gaze down the standings, we realize that seven teams (the four mentioned above), Evansville (4-6) and Indiana State and Bradley (both 3-7) are separated by two games in the battle to avoid the Arch Madness Thursday night ‘play-in’ round.

The chaos continues!

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