Stretch Drive in the Missouri Valley Conference

(St. Louis, MO) – Six games left. There are just six games left in the Missouri Valley Conference regular season. The ‘stretch drive’ is incredibly competitive this season in the nation’s second oldest conference. Four teams are tied for first place and four more are within two games of that top spot.

During the final third of league play, several key factors are typically at play. Injuries, ‘senior urgency’, defensive efficiency and the schedule are significant issues during this upcoming stretch drive.

Senior Urgency

Several Valley teams have extensive senior and veteran leadership. Obviously, Drake (19-6, 10-4) stands out in this department as Roman Penn, Garrett Sturtz, D.J. Wilkins and Darnell Brodie are seniors (or beyond). Their collective game, Drake and togetherness experience is off the charts. Those four players have competed in a combined 512 Drake basketball games.

Penn is the program’s all-time leading assist man and Wilkins in the record-holder in three-point baskets. Former walk-on Sturtz is the Bulldogs’ all-time leading rebounder. There is nothing these veterans haven’t seen or done.

Southern Illinois’ (18-7, 10-4) veterans aren’t at that historic level, but coach Bryan Mullins has a lot of senior leadership. Player of the Year candidate Marcus Domask and fellow senior Lance Jones have been side-by-side for 209 games and 203 starts. Each player has accumulated over 1,400 points.

While this is SIU’s best season under Mullins, Jones and Domask have been the program banner carriers. Domask has accumulated over 300 assists (323), over 400 rebounds (440) and has drilled 150 three pointers. Jones is approaching 300 helpers (271) has topped 300 rebounds (349) and is closing in on 200 triples (192).

Trent Brown (101 games at SIU) and Jawaun Newton (103 at Evansville prior to this season) are members of the triple-digit team, in terms of MVC games played.

Bradley (17-8, 10-4) has three seniors with a significant history in Peoria. Ja’Shon Henry, Ville Tahvanainen and Malevy Leons have been through the Valley wars and ‘true’ junior, Rienk Mast is a veteran Valley performer. While Indiana State (16-9, 9-5) has six players that are seniors or grad students, none have been in Terre Haute longer than the past two seasons.

Bradley’s Brian Wardle says senior Ja’Shon Henry is playing with that senior urgency.

 

 

Defensive Efficiency

During a typical Valley season, the team with the best scoring defense or defensive field goal percentage wins the league title. Southern Illinois (60.88) and Bradley (62.52) are the conference’s top two teams in average points allowed. The Braves (.405) and Drake (.409) are the top two in overall defensive shooting percentage. While Drake (.305) is the most stingy at allowing teams to convert their three point attempts, SIU has allowed the fewest long distance conversions (154 for about six per game).

In terms of defensive efficiency,  KenPom.com, the Salukis are the 50^th best defensive team nationally, Drake 58^th and Bradley 59^th and no other Valley squad is remotely close. As a side note, Belmont is deemed the Valley’s most efficient offensive team.

However, during conference play, KenPom says Indiana State owns the most ‘effective defensive field goal percentage, followed by Bradley, Drake and SIU.

Defensive stoppers like Belmont’s Ben Sheppard, Bradley’s Mast and Leons, Drake’s Wilkins, the Sycamores’ Julian Larry and Missouri State’s Donovan Clay become even more important this time of year.

Murray State’s Steve Prohm says his team has to get its defensive personality back.

 

 

The Stretch Drive Schedule

Each of the contenders have six games remaining, with three at home and three on the road. While SIU, Murray State and Indiana State have the easiest schedules with just three games against other contenders, Missouri State, Drake and Northern Iowa have five against the league heavy-weights. Everyone else is in between.

All three of Belmont’s stretch run road games are against other contenders. Conversely all three of Bradley’s home games are against those types of teams. Each of those teams has four overall contests with the other contenders.

KenPom.com predicts 5-1 stretch runs by Bradley, Drake, Indiana State and SIU. If that computer analysis is accurate, the Valley will finish the season with a three-way tie for first with Bradley, Drake and Southern Illinois edging out Indiana State by one game.

SIU’s Bryan Mullins says the Carbondale community has a special relationship with this year’s team.

 

 

Injuries

Missouri State has had their fair share of injuries. While all teams go through some kind of challenges in his regard, the Bears have struggled to gain momentum due to injury interruptions. Drake lost Tucker DeVries for a game recently. Northern Iowa had their season derailed by the loss of Austin Phyfe and Nate Heise.

The Bears lost point guard Matthew Lee before the season really got started and have had injuries pop up over and over again. Most of their other injuries have been short-lived, but have interrupted the Bears’ rotations and roles enough to inhibit consistency and momentum.

Missouri State coach Dana Ford says his team needs to be healthy for the stretch drive, so they can get into a groove of consistency.

 

 

The old adage of stealing wins on the road will likely be the key ingredient to whichever MVC team can grab this year’s brass ring. Five of the top eight teams are 4-3 during road conference games. Missouri State (3-3), UNI (3-4) and Murray State (2-5) need to gain ground in that department.

The stretch drive gets set in motion again this Tuesday when Drake visits Murray State. The only other head-to-head matchup during the midweek games finds Belmont visiting Missouri State.

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