Then There Were Two

Three One Loss Teams Lose

(St. Louis, MO) – We went into last weekend with five teams tied for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference and then there were two. Four of the one-loss teams played each other and the fifth lost a home game, and the standings were suddenly radically different.

Indiana State and Drake were Saturday winners and those two teams now share first place and have matching overall 14-3 records. They knocked Belmont and Southern Illinois off the top rung of the ladder and Murray State lost to Northern Iowa.

There Were Two

Indiana State dominated Belmont from tip to horn routing the Bruins 94-64. In typical Sycamore fashion, the offensive highlights were numerous, but the Indiana State defense was stellar. Josh Schertz’s team shut down Belmont’s top two scorers Malik Dia and Cade Tyson.

Indiana State (5-1) has won four of its league games by more than double digits and Sunday’s 94-point total was the Sycamores’ eighth time reaching at least ninety points. The Sycamore offense is elite. Schertz’s talented bunch leads the Valley in numerous offensive categories.

The Sycamores lead the league and are highly nationally ranked in effective-field goal percentage (first), two-point percentage (second), three-point percentage (fourth), free-throw percentage (twelfth) and scoring (eighth).

Saturday’s eight three-pointers by guard Isaiah Swope gave him 60 triples this year and his 3.75 treys per game are good for third best nationally. All five Sycamore starters average at least ten points per game and they are virtually impossible to guard. Four of them (Swope, Ryan Conwell, Robbie Avila and Jayson Kent) rank in the top twenty in Valley’s scoring race.

Drake’s 18-point win at Southern Illinois gives them five double-digit conference wins. In three of their Valley conquests they’ve held the opposition under 60 points and during their last two wins, player of the year candidate Tucker DeVries has tallied 63 points.

Other than a hiccup at Belmont, Drake has been the Valley’s most dominant team. The Bulldogs gave Indiana State its only conference loss and are the MVC’s second best offensive unit and they take care of the ball. Darian DeVries’ squad leads the league in turnover margin and assist/turnover ratio.

Tucker DeVries is the conference’s second leading scorer (20.4 ppg) and center Darnell Brodie leads the Valley in rebounding (8.1) and field goal percentage (.643). Coach DeVries has several weapons he can employ. Atin Wright (14.9), Kevin Overton (12.6) and Brodie (10.9) all average double digits with DeVries.

Then there were two and at this point they are the teams to beat.

Now There Are Four

Now four teams are tied for second place. As Murray State joined Belmont and Southern Illinois as teams that dropped their second conference game. A scary-looking Bradley team gained its fourth win and joined them in that four-way tie.

The defending league champions have won six straight games, five of them since guard Connor Hickman has returned from injury. Bradley lost three of the four games he missed. They also lost the game (against Indiana State) when he was injured.

Hickman is averaging 21 points per game over the last four and Bradley (12-5, 4-2) has thrown themselves into the championship conversation. The Braves play fellow two-loss squads SIU and Belmont this week.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s wrist injury introduces big challenges into Belmont’s title hopes. The outstanding point guard will likely be out for at least three more weeks.

While Northern Iowa is just 3-3, the Panthers seem to have found their groove. Earlier in the season the Panthers’ defense was suspect. Coach Ben Jacobson said his team had ‘three or four different (defensive) problems’.  Now they have held four of their last five opponents to 63 or fewer points. UNI has won two straight and six of its last seven games.

The most ‘high profile’ games of the midweek schedule are Bradley’s visit to Southern Illinois and Belmont’s home game against Northern Iowa.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo credit Maeve Coulter