Unfolding Conference Season

Big Second Day of League Play

(St. Louis, MO) – The unfolding conference season continues Wednesday for Missouri Valley Conference teams. Illinois State visits Belmont and Illinois Chicago entertains Northern Iowa.

Valley fans are still getting to know the new look MVC. With fifteen of the sixteen all-conference players leaving in the offseason and five new head coaches, these opening games give us a glimpse of what’s ahead.

We met with Illinois State’s Ryan Pedon and Belmont’s Casey Alexander. Those coaches and teams meet Tuesday at 6 pm on the Matrix Midwest Game of the Week. The just released NET numbers place Belmont at 125 and Illinois State at 152.

Illinois State at Belmont

The Redbirds (4-3) have battled injury problems and Belmont (6-2) has struggled during the opening halves of their games. The two teams split their regular season meetings last season, with each winning on their home floor.

Belmont’s Casey Alexander brought four high-level transfers onto this season’s roster and he has nine players that could earn starting minutes. He has tried different lineups, particularly to fix their first half struggles.

Illinois State’s Ryan Pedon has a different problem. Injuries to transfer Boden Skunberg and returning forward Brandon Lieb have limited his rotation and taken very significant players out of the equation.

Alexander’s most significant returner is guard Isaiah Walker. The team captain averages nearly eleven points per game, six rebounds and 3.6 assists. Walker has been the picture of stability for Belmont. Redshirt freshman forwards Sam Orme and Drew Scharnowski have provided production and fresh energy.

Preseason all-Valley guard Johnny Kinziger is a talented, tough-minded, throwback kind of player. Pedon says Kinziger is a Redbird team leader.

Pedon says the strength of his team has been the guard play of Kinziger, Dalton Banks and Malachi Poindexter. Kinziger, Ty Pence and big man Chase Walker are three starting sophomores and the Redbird squad is gaining great experience, but still looking for the return of its injured players.

Belmont is known for its unique ability to run offense, make threes and keep the opponent guessing. Alexander wants his team’s approach to have more fight or determination.

The Redbirds are third in the Valley and seventeenth nationally in effective field goal percentage (.584) and have changed last year’s weakness (three-point-shooting) into a strength (.377).

Unfolding Conference Season – UNI @ UIC

Illinois Chicago shows up all over the national rankings in offensive categories. The Flames rank in the top-20 in six, different spots. They are 18^th nationally in four different categories (effective field goal percentage, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and scoring). UIC is sixteenth in bench points and seventh in assists.

During Rob Ehsan’s first season, the renovated Flames’ highly efficient offensive squad boasts of six players that average 9.6 points-per-game or higher. Ahmad Henderson, Sasa Ciani, Javon Jackson, Filip Skobalj and Tyme Freeman are double-digit scorers. Only Skobalj was on last year’s team.

Ciani is the Valley’s leading rebounder.

Northern Iowa has a balanced scoring attack too, they just score less often. The Flames average over 86 points-per-game and the Panthers produce just under 72. Three Panthers average 9.6 and above.

Preseason all-Valley picks, Tytan Anderson (12.4 ppg), Jacob Hutson (11.1) and Loyola Chicago transfer Ben Schwieger (9.6) are Ben Jacobson’s top offensive performers.

UIC is the Valley’s top rebounding team and UNI is its second worst.

Game time on ESPN+ is set for 7:00 pm. The Illinois State/Belmont game starts at 6:00 and can be seen on local Gray Media television stations and on ESPN+. Our unfolding conference season continues Thursday as Drake visits Valparaiso.

Do Good

You can watch our full conversation with Casey Alexander here and our complete interview with Ryan Pedon here.

Editor: Cover photo of Brody Peebles courtesy of BelmontBruins.com.