Valley Season Tip Off Date – January 2

(St. Louis, MO) – January 2 will be the tip off date for conference games in the Missouri Valley Conference. Defending champion Loyola will host Indiana State and two of the three new Valley coaches will start their league play against one another.

First year coach Walter McCarty at Evansville welcomes fellow newcomer Darian DeVries and the Drake Bulldogs to the Ford Center as Valley fans will get a good look at those two, completely rebuilt teams.

After winning 15 conference games on the way to their first-ever MVC title, Loyola begins the defense of the crown against Indiana State before launching on to a two-game conference road trip to Drake and Evansville.

Valparaiso begins its second season in the Valley by playing all four Illinois-based teams in their first five games. The Crusaders open the season hosting Illinois State. After a January 5 game at Missouri State, Matt Lottich’s team hosts Bradley and then visits both Southern Illinois and Loyola.

Regional rivals Missouri State and Southern Illinois meet in an opening night game, while Northern Iowa visits Bradley.

Indiana State’s visit to Loyola comes on the heels of a visit to ‘the islands’ and the Hawaiian Airlines Diamondhead Classic. The road warriors then play two straight games in Terre Haute as they welcome Bradley and Missouri State to the Hulman-Center.

Perhaps the most anticipated early season game will be on January 12 as potential league favorite Illinois State visits the reigning champion Ramblers.

The schedule-makers must believe Bradley will be conference contenders as the Braves will play Loyola two times in the season’s final six contests.

The four Illinois-based teams face off on the final day of the season as the Braves host Loyola and Illinois State travels to Southern Illinois.