(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.
Twitter Feed
Flooding, lightning strikes, etc. have cost @RacersHoops two home games. Had to play 'neutral site' tonight instead of at home and Wednesday's goes from home to away. Tough break for the Racers, and the whole area has been hit with difficulties. #FatherHarry
Murray State's scheduled home game Wednesday vs. Southern Illinois being moved to Banterra Center in Carbondale. #ValleyHoops
Gigantic game for @BradleyUMBB today in Des Moines. If they have a chance to catch @DrakeBulldogsMB, they have to win today. The Bulldogs can basically win the title today. @BustingBrackets breaks it all down. #FatherHarry https://bit.ly/3EGiVgi
Not rooting for any particular @ValleyHoops, but chaos is always fun. If things break certain ways, after today there could be a six-way tie for fifth place.
Fun to listen to @MLBLarry on the @SIU_Basketball/@BelmontMBB game tonight. Good job brother. #FatherHarry
