MVC games Saturday December 8

[tornado]

Indiana State beats Truman State (5-6) by 12 but this game was a lot closer than the final suggests..
On paper this was an easy cupcake during finals week, and was played as an EXHIBITION for Truman State, but...
Truman State led until the final 12 minutes and Indiana State played their starters 36-37 minutes to pull it out.....

UNI also struggling big time vs. NON-scholarship DIII Dubuque - they are trailing 36-34 at half - the Panthers at risk of dropping to 3-6!

Later today:
Valparaiso at George Washington 3pm
Loyola at Maryland 3pm
SIU at SEMO 6:30pm
Ole Miss at ISU 7pm

[Da Coach]

Here is the scoreboard-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/group/18/date/20181208

The Loyola game at Maryland is on The Big Ten Network at 3 PM.

The UNI-Dubuque game is on ESPN3, while the other 3 games are on ESPN+

[tornado]

Northern Iowa barely squeaks by DIII Dubuque...
The final score was 75-68 but Dubuque actually led until the final 4:35, then once UNI took the lead UNI made their FTs (9 in the final couple minutes)

[Da Coach]

It's great that both Indiana State and UNI won, but they both had to rally to overcome 2nd half deficits against non-D1 opponents (D2 Truman State and D3 Dubuque).
Loyola and Valpo are both trailing at halftime. The MVC is not quite as good this year.

[tornado]

Valpo wins at George Washington 82-79
Loyola getting beat 49-37


update - Loyola loses 55-41, fall to 5-5 - they really lack offensive options with just 3 guys doing essentially all the scoring

SIU & ISU games at 6:30 & 7pm

[Da Coach]

Loyola holds Maryland to 55 points, but is only able to score 41, so they lose 55-41.The game was played at The Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, technically a neutral venue, but obviously more of a home court advantage for Maryland. Loyola shoots only 16-50 (32.0%) and goes just 2-15 from three (13.3%)
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401082427

Loyola is now 5-5 this season. Last season, Loyola won 10 of their first 11 games last season, and only had 6 losses all year, one to Michigan in the Final Four.

The MVC is 3-1 so far today, but just 1-1 against D1 opponents.
2 more games to be played tonight-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas.../date/20181208

[Bradleyfan1]

Lets go Birds and Dawgs

[Bradley3342]

I want the Valley to do well in non conference but just can’t root for the Redbirds.

[Da Coach]

Illinois State continues to give up lots of points to their opponents. Ole Miss, picked 14th out of 14 SEC teams in the SEC preseason poll, leads 41-36 at halftime at Redbird Arena. Ole Miss shot 59% overall, and 56% from three. ISU is playing pretty well and if they can tighten up their defense,and get more contribution from their bench (so far their four players off their bench have accounted for a total of 2 points and 0 rebounds) they should be able to win this game.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401083090

[Da Coach]

ISU's defense didn't get much better in the 2nd half, Ole Miss lead for the last 30+ minutes of the game, and ISU loses 81-74.
Mississippi shot 53% and outrebounded ISU 39-31, and ISU drops to 6-5, and they have now lost 3 in a row. In their last 4 games, they have given up an average of 85 points per game, and for the season, they are yielding 77.8 ppg, 9th in the MVC. Only Missouri State is giving up more points per game (78.7)
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401083090

With all the good athletes ISU has, it's hard to figure why they can't play better defense. They are giving up more than 10 points more per game than Bradley
I have to think it will improve.
As noted, Ole Miss was picked dead last in the SEC Preseason Poll (14th out of 14). They are coming off a 12-20 record last season, the most losses by an Ole Miss team in the past 34 years (since the 1983-84 season). And they have a new coach (Kermit Davis) who is in a rebuilding mode.

[tornado]

well definitely Coach Muller has lost confidence in Idowu, Chastain & Tinsley's defenses....
those guys were completely MIA in the 2nd half when the team coulda used some subs for breathers...

ISU's offense relies way too much on jacking up 3's early in the possessions... they did actually hit a decent pct on 3-pointers, but at times it looked
way too much like everyone was thinking - "it's my turn this time down the court..."
Keyshawn, Copeland and Tinsley were just 2-13 and a lot of those came quickly in the possession without even looking for anything better.
Those 3 guys are now shooting 27%, 32% and 30% but taking 144 3's so far (13+ per game)
They are talented but shot selection and defense are lacking.