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MVC Expands to 12 Members – On Jan. 26, the University of Illinois Chicago accepted an invitation to join the Missouri Valley Conference. UIC will be the 12th member of the MVC beginning July 1, 2022. The league has never had 12 members in the same season previously. The Flames join Murray State and Belmont as new league members for next season, marking the first time in Conference history the MVC has expanded by three teams the same year. Murray State is the second MVC school from the state of Kentucky (Louisville). Belmont is the second MVC school from the Tennessee (Memphis). And UIC joins three fellow Illinois schools for next year (Bradley, Illinois State and Southern Illinois).
MVC Player of the Week -- Rienk Mast, Bradley
MVC Newcomer of the Week -- Tucker DeVries, Drake
Midway Point -- Drake (7-2) and Loyola (7-2) enter the “back nine” of the MVC schedule tied for first. Notably, since 1992-93, all 39 MVC teams in the lead (or co-lead) at the turn have reached post-season play [does not include the canceled 2020 postseason]. Last year, Drake led the league after its first nine (9-0). Loyola won the league (16-2), and the Ramblers were joined in the NCAAs by Drake.
MVC in the Metrics -- The Missouri Valley Conference is No. 11 in both the KenPom and in the NET (through games of Jan. 30). Four MVC teams (Loyola, Missouri State, Drake, Bradley) are in the Top 100 in KenPom and three (Loyola, Missouri State, Drake) are in the Top 100 of the NET.
NET Rankings Leaders -- Loyola leads the league in the latest installment of the NET ratings, at No. 31. Last year, three league schools ranked in the Top 100 of the NET and the MVC had four teams in the Top 150. This year, the league currently has six teams rated 150 or better, with five of those in the Top 101.
Home Cooking -- Through games of Dec. 5, MVC men’s basketball teams had a 25-11 home record in non-conference play. Since then, MVC teams are 23-1 at home to lift the full-season non-conference home record to 48-12. Last season, Valley schools posted a 34-2 home record in non-league games, and the MVC was 55-6 at home the year prior. The league’s 29-18 (.617) home record in league play ranks fifth-best among conferences.
Close Calls -- Through Jan. 30, the MVC has played 47 Conference games. According to KenPom, the league’s 18 one-score (three points or less or overtime game) contests in 47 total league games is third-most in the nation (38.3%). The MEAC (2nd, 38.9%) and Big South (1st, 39.1%) narrowly top the MVC.
Top-25 History -- After climbing into both the Associated Press (22) and Loyola Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll, powered by USA TODAY Sports (24), on Feb. 17, the Ramblers continue to receive votes in the AP poll this week. Loyola’s top-25 ranking this year gives the league at least one ranked team in nine of the past 11 seasons.
Hitting Their Shots -- Loyola has led the league in FG percentage five-straight seasons. No other MVC program since the league began keeping FG percentage records in 1964 had done it more than three-straight seasons. Loyola is doing it again, hitting on 48.4 percent of its shots to lead the MVC and rank No. 17 in the NCAA. Missouri State is right behind Loyola in field goal accuracy (No. 1
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At the Line -- As a team, Missouri State leads the MVC with its 79.0 accuracy rate from the stripe - no league team on record (since 1964) has had a full-season percentage better than that. Wichita State, in 1967, holds the league standard, at 78.8. The Bears rank 9th nationally in FT shooting.
Defensive Minded -- Loyola defeated Southern Illinois on Jan. 27, 44-39. The 44 points by a winning team tied for the third-lowest in a league game (since the advent of the shot clock in 1986) and was the lowest total by a winning team in an MVC contest since 1992 (44-43 win by Illinois State over Indiana State). The 83 combined points tied for the fourth fewest in a Conference game since 1986 and was the lowest combined total in a league game since January of 1988.
Defensive Minded, Part II -- Southern Illinois allows 60.2 points per game, which leads the MVC and ranks 16th nationally. The Salukis also lead the MVC in 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.1). Six of the last eight MVC teams to have a scoring defense average better than 60.0 have reached the NCAA Tourney.
BU .. Defense Powers Braves -- The Braves have once again been anchored by their defense in 2021-22. Bradley leads the Valley by allowing teams to shoot only 39.5 percent this season, ranking 28th nationally. In fact, BU has forced opponents to shoot under their season average in field goal percentage in 19-of-22 games this season and all 10 Valley games so far.
DU .. Tank Goodness -- ShanQuan (Tank) Hemphill, who was sidelined for four games because of a foot injury, collected 15 points (eight in first half), including two dunks, in 21 minutes to help key Drake’s 89-88 overtime win Wednesday (Jan. 26) at Illinois State. Hemphill also collected seven rebounds – his second highest output of the season. It marked Hemphill’s first appearance in a Drake game since Jan. 8 at Evansville. Hemphill added 10 points and four rebounds in a 77-68 win against Loyola on Sunday (Jan. 30).
UE .. Clamping Down -- The last three games have seen Evansville’s defense show a strong improvement from a stretch that was capped off by Illinois State shooting 70.2% in Redbird Arena on Jan. 21. A 2-game stretch saw Loyola and ISU combine to hit 67 out of 100 attempts (67.0%). Since that time, the Aces have seen just one of its last three opponents shoot 50%+ (first time this season). The last three games have seen the UE defense hold the opposition to just 42.9% (67-of-156).
ILS .. Career Night -- A career-high 19-point, eight-rebound effort for Liam McChesney was not enough to overcome a strong second half from UNI on Saturday. McChesney made 5-of-7 shots from the field, 2-of-3 from long range, and 7-of-8 free throws to get to his 19 points, as he also led the team with two blocked shots and eight rebounds.
INS .. Let it Rain -- Indiana State continues to shoot the ball from deep at a high rate, ranking second in the MVC and 41st nationally in 3-point attempts (537). ISU has hit at least five threes in each game this season and has hit 10+ shots from deep seven times.
LUC .. Another Milestone -- Graduate student Lucas Williamson recently became the 23rd player in Loyola men’s basketball history to accumulate over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career. Williamson also established a Loyola career record on January 30 when he participated in his 137th game as a Rambler, shattering Andy Polka’s (2006-11) previous standard of 136 games played.
MSU .. January to Remember -- Missouri State picked up its 16th win of the season in Saturday’s home win over Evansville, marking the first time since 2010-11 (17-5) the Bears have started February with at least 16 victories. Likewise, MSU is coming off a 7-2 month, the club’s top January performance since going 8-2 in 2010-11.
UNI .. Green Hits 1,500 -- AJ Green became the seventh Panther to score 1,500 career points in program history. He is the first player since Seth Tuttle (2011-15) to reach the milestone and third Panther to do so under head coach Ben Jacobson (Eric Coleman, Seth Tuttle, AJ Green). Green is 36 three-point field goals from passing Matt Bohannon (2012-16) as UNI’s all-time three-point leader. Green has made 233 career three-pointers in his first four seasons.
SIU .. More on the Defense -- SIU held its first 14 opponents under 70 points. On the year, only Missouri State (81) and Bradley (70) have reached 70 points against Southern. No opponent has reached that mark at the Banterra Center. SIU has held 13 opponents to 60 or fewer points.
VALPO .. Taylor’s Streak Ends -- Valpo’s Kevion Taylor saw his impressive streak of 84 consecutive games with a made 3-pointer come to an end on Sunday at Southern Illinois. He narrowly extended his streak with a buzzer-beater as time expired in Wednesday’s game vs. Bradley. The game at SIU marked Taylor’s first without a made triple since Dec. 15, 2018 while playing for Winona State in a game at Concordia St. Paul. His streak was split between Division-I and Division-II, but would have been the third-longest in D-I history if they all came in Division-I games. Taylor was four games away from second, seven from the D-I record and nine from the longest known streak in NCAA history, which is the D-II record.
DU .. At the Stripe -- Guard D.J. Wilkins is ranked fifth (.870) in the MVC in free throw shooting. Wilkins has made 30 of his last 32 free throws over the last 13 contests, including his last 13 in a row. Notably, Drake made a season-high 25 free throws against Loyola on Sunday (Jan. 30), while hitting 89.3 percent (28 attempts). Drake made 19 of 20 free throws in the second half.
MVC Player of the Week -- Rienk Mast, Bradley
MVC Newcomer of the Week -- Tucker DeVries, Drake
Midway Point -- Drake (7-2) and Loyola (7-2) enter the “back nine” of the MVC schedule tied for first. Notably, since 1992-93, all 39 MVC teams in the lead (or co-lead) at the turn have reached post-season play [does not include the canceled 2020 postseason]. Last year, Drake led the league after its first nine (9-0). Loyola won the league (16-2), and the Ramblers were joined in the NCAAs by Drake.
MVC in the Metrics -- The Missouri Valley Conference is No. 11 in both the KenPom and in the NET (through games of Jan. 30). Four MVC teams (Loyola, Missouri State, Drake, Bradley) are in the Top 100 in KenPom and three (Loyola, Missouri State, Drake) are in the Top 100 of the NET.
NET Rankings Leaders -- Loyola leads the league in the latest installment of the NET ratings, at No. 31. Last year, three league schools ranked in the Top 100 of the NET and the MVC had four teams in the Top 150. This year, the league currently has six teams rated 150 or better, with five of those in the Top 101.
Home Cooking -- Through games of Dec. 5, MVC men’s basketball teams had a 25-11 home record in non-conference play. Since then, MVC teams are 23-1 at home to lift the full-season non-conference home record to 48-12. Last season, Valley schools posted a 34-2 home record in non-league games, and the MVC was 55-6 at home the year prior. The league’s 29-18 (.617) home record in league play ranks fifth-best among conferences.
Close Calls -- Through Jan. 30, the MVC has played 47 Conference games. According to KenPom, the league’s 18 one-score (three points or less or overtime game) contests in 47 total league games is third-most in the nation (38.3%). The MEAC (2nd, 38.9%) and Big South (1st, 39.1%) narrowly top the MVC.
- A total of 24 MVC games (more than half) have been decided by five points or less (or went into overtime). The MVC has not finished in the Top 10 in “close games” since ranking 7th in 2013 with 22 such games (of 90 total). In the past 20 seasons, the league has not had more than 25 (of 90) league games that were one-score/overtime games (27.8%).
Top-25 History -- After climbing into both the Associated Press (22) and Loyola Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll, powered by USA TODAY Sports (24), on Feb. 17, the Ramblers continue to receive votes in the AP poll this week. Loyola’s top-25 ranking this year gives the league at least one ranked team in nine of the past 11 seasons.
Hitting Their Shots -- Loyola has led the league in FG percentage five-straight seasons. No other MVC program since the league began keeping FG percentage records in 1964 had done it more than three-straight seasons. Loyola is doing it again, hitting on 48.4 percent of its shots to lead the MVC and rank No. 17 in the NCAA. Missouri State is right behind Loyola in field goal accuracy (No. 1
.At the Line -- As a team, Missouri State leads the MVC with its 79.0 accuracy rate from the stripe - no league team on record (since 1964) has had a full-season percentage better than that. Wichita State, in 1967, holds the league standard, at 78.8. The Bears rank 9th nationally in FT shooting.
- Missouri State’s Isiaih Mosley leads the league and ranks 11th nationally in free throw percentage (90.. Only a handful of MVC players this century have hit at 90 percent or better for an entire season (minimum 2.0 made per game).
Defensive Minded -- Loyola defeated Southern Illinois on Jan. 27, 44-39. The 44 points by a winning team tied for the third-lowest in a league game (since the advent of the shot clock in 1986) and was the lowest total by a winning team in an MVC contest since 1992 (44-43 win by Illinois State over Indiana State). The 83 combined points tied for the fourth fewest in a Conference game since 1986 and was the lowest combined total in a league game since January of 1988.
Defensive Minded, Part II -- Southern Illinois allows 60.2 points per game, which leads the MVC and ranks 16th nationally. The Salukis also lead the MVC in 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.1). Six of the last eight MVC teams to have a scoring defense average better than 60.0 have reached the NCAA Tourney.
BU .. Defense Powers Braves -- The Braves have once again been anchored by their defense in 2021-22. Bradley leads the Valley by allowing teams to shoot only 39.5 percent this season, ranking 28th nationally. In fact, BU has forced opponents to shoot under their season average in field goal percentage in 19-of-22 games this season and all 10 Valley games so far.
DU .. Tank Goodness -- ShanQuan (Tank) Hemphill, who was sidelined for four games because of a foot injury, collected 15 points (eight in first half), including two dunks, in 21 minutes to help key Drake’s 89-88 overtime win Wednesday (Jan. 26) at Illinois State. Hemphill also collected seven rebounds – his second highest output of the season. It marked Hemphill’s first appearance in a Drake game since Jan. 8 at Evansville. Hemphill added 10 points and four rebounds in a 77-68 win against Loyola on Sunday (Jan. 30).
UE .. Clamping Down -- The last three games have seen Evansville’s defense show a strong improvement from a stretch that was capped off by Illinois State shooting 70.2% in Redbird Arena on Jan. 21. A 2-game stretch saw Loyola and ISU combine to hit 67 out of 100 attempts (67.0%). Since that time, the Aces have seen just one of its last three opponents shoot 50%+ (first time this season). The last three games have seen the UE defense hold the opposition to just 42.9% (67-of-156).
ILS .. Career Night -- A career-high 19-point, eight-rebound effort for Liam McChesney was not enough to overcome a strong second half from UNI on Saturday. McChesney made 5-of-7 shots from the field, 2-of-3 from long range, and 7-of-8 free throws to get to his 19 points, as he also led the team with two blocked shots and eight rebounds.
INS .. Let it Rain -- Indiana State continues to shoot the ball from deep at a high rate, ranking second in the MVC and 41st nationally in 3-point attempts (537). ISU has hit at least five threes in each game this season and has hit 10+ shots from deep seven times.
LUC .. Another Milestone -- Graduate student Lucas Williamson recently became the 23rd player in Loyola men’s basketball history to accumulate over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career. Williamson also established a Loyola career record on January 30 when he participated in his 137th game as a Rambler, shattering Andy Polka’s (2006-11) previous standard of 136 games played.
MSU .. January to Remember -- Missouri State picked up its 16th win of the season in Saturday’s home win over Evansville, marking the first time since 2010-11 (17-5) the Bears have started February with at least 16 victories. Likewise, MSU is coming off a 7-2 month, the club’s top January performance since going 8-2 in 2010-11.
UNI .. Green Hits 1,500 -- AJ Green became the seventh Panther to score 1,500 career points in program history. He is the first player since Seth Tuttle (2011-15) to reach the milestone and third Panther to do so under head coach Ben Jacobson (Eric Coleman, Seth Tuttle, AJ Green). Green is 36 three-point field goals from passing Matt Bohannon (2012-16) as UNI’s all-time three-point leader. Green has made 233 career three-pointers in his first four seasons.
SIU .. More on the Defense -- SIU held its first 14 opponents under 70 points. On the year, only Missouri State (81) and Bradley (70) have reached 70 points against Southern. No opponent has reached that mark at the Banterra Center. SIU has held 13 opponents to 60 or fewer points.
VALPO .. Taylor’s Streak Ends -- Valpo’s Kevion Taylor saw his impressive streak of 84 consecutive games with a made 3-pointer come to an end on Sunday at Southern Illinois. He narrowly extended his streak with a buzzer-beater as time expired in Wednesday’s game vs. Bradley. The game at SIU marked Taylor’s first without a made triple since Dec. 15, 2018 while playing for Winona State in a game at Concordia St. Paul. His streak was split between Division-I and Division-II, but would have been the third-longest in D-I history if they all came in Division-I games. Taylor was four games away from second, seven from the D-I record and nine from the longest known streak in NCAA history, which is the D-II record.
DU .. At the Stripe -- Guard D.J. Wilkins is ranked fifth (.870) in the MVC in free throw shooting. Wilkins has made 30 of his last 32 free throws over the last 13 contests, including his last 13 in a row. Notably, Drake made a season-high 25 free throws against Loyola on Sunday (Jan. 30), while hitting 89.3 percent (28 attempts). Drake made 19 of 20 free throws in the second half.