8 MVC games Saturday, Dec. 9

[Da Coach]

There are 8 MVC games Saturday, Dec. 9- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...31209/group/18

[Da Coach]

There are 8 MVC games Saturday, Dec. 9- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...31209/group/18

Valparaiso is having an awful shooting day at Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech leads at halftime 37-23 - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401584332

Valpo is 9-27 from the floor (33%) and 2-14 from three (14%) in the first half.
VA Tech is 12-21 from the floor (57%), and 6-12 from three (50%).

[Da Coach]

The MVC went 4-4 in the 8 games Saturday night- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...31209/group/18

There was an incident in the Illinois State game. Illinois State never lead in the game and ended up losing to Norfolk State 64-58.
Box score- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401580109

They were playing the game in the old Horton Fieldhouse, instead of their regular home venue, the Redbird Arena. In Horton, there are fans seated on the court who are literally just a couple feet from the sideline. From various reports on social media, the crowd was getting rowdy with about 8 minutes left in the game and ISU trailing 46-40. There was an ISU foul across the court from the Norfolk State bench, and the Norfolk State players appeared to believe they heard one or more ISU fans use a racial epithet (some reports say the "N" word was heard).
The players then retreated to their bench and informed their coach of the incident. The Norfolk State head coach then became livid and apparently demanded the refs call a technical foul on the crowd and eject the fans involved. He then approached ISU coach Ryan Pedon (at about the 1 minute mark) demanding Pedon control the crowd. But it looked like Pedon did not hear what was being said, and shouted back at the Norfolk State coach apparently defending the crowd's behavior and reportedly saying that he is entitled to the rowdy home court fans. That accelerated the argument, and players congregated around midcourt. It's not clear if any players left the bench, and it did not appear there was any physical altercation.

Here is video of the incident- https://twitter.com/WyattWheeler_NL/...03784470061339

In the end, a couple ISU fans were ejected by the officials, and both coaches were given technical fouls.

ISU postgame recap does not even mention this incident- https://goredbirds.com/news/2023/12/...to-horton.aspx

Here is a tweet by Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones claiming the "N word" was used- https://twitter.com/NSUCoachJones/st...91644271051108

Tonight, nearly 24 hours later, Coach Pedon posted this apology- https://twitter.com/Redbird_MBB/stat...00906532691969