Home Cooking
The league has started the 2018-19 season with a 10-1 record in its home non-conference games. Last year the MVC was 54-7 against non-conference teams at home.  The breakdown of games this week is favorable, with 10 home games, two road games and five neutral-site contests.

MVC Men's Basketball Notebook (PDF)

MVC Player of the Week
Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Bradley
6-4, 210, Sr., Gd.  |  London (England)
Lautier-Ogunleye led the Braves to a 2-0 start last week, averaging 17.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals, while shooting 69.2 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range. In the season-opening win, the senior guard scored 12 points to go with eight boards, four assists and a personal-best four steals. He then scored a career-high 22 points in a victory against Southeast Missouri State, reaching the 20-point mark for the first time since his rookie season.

MVC Newcomer of the Week
Keandre Cook, Missouri State
6-5, 183, Jr., Gd. | Baltimore (Md.) Odessa (TX) College
 Cook erupted onto the Valley scene this week, posting a pair of 20-point scoring games and his first Division I double-double in helping Missouri State to a 3-0 week. Cook averaged 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while converting 18-of-33 (.545) shots from the field. He notched 20 points and 10 rebounds in the Bears’ win over Robert Morris, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range and a 6-for-10 shooting performance. He followed that with 20 points and 8 rebounds against Stetson on 7-of-14 shooting. For the week, he posted 52 points, 25 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals, while making 11-of-15 (.733) free throws.

Top Performances Last Week

• Jordan Barnes, Indiana State -- Led the MVC in scoring average this past week with a 22.5 ppg average. He hit 6-of-11 shots from 3-point range (54.5 percent) and was 15-of-16 from the free throw line (93.8 percent) as ISU went 1-1.
• Clayton Custer, Loyola -- Averaged 14.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.5 steals per contest, hitting 47.8 percent (11-for-23) of his field goal tries in two games last week.
• Aaron Cook, Southern Illinois -- Had a game-high 18 points at No. 2 Kentucky on Friday night at Rupp Arena. Cook was an efficient 7-for-12 from the field (58 percent) and went 2-for-3 from 3-point range. He added two assists and two steals while playing a game-high 37 minutes.
• AJ Green, UNI -- Had 33 total points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in two games as the Panthers went 1-1. 
• Javon Freeman, Valparaiso -- Led the way in Valpo’s season-opening rout of Concordia University Chicago. Starting in his first collegiate game, Freeman scored a game-high 22 points in 25 minutes of action, going 7-of-8 from the floor (2-of-2 3PT) and 6-of-8 from the foul line. 
• Phil Fayne, Illinois State -- Averaged 20.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in a week in which Illinois State went 1-1 … Scored 17 points as he made 5-of-10 shots against Florida Gulf Coast in the season opener while making 7-of-13 shots from the free throw line.
• Jarred Dixon, Missouri State -- Averaged a team-best 18.7 points per game in helping Missouri State to a 3-0 week. The senior guard opened the campaign with a career-high 26-point outing against Oral Roberts that included four 3-pointers and an 11-for-17 shooting effort.
• K.J. Riley, Evansville -- Averaged 17 points per game in the opening pair of games.  Riley was 10-20 from the floor and 13-of-19 from the line.  
• Nick Norton, Drake -- Led Drake in the season opening win over Buena Vista with a team-high 17 points in just 24 minutes … had a super-efficient evening, going 7-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the three-point arc.
• Liam Robbins, Drake -- Had 16 points in his collegiate debut on 7-of-10 shooting along with six rebounds in 19 minutes … also added six blocks to tie for second in Drake single-game history.
• Shea Feehan, Evansville -- He upped his game at Xavier, setting his career mark with 20 points while shooting 6-of-15, 4-for-9 from outside and 4-5 from the line.  He notched three assists.
• Josh Jefferson, Illinois State -- Opened his career with a 17-point effort against Florida Gulf Coast, making 6-of-7 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.
• Cooper Kaifes, Loyola -- Kaifes had the best debut by a Loyola freshman in 16 years, scoring a team-high 19 points, on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point territory, while adding a pair of rebounds and two assists, in a 76-45 thrashing of UMKC.

Takeaways Steal the Day
Missouri State forced 20 or more turnovers in two of its three ball games in the opening week -- and 59 total for the week -- to establish a blistering defensive pace to start the campaign. Just under half of the opponents’ mishaps resulted in Bears’ steals with Keandre Cook and Obediah Church accounting for five apiece. MSU forced 21 turnovers from Oral Roberts on opening night and followed that with 20 against Robert Morris and 18 against Stetson.

Getting to the Line
A pair of Valley teams rank among the national leaders in scoring from the FT line.  UNI ranks 13th nationally as 31.1 percent of its points this year have been generated at the free throw line.  Bradley, meanwhile, ranks 18th (29.8 percent).

Experience Matters
Southern Illinois ranks No. 4 in the NCAA (according to data compiled by KenPom) when it comes to experience.  Four league schools are in the Top 100.

Most Experienced Teams, NCAA (KenPom)
1. Hartford (America East)
2. Nevada (Mountain West)
3. Montana (Big Sky)
4. Southern Illinois (MVC)
5. Bethune Cookman (MEAC)
19. Illinois State (MVC)
23. Missouri State (MVC)
76. Bradley (MVC)

Making Their Shots
Valparaiso leads the MVC with its 65.2 field goal percentage accuracy.  Valpo ranks only behind Sacred Heart and Georgia Southern in the NCAA.  The Crusaders were especially dangerous inside the arc in their first game, making 75.0 percent of its two-point tries.  Valpo’s 121-point effort against Concordia Chicago marked the 15th-most in the NCAA this decade (since 2010-11) in a season opener.

NCAA Leaders, FG Percentage
1. Sacred Heart    67.4
1. Georgia Southern    67.4
3. Valparaiso    65.2
4. Minnesota    62.9    
5. Houston    60.7

Long Range Bombers
Indiana State, meanwhile, ranks 6th-best in the NCAA in the early going, connecting on a league-best 52.0 percent of its shots from three-point range.  ISU ranked fourth-best in the MVC last year through 31 games, making 36.0 percent of its long-range shots in 2017-18.

NCAA Leaders, 3FG Percentage
1. Rutgers    56.5
2. Radford    55.6
3. UTEP    54.3
4. Appalachian State    53.5
5. Creighton    52.6
6. Indiana State    52.0

Tradition of Tough Defenses
During the past five seasons (since 2014-15), UNI has held an opponent to 51 points or fewer 28 times, including the opener this year against Bemidji State. Only three schools have accomplished that more times in that span (Virginia - 50; Cincinnati - 38; and Old Dominion - 29). Notably, Loyola Chicago ranks 7th on that list with 24, including its season opener against UMKC.

Holding Foes Under 51 or Fewer, Since 2014-15
Virginia -- 50
Cincinnati - 38
Old Dominion - 29
UNI - 28
San Jose State - 26
Wisconsin - 26
Loyola - 24
Saint Mary’s - 24
Vermont - 24

Aces Knock Down 17 3s
Evansville connected on 17 three-pointers in its narrow loss at Xavier last week.  It’s the highest in the league this year and matched Indiana State’s MVC-season best from last year when the Sycamores connected on 17 treys in a season-opening win at Indiana.  The league record is 20, accomplished three separate times.

Most 3-Pointers Made, NCAA DI (2017-18)
23 - Northern Colorado (vs. Colorado College)
22 - Dartmouth (vs. Newbury)
19 - UNC Greensboro (at LSU)
18 - Radford (vs. Davis & Elkins)
18 - Auburn (vs. South Alabama)
17 - Evansville (at Xavier)
17 - Savannah State (at Texas A&M)
17 - Savannah State (at Georgia)