Champions
Loyola (23-5, 13-3 MVC) has clinched at least a share of the MVC regular-season title. The Ramblers also matched a program record with their 13th conference win. This marks Loyola’s first conference crown since 1986-87 (Midwestern Collegiate Conference title).

Weekly Notebook (PDF)

Title Town
The MVC has had eight different regular-season champs in the past 12 seasons (Creighton-2009, 2013; Drake-2008, Illinois St.-2017; Loyola-2018; Missouri St.-2011; UNI-2009, 2010; Southern Illinois-2007; Wichita State-2012, 2014, 2015, 2017).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:  Reed Timmer, Drake
NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:  Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State

Position Week
Every mid-week game will have an impact on the league regular-season race.  Two games involve teams who are either currently tied, and three others have a host team entertaining the team it is chasing.

Tues: UNI (5-11) at Valparaiso (5-11)
Wed: Loyola (13-3) at Southern Illinois (11-5)
Wed: Drake (10-6) at Illinois State (9-7)
Wed: Bradley (8-8) at Missouri State (7-9)
Wed: Evansville (6-10) at Indiana State (6-10)

Only Five Have Done It
Just five MVC coaches have won or shared the league’s regular-season title after having won an MVC title as a player.  Porter Moser joins modern-day MVC coach/player combos Chris Lowery and Dan Muller on the list.

Road Warriors
Loyola earned its eighth road win of the season with its win at Evansville.  Heading into this week, only 13 teams nationally have won more than eight road games.  The only schools from Power 5 leagues (plus the Big East) to have as many as Loyola’s eight road wins are Villanova (8-2) and Virginia (8-1).  At 8-4 on the road, Loyola is the only MVC team with a winning record in road games, while Southern Illinois (at 5-7) is next best.

Working Overtime
Indiana State lost to Southern Illinois Saturday in overtime, marking the fourth OT loss for the Sycamores this year.  Indiana State and Illinois State lead the league with four overtime games this year (Illinois State is 3-1 in its OT games.)  The NCAA single-season record for overtime games is eight, set three times.  The MVC record is seven, last achieved by Illinois State in 2008-09 (2-5 record).
A total of four league games this year have gone overtime -- there were nine conference OT games last year, the most since 2005-06 (10 that year).

Most OT - MVC Leaders (Since 2011-12)
2017-18 -- ILS (4), INS (4), SIU (3)
2016-17 -- INS (6); MSU (5); SIU (4)
2014-15 -- Indiana State (4)
2013-14 -- Loyola (4)
2012-13 -- Indiana State (4)
2011-12 -- UE (6), ILS (5), MSU (5)

3-Straight OT Games?
Southern Illinois, meanwhile, has played two-straight overtime games (and three of its past four games have gone an extra session).  When Missouri State beat Loyola in overtime on Jan. 31, 2017, it marked MSU’s 3rd-straight overtime game.  In the past 20 seasons in the MVC, only Wichita State (2008) and Illinois State (2012) had played in 3-straight OT games.  The NCAA record is four.

MVC Rated No. 8
The Conference ranks No. 8 in the RPI.  The MVC hasn’t been as high as No. 8 in a season-ending RPI since 2012-13.  Notably, the MVC joins the Big East, the Big 12 and the SEC as the only leagues this year with all teams better than 190.  The MVC also has seven teams in the Top 150.  The last time the MVC had seven top-150 teams was also in 2013. 

A Dozen, Cousin
In the league’s 111 seasons, the MVC has had all teams reach 11 or more wins 10 times (including this year).  Only four times in the MVC’s previous 110 seasons have all league teams reached 12 wins. Only twice in the league’s first 110 years have all teams reached 13+ wins.  The MVC has not had a season in which every team reached 14 or more wins.

No Teams with 20 Losses
Indiana State enters the final week of the regular-season with 17 losses, should they not reach 20 defeats, it will mark the first time since 2006-07 that no MVC team lost 20 or more games.  That’s only happened three times in the past 20 seasons (1999, 2006, 2007) -- all years in which the MVC had multiple bids in the NCAA Tournament.

Lowest in a Win?
UNI shot 27.8 percent from the floor in its 47-41 win vs. Evansville on Feb. 13.  It marks the fourth-lowest FG percentage by a winning team in the NCAA this year.  The 47 points are the second fewest by a winning team (St. John’s beat UCF, 46-43.)  In the past five seasons, only once did an MVC team shoot worse from the floor and win (Illinois State, 27.3, vs. Wichita State on Feb. 6, 2016).

No. 9 in KenPom Ratings
The MVC’s No. 9 conference rating in KenPom is its best since the 2012-13 season (also No. 9).  The last time the league was better than ninth in KenPom’s rankings was in 2008, when the league hit its high-water mark of No. 7 (also achieved in 2005, 2006, and in 2007) 

Top 50 RPI = Post-Season
Since the 1991-92 season (the first year in which RPI was publicly shared), the MVC has had 50 teams with RPIs of 50 or better on Selection Sunday.  All 50 teams earned a post-season berth, including 36 teams who were rewarded with an NCAA Tournament bid.  The other 14 teams played in the NIT (12 of those 14 have occurred since 2005).

MVC Top-40 RPI Teams, Not in NCAA Tourney
21* -- Missouri State (2006)
33 -- Illinois State (2008)
33 -- Illinois State (2017)
34 -- Missouri State (2000)
36 -- Missouri State (2007)
37 -- Bradley (2007)
39 -- Creighton (2006)
*denotes NCAA record

Loyola Leads Nation
At .545, Loyola leads the NCAA in field goal percentage in home games.  At .516 overall, the Ramblers rank No. 2 in the NCAA for all games.  Loyola’s .516 mark is the best in the MVC since the advent of the 3-point line (t7th-best all-time).

Home Cooking
The MVC has a 110-30 record in home games (inclusive of non-league and league games).  That is No. 2 in the nation, trailing only the SEC.