Evansville in the Polls
Evansville, which has never been ranked in the Top 25 in its Division I history, received 43 points this week in the Associated Press poll. That’s good for the 30th position in the rankings. The Aces also received eight points in the coaches poll this week (good for 34th).
Weekly MVC MBB Notebook (PDF)
MVC Player of the Week
Javon Freeman-Liberty, Valparaiso
6-3, 175, So., G | Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young High
Freeman-Liberty poured in a career-high 30 points in Tuesday’s come-from-behind 89-76 road victory at SIUE before following with a 21-point performance on Sunday vs. North Dakota. His team-high total against the Fighting Hawks helped Valpo prevail 74-60 to complete a 2-0 week for the team. Freeman-Liberty grabbed 13 rebounds in the road win over the Cougars for his second career double-double and first of the season, playing a key role as his team erased a double-figure deficit to prevail. That marked the second-highest rebounding output of his collegiate career. He became the first Valpo player with a 30-point game since 2017 and joined Alec Peters (six times) as the only Valpo players with 30-point, 10-rebound performances over the last two decades. He filled the stat sheet in Sunday’s home triumph over North Dakota, adding nine rebounds, four steals and a career-high five assists to his 21-point showing.
MVC Newcomer of the Week
DeAndre Williams, Evansville
6-9, 210, So., F | Houston (Texas) Klein Forest High
In one of the biggest weeks in Evansville’s Division I history, sophomore DeAndre Williams led the team with 16 points, 8.5 rebounds and a total of 3 steals. He converted 13 of his 23 field goal attempts and recorded four assists while playing 27 minutes per game. In the win on Tuesday at #1 Kentucky, Williams was 4-for-9 from the floor to finish with 9 points and 4 rebounds. He upped his game even more against IU Kokomo, tallying the first double-double of his career, finishing with 23 points and 13 rebounds. He was 9-of-14 shooting and drew six fouls in the game. He ranks in the top five in the MVC scoring, rebounding and leads the league in defensive boards.
MTEs This Week
Nine MVC schools are involved in multi-team events this week (Southern Illinois has already played its MTE.) Last year, State Farm MVC Tournament champion Bradley and MVC co-champ Drake won their respective MTEs. Bradley beat SMU and Penn State to claim the Cancun Challenge, while Drake won the Las Vegas Classic, which included wins over New Mexico State and San Diego.
MVC Teams in MTEs This Week
Bradley (Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off)
Drake (Gulf Coast Showcase)
Evansville (Island of the Bahamas)
Illinois State (Paradise Jam)
Indiana State (Junkanoo Jam)
Loyola Chicago (Cayman Islands Classic)
Missouri State (Charleston Classic)
UNI (Cancun Challenge) -- campus games only
Valparaiso (Paradise Jam)
The Good Wins
Several MVC schools posted resume-building wins this season, which has included victories against the SEC pre-season favorite and No. 1 ranked Kentucky (Evansville), OVC pre-season favorite Belmont (Illinois State) and the MAC pre-season favorite Toledo (Valparaiso). Below is a listing of MVC wins over teams picked in the top half of their league’s respective preseason polls:
Team (Poll Rank) -- MVC Winner
Ball State (3rd, MAC-West) -- Evansville
Belmont (1st, OVC) -- Illinois State
N. Illinois (2nd, MAC-West) -- UNI
Old Dominion (4th, C-USA) -- UNI
UTSA (2nd, C-USA) -- Southern Illinois
Toledo (1st, MAC-West) -- Valparaiso
#1 Kentucky (1st, SEC) -- Evansville
N. Colorado (5th, Big Sky) -- UNI
UIC (3rd, Horizon) -- Bradley
30-Point Club
Two MVC student-athletes have hit 30 or more points in a game this season. Last week, Javon Freeman-Liberty of Valparaiso had 30 in the win at SIUE. Earlier this season, Keandre Cook of Missouri State had a league season-high of 31 points against Alabama State. Last season, nine players reached the 30-point plateau.
Turnover Margin a Key
Bradley has dominated the turnover battle during its first three games of the season, committing just 29 miscues, while forcing is opponent into 51 turnovers. The Braves currently rank 10th nationally with 9.7 turnovers per game, 76th with 17.00 turnovers forced per game and 21st with a turnover margin of +7.3. In the past six seasons, the MVC leader has finished no worse than fifth in the conference standings, winning the league three times. Missouri State led the league in turnover margin last season, and the Bears tied for third.
Passing Fancy
Loyola’s Cameron Krutwig had 11 assists in the Ramblers’ season-opening win against UC Davis. The 11 assists are the most in the league this year. He currently leads the MVC with his 7.3 assist average, which is tied for 12th in the NCAA. No other center is ranked among the 257 players listed on the NCAA leaderboard. No center has ever led the MVC in assists for an entire season.
The Extra Pass
Two MVC schools rank among the national leaders in assists per game. Drake is tops in the Conference and ranks 18th (18.8 apg). Valpo is 25th nationally with 18.0 assists per game. Sophomore Roman Penn leads Drake and ranks 2nd in the MVC (7.0 apg), while sophomore Daniel Sackey of Valpo is 4th in the league (6.0 apg).
Hitting Their Shots
A pair of MVC teams rank among the national leaders in field goal percentage. Drake ranks 17th at 52.6 percent, while Loyola is 19th (52.1). Loyola has led the MVC in field goal shooting in each of the last three seasons. Since the MVC began tracking team field goal percentage (1963-64), no league team has led the league for four-straight seasons.
MVC FG Percentage Leaders, Last 5 Seasons
2015 -- Evansville .485
2016 -- Evansville .490
2017 -- Loyola .485
2018 -- Loyola .507
2019 -- Loyola .493
NCAA Team of the Week
Andy Katz and NCAA March Madness selected Evansville as its “Team of the Week,” announced on Monday, Nov. 17.
Beating No. 1 on the Road
Evansville’s win Tuesday over No. 1 Kentucky marked only the 35th time in NCAA men’s basketball AP history (since 1948-49) that an unranked team beat a No. 1-ranked team on its home floor. Then MVC-member Detroit beat Bradley in Peoria for the first ever occurrence on Jan. 15, 1951. Top-ranked AP teams are now 756-35 all-time when playing non-ranked teams at home.
Of those 35, only three teams finished in last place in their respective leagues the year prior to the upset, including Evansville this year (the Aces finished last in the MVC in 2018-19.)
Unranked Teams to Beat No. 1 on Road
(After finishing last in their league in prior season)
Evansville (at #1 Kentucky, 11/12/2019) -- UE finished 5-13 in MVC in 2018-19
Boston College (at #1 N. Carolina, 1/4/2009) -- BC finished 4-12 in ACC in 2007-08
Georgia Tech (at #1 Kentucky, 1/8/1955) -- Tech finished 0-14 in SEC in 1953-54
MVC: Beating No. 1
MVC teams are now 4-2 in their last six games against a No. 1-ranked opponent. Previously, UNI beat Kansas in the 2010 NCAA Tournament; Wichita State knocked off Gonzaga in the 2013 NCAA Tournament; and UNI topped UNC in a regular-season game in 2015-16. The losses were at Kentucky (by Illinois State in November 2015); and at Duke (by Bradley in December 2010. MVC teams have 13 wins all-time vs. a No. 1 team.
Good at the Line
Evansville currently leads the league in free throw shooting (82.6 percent as a team). That figure ranks 5th best nationally. Oklahoma State holds the MVC record for free throw percentage for a season (.791 in 1957-58). Evansville’s .775 figure in 2017-18 ranks third-best all-time in MVC history.