Monday, Dec. 2
Luther College at UNI (ESPN3) -- 6:00 p.m. CT
Power Play
Thanks to wins by Bradley (over Kansas State) and UNI (over South Carolina) this past week, the MVC has recorded a 3-6 record this season against Power Conferences (the five FBS football leagues, plus the Big East). Illinois State takes on TCU (Big 12) on Tuesday night.
MVC Weekly Men's Basketball Notebook (PDF)
MVC Player of the Week
Javon Freeman-Liberty, Valparaiso
6-3, 175, So., G
Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young High
Scored a career-high 32 points in Valpo’s lone game against NCAA competition this week, helping Valpo come from 12 points down with 10:12 to play to force overtime in an eventual 81-77 loss to defending American Conference champion Cincinnati at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Freeman-Liberty reached the 30-point mark for the second time this year, becoming the first Missouri Valley Conference player to do so. He was a rebound shy of a double-double in the game against the Bearcats and also swiped four steals. It was his fifth-straight game with 20 points or more. He played just 18 minutes and had 12 points and four assists in Valpo’s second game of the week, a 98-71 home win over NAIA foe Trinity Christian on Wednesday. Freeman-Liberty was named to the Paradise Jam All-Tournament Team following the event after averaging 25.0 points per game over three contests.
MVC Newcomer of the Week
Marcus Domask, Southern Illinois
6-6, 215, Fr., F
Waupun (Wis.) Waupun High
Domask averaged 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists for the SIU men’s basketball team over two games last week. The freshman forward from Wisconsin shot 59% from the field and 82% from the free throw line. After an 18-point performance in a win over MEAC favorite NC Central, Domask followed it up with a game-high 21 points at Saint Louis on Sunday. Domask is one of five freshmen nationally averaging at least 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season.
Against Ranked Teams
Bradley takes on No. 15 Memphis on Tuesday. The MVC is 1-2 against Top-25 teams this season, with Evansville’s win at No. 1 Kentucky the lone victory. Notably, Bradley owns a 51-114 all-time record against nationally-ranked teams in the AP poll (30.9%). It’s last Top-25 win was in 2010 (vs. UNI).
The Good Wins
MVC schools have posted 17 wins against teams picked in the top half of their league’s respective preseason polls. The MVC wins have included victories against the SEC pre-season favorite and No. 1 ranked Kentucky (Evansville), OVC pre-season favorite Belmont (Illinois State), the MAC pre-season favorite Toledo (Valparaiso), the Big South pre-season choice Radford (Bradley), and the MEAC pre-season favorite North Carolina Central (Southern Illinois).
Going for a Milestone Win
Indiana State will get two cracks this week at historic win No. 1,500 in the history of the program. The team currently stands at No. 1,499 with a win over UMSL on Nov. 30. Among the current MVC membership only Bradley, Illinois State, Missouri State and Southern Illinois have won as many as 1,500 games in their respective program’s history.
Valpo Leads in Assists
Valparaiso leads the MVC and ranks 48th in the NCAA in assists per game (16.0 apg). Valpo dished out 29 assists on 38 made baskets in Wednesday’s 98-71 win over Trinity Christian. That was the team’s highest assist total since also dishing out 29 on Nov. 12, 2010. The Valpo record for assists in a game is 36 on Nov. 28, 2005 vs. IU South Bend. Five Valpo players had four assists or more, led by Zion Morgan with a career-high five. The 29 assists by Valpo is the most in the MVC this year (and the most since Loyola had 29 dimes against UIC on Dec. 12, 2017).
Hitting Their Shots
Loyola has ranked among the top 17 in the nation in field goal percentage in each of the last three seasons and this year is no exception. The Ramblers are fourth in the nation in field goal percentage and are knocking down 52.5 percent (212-for-404) of their shots in 2019-20.
Loyola has led the Conference 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.
Getting to the Line
Entering last weekend, K.J. Riley led the nation in fouls drawn, free throw attempts and free throw makes. Through seven games, Riley drew 9.1 fouls per game and made 46 out of 57 free throws. As of today, Riley is third in the NCAA in free throw makes and sixth in total attempts. He is 8th with 8.2 fouls drawn per contest.
Penn Ranks No. 25
In his first eight games at Drake, Roman Penn is averaging 6.0 assists per game to rank 25th nationally in assists … he has only had six or fewer assists in a game twice this season … as a team, Drake ranks 58th nationally in total assists with 123 this season.
Hitting the Outside Shots
Indiana State ranks fifth in the NCAA in three-point field goal percentage, as the Sycamores have connected on 44.3 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc this season.
Bench Play
Behind three double-digit scorers off of the bench against UCF, Illinois State’s 51 points from non-starters marks the highest such total in head coach Dan Muller’s tenure at Illinois State. The Redbirds also added 38 from its reserves on Nov. 29 against UIS, which is tied for the 10th most in a game.
Filling Up the Stat Sheet
In Evansville’s only game of the week, sophomore DeAndre Williams recorded 20 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists in a 70-64 road win over IUPUI. His effort was the first 20-15-5 performance for the Evansville program since Reed Jackson had 21 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists against South Alabama on Dec. 14, 1994. It was the first such performance in the MVC since Alize Johnson did so two seasons ago.