Only Two Leagues With 10
Only two conferences entered Super Bowl Sunday with all of its members with double-digit win totals -- the Big East and the Missouri Valley Conference.

MVC MBB Weekly Notebook (PDF)

MVC Player of the Week
Armon Fletcher, Southern Illinois
6-5, 210, Sr., Gd., Edwardsville (Ill.) Edwardsville High
Fletcher averaged 24 points on 70 percent shooting in leading Southern Illinois to a 2-0 week. He scored 34 points in the win over Indiana State, the most by a Missouri Valley Conference player this season. Fletcher’s 34-point outburst was the most for a Saluki in an MVC game in 23 years, when Troy Hudson dropped 39 on Indiana State in 1996. Fletcher went 11-for-14 from the field and 6-for-8 from the 3-point line in the game. He followed that up with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the win at Bradley. 

MVC Newcomer of the Week
Zach Copeland, Illinois State
6-4, 185, Jr., Gd., Oakland (Calif.) Berkeley High
[City College of San Francisco]
Copeland averaged 15 points per game as Illinois State went 2-0 with wins over two of the top three teams in the MVC standings (with Illinois State being the third of those three teams). He also pulled down six rebounds on the week with three assists and a steal. He made 52.9 percent of his shots from the field (9-of-17), and half of his 12 three-point attempts. In the first game of the week against Drake, whom the Redbirds were tied with for second place in the league standings, he scored 19 points, hitting 6-of-11 shots from the field and 4-of-7 from long range. He also had three rebounds and gave out two assists while picking up a steal. 

A Bakers’ Dozen
Only three times in the league’s 111-year history have all teams reached 13+ wins, including last year.  The MVC has not had a season in which every team reached 14 or more wins.  In the league’s 111 seasons, the MVC has had all teams reach 11 or more wins 10 times.  Only five times in the MVC’s 111 seasons have all league teams reached 12 wins.

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.  Illinois State’s Dan Muller and Loyola’s Porter Moser have their teams tied for first place in the MVC race with eight MVC games remaining this season.

Mid-Term Grades
Since 1992-93, all 37 MVC teams in the lead (or co-lead) at the break have reached post-season play.  The last Valley mid-season leader to not reach the post-season was Tulsa, in 1992.  Since then, mid-year leaders Bradley (1994 & 1999), Illinois State (1996 & 2017), Wichita State (2005), Creighton (2006), and Missouri State (2011) played in the NIT, while the other 30 mid-way leaders reached the NCAA Tournament.  The last mid-season leader that failed to win the MVC title was Wichita State in 2013.  WSU (8-1) held a one-game advantage over eventual champion Creighton at the midway point.  Loyola (7-2) led the conference race this year after nine games.

Rookie Coaches
In the league’s previous 111 seasons, a total of nine coaches in their first years with an MVC team won 24 or more games.  Darian DeVries of Drake has 17 wins in the Bulldogs’ first 23 contests.  Bill Hodges established the league record for wins by a rookie coach, winning 33 games with Indiana State’s 1979 Final Four team.  
A total of 19 MVC coaches won the league in their rookie season, but it’s only happened three times since Hodges won the league with ISU in 1979.

Margin Call
Loyola has been involved in two league games with a 35-point margin this year, beating Indiana State, 79-44, and losing to Missouri State, 70-35.  In the league’s 112 seasons, there have been 90 league games decided by 35 or more points.  Loyola joins just two others to be on both sides (a win and a loss) in the same season.

MVC Teams to Win by 35, Lose by 35, Same Year
Drake, 1970-71, W-Bradley (35); L-Louisville (42)
Drake, 2014-15, L-ILS (36); W-Missouri St. (35)
Loyola, 2018-19, W-Indiana St. (35); L-MSU (35)

Tough Shooting Night
Missouri State gutted out a 55-54 overtime win at Valparaiso earlier in the week, while shooting just 30.9 percent from the floor.  In the past 10 seasons, only four MVC teams have recorded a lower FG percentage in a league win (MSU’s was the best in that span in a road win.)

Worst FG Pct. in a Win, MVC Games (Since 2010)
.273 - Illinois St. vs. Wichita St., 2/6/16 (58-53)
.278 - UNI vs. Evansville, 2/13/18 (47-41)
.288 - Indiana State vs. UE, 2/21/18 (58-53)
.308 - UNI vs. Illinois State, 2/2/11 (53-51)
.309 - Missouri St. at Valpo, 1/29/19 (55-54, ot)

Shooting Lights Out
Southern Illinois shot 60.7 percent in its win against Indiana State, marking the second-best performance in a league game for the Salukis in the past 10 seasons (.638 vs. MSU on 1/27/18).

Best FG Pct. in a Win, MVC Games (2018-19)
.634 - Missouri State vs. Loyola, 1/23/19 (70-35)
.633 - Loyola vs. Drake, 1/5/19 (85-74)
.607 - Southern Illinois vs. Indiana State, 1/30/19 (88-73)

MVC Coaching Wins
SIU head coach Barry Hinson won his 150th career Missouri Valley Conference game on Saturday when SIU topped Bradley, 72-68. Hinson became just the fourth coach to earn 150 career MVC wins, joining Henry Iba, Dana Altman, and Eddie Hickey. Hinson also ranks fourth in MVC history in overall wins at an MVC school and MVC Tournament wins.  Two active MVC coaches rank in the Top 5 all-time (Hinson and UNI’s Ben Jacobson).

Streaking
Bradley visits UNI on Wednesday, looking to snap its 11-game losing streak at McLeod Center.  Last week, Valpo lost at Evansville, extending its 22-game losing streak there.  SIU, meanwhile, is in Springfield this week, looking to extend a three-game winning streak at JQH.

Shooting a Key for Loyola
Loyola leads the MVC in FG percentage (49.5 percent), which ranks No. 10 nationally.  Notably, when the Ramblers shoot well, they win.  Loyola has hit 50.0 percent or better in a league-high 14 games this year (all wins).  The Ramblers are 0-9 when they don’t shoot 50 percent.  The Ramblers have hit 50 percent or better 38 times over the past two seasons, which ranks second-only to Gonzaga (39).

More on Rambler Shooting
Loyola leads the nation with a 56.9 percentage in games that it has won. However, in nine losses, Loyola is shooting just 38.5 percent (175-for-455) from the field and 23.6 percent (38-for-161) from three-point territory.

NCAA Leaders, FG Pct. (In Games Won Only)
.569 - Loyola Chicago (14 wins)
.561 - Chicago State (3 wins)
.541 - Richmond (8 wins)
.540 - Creighton (12 wins)
.534 - Ball State (11 wins)
.534 - Saint Mary’s (14 wins)

Top Scoring Games in MVC
SIU’s Armon Fletcher had 34 points in SIU’s win over Indiana State - it’s the most by an SIU player in 23 years.  Only two players had more in an MVC game in the past five seasons.

Top Scoring Games in MVC (Last 5 seasons)
39 - Reed Timmer, DU (vs. INS), 2/14/18
35 - Milton Doyle, LUC (vs. BRAD), 1/7/17
34 - Armon Fletcher, SIU (vs. INS), 1/30/19

Home Cooking
Two league schools have homecourt winning streaks that have reached double digits.  Loyola has won 12-straight at home against MVC foes, while Illinois State’s streak is at 11 in a row.  The last time Loyola won 12 straight home league games was February 1, 1984 through February 8, 1986, when it came out on the positive end of 12-consecutive home conference decisions.

Winning with Defense

• Since 2010, every team but one that has led the MVC in field goal percentage defense has earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament.  (Loyola was third in the MVC in that statistic last year.)
• Notably, in the past 14 seasons, the MVC leader in team defense (PPG allowed in league-only games) has reached the NCAA Tournament 10 times and the NIT three times.  Loyola led the league in scoring defense last year (61.6 ppg allowed in league games).  UNI, in 2013, was the only MVC leader in that stat category to fail to reach post-season play.
• Nine of 10 teams surrender fewer than 70.0 points per game in league play.  The last time all 10 MVC schools were under 70.0 points in MVC games was in 2015.  Drake ranked 10th-best that year, allowing just 64.8 points per game.  That (all 10 under 70.0 ppg allowed in league play) has only happened one other time (in 2009) in the past two decades.
• Loyola, meanwhile, ranks No. 8 nationally for all games, surrendering 61.0 points per game for the season.

1,000-Point Club
Eight Valley players have eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in their careers.  Drake’s Nick McGlynn is poised to reach that plateau this week as he is just 15 points shy of 1,000 points.  He’d be just the 25th player in Drake history to do so.

Leading the Nation
Evansville’s K.J. Riley leads the nation in free throw attempts, as he has gone to the line 182 times this year.  He is 11th nationally in FT made, sinking 134 of his 182 tries.  Riley is on pace to eclipse 250 attempts this season - that milestone has been reached just 22 times by 19 different players in 111 previous seasons in the MVC.