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Top of the Heap
Missouri State and Bradley are the only two remaining teams perfect in MVC action. The Lady Bears sit 4-0 in league play, while the Braves are off to a 3-0 league start. Missouri State will travel to Southern Illinois Friday, while Bradley will travel to Loyola and Valpo.
Lady Bears No. 1
Missouri State ascended to the top spot in the NCAA RPI the morning of Jan. 11, becoming the first MVC team on record to be ranked No. 1 in the metric. The Lady Bears own road wins over Oklahoma (39th), South Dakota (40th), Minnesota (57th) and Boise State (94th), as well as home victories against Drake (23rd) and UNI (34th) as of the Jan. 13 ratings. MSU’s two losses on the season were on the road at Oregon State (5th) and Gonzaga (7th).
Quadrant 1 Wins
Missouri State enters the week with four Q1 wins on the season, ranking 8th nationally. The Lady Bears join UConn, Gonzaga, Creighton and DePaul as the only non-Power Five teams with at least four Q1 wins.
RPI Update
The latest weekly installment of the NCAA RPI Report (Jan. 13) has five Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including three in the top 35, five in the Top 100 and eight in the Top 175. Missouri State moved to No. 1 in the RPI over the weekend. Drake comes in at No. 23 and UNI No. 34. Illinois State (83), Southern Illinois (92), Bradley (106), Loyola Chicago (117) and Valparaiso (173) also appear in the Top 175.
The Valley joins the Power Five leagues and the Big East as the only leagues to have three Top 35 teams.
Historic Conference RPI
The Valley ranks seventh nationally in the NCAA’s conference RPI report (Jan. 13). The Valley sits behind the Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Big East entering this week.
The Valley record for RPI in a season is 8th (2008 & 2011).
Conference RPI
1. Pac-12
2. Big Ten
3. ACC
4. Big 12
5. SEC
6. Big East
7. Missouri Valley
8. Ivy League
9. American
10. MAC
Home Sweet Home
Five MVC teams are unbeaten at home entering the week: Bradley (7-0), Drake (6-0), Illinois State (8-0), Missouri State (8-0) and UNI (4-0) have unblemished records on their home courts this season.
The Valley currently has three teams with a home win streak of 12 or more. Bradley has won a program-record 13-straight at home and is tied for the fifth-longest streak nationally. Drake and Illinois State each have a 12-game win streak at home, tied for 11th nationally.
Ramblin’ on the Road
Loyola Chicago leads the nation with a perfect 8-0 road record this season, following wins at Evansville and Indiana State over the weekend. UConn is second with a mark of 7-0. The Ramblers are one of just 11 teams in the nation to remain perfect on the road (UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Tulane, West Virginia, Baylor and Texas Tech). The Ramblers have already surpassed their total for road wins from the past three seasons combined.
Strength of Schedule
Two Valley teams have a SOS ranking in the Top 15 according to the NCAA (Jan. 13). Drake leads The Valley with a SOS of No. 10 with Missouri State’s schedule coming in this week ranked No. 12.
Poll Position
Missouri State moved up to No. 19 in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll, following this weekend’s wins over Drake and UNI.
The Lady Bears sit 17th in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll.
The Lady Bears’ seven straight weeks in the AP poll is the longest such stretch by a MVC team since MSU was ranked 18-straight weeks in 2000-01 (reached Final Four).
1,000 Point Club
The Valley has five active players in the 1,000 point club. Sara Rhine sits fourth on the NCAA career scoring chart, while Hittner sits ninth. The duo is the second highest teammate scoring tandem in the country behind Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard.
SIU's Makenzie Silvey scored her 1,000th career point against Drake on Sunday. The junior guard is the 27th player in program history to reach the milestone, and the 10th to do so as a junior.
Loyola junior guard/forward Abby O’Connor finds herself just seven points shy of becoming the 25th member of Loyola’s 1,000-point club.
Current MVC Players in 1,000 Point Club
1,929 - Sara Rhine, Drake
1,827 - Becca Hittner, Drake
1,303 - Alexa Willard, Missouri State
1,239 - Nicole Martin, Southern Illinois
1,005 - Makenzie Silvey, Southern Illinois
Current MVC Players approaching 1,000
993 - Abby O’Connor, Loyola Chicago
20/20 Vision
Bradley's Lasha Petree is averaging 28.0 points per game in MVC play and has scored 24 or more points in each of the first three league games. The first Bradley player to have three consecutive 20-point performances since Michelle Young did so in the first three games of the 2013-14 season, Petree has six 20-point outings through 14 contests. She is the first Brave with 24 points or more in three straight games dating back to three consecutive 30-point games by Shelli Braud during the 1987-88 campaign.
Road Steak Snapped
Drake had its impressive 29-game Missouri Valley Conference road winning streak stopped at No. 20/18 Missouri State. The Lady Bears’ Sydney Manning made a three-pointer as time expired to escape with a 69-67 win. However, the Bulldogs did bounce back Sunday beating SIU, 73-65. Drake hasn’t lost back-to-back MVC games since the 2015-16 season when it lost at Indiana State and UNI.
A Perfect Weekend
The wins over Indiana State and Evansville gave Valpo its first two-game sweep of an MVC weekend since the Crusaders joined the conference. In fact, it is Valpo’s first two-game sweep of a league weekend of any sort since beating Cleveland State and Youngstown State in January 2016, and it marks Valpo’s first two-game sweep of a league road weekend since winning at CSU and at YSU Feb. 28 and March 1, 2008.