ESPN has selected the Missouri State at Indiana State men’s basketball game for distribution on ESPNU on Sunday, February 16. The game will air at 3 p.m. Central. And ESPN has selected the Evansville at Drake men’s basketball game for distribution on ESPN3 on Sunday, February 16. That game airs at 3 p.m. CT. The networks and game times were previously listed as TBD on the MVC schedule.
Indiana State improved to a perfect 8-0 on the season inside Hulman Center by defeating the Bradley Braves for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons. All told, the Sycamores’ home court winning streak has hit 10 games dating back to February 20, 2019. Indiana State is one of 28 teams in the country with a double digit home court winning streak. Only UNI (11) and Wednesday night’s opponent (Drake with 15) have longer active home court winning streaks. Meanwhile, the Bears had two players post double-doubles at Drake, marking the first time in over two years Missouri State has reached that rare milestone. Gaige Prim’s 23 points and 12 rebounds boosted him to his first double-double this season, while Keandre Cook posted 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds against the Bulldogs. The last time the Bears had two double-doubles in the same game was at Illinois State (Jan. 7, 2018) with Alize Johnson and J.T. Miller.
With a win Sunday against Missouri State, Drake extended its home win streak to 15 games, the 10th-longest streak in the nation that dates to Jan. 30, 2019 … the Bulldogs are 11-0 at home this season, 24-2 under head coach Darian DeVries and 35-5 over the past three seasons … Drake’s .875 home winning percentage ranks 35th in the nation during that three-year period. Last Tuesday, the Purple Aces announced the hiring of Todd Lickliter as head coach. He inked a multiyear deal with the program. The former head coach at Butler, Iowa and Marian (Ind.) spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach at Evansville. In 12 seasons as a head coach, the 2007 NABC National Coach of the Year accumulated a 218-155 record while leading Butler to a pair of Sweet 16 appearances.
Using the Wildcard model, the Missouri Valley Conference -- in conjunction with its television partners -- reserves clearance windows for select dates throughout the season and waits until three weeks before the contest(s) to determine network clearances.