Still Perfect
Only 39 Division I schools that have played more than one game are still unbeaten, including three teams in the MVC.  Drake’s 6-0 start is the third best in program history and the best since the 1979-80 season.  The Ramblers are 3-0 for the first time since the magical season of 2017-18, when they won a school-record 32 games, finished the year ranked No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and reached the NCAA Final Four.  And Southern Illinois is 3-0 for the first time since 2015-16.

Weekly Notes (PDF)

MVC Player of the Week
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
6-9, 255, Sr., C, Algonquin (Ill.) Jacobs High
In two games last week, both victories, Krutwig averaged 22.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, hitting 18 of 27 shots from the field as Loyola stayed unbeaten and improved to 3-0 with wins over Chicago State (88-51) and UIC (77-66). The 6-foot-9 center just missed out on recording his 17th career double-double when he went for 22 points and nine rebounds, to go with two assists and a pair of blocks, in the rout of Chicago State. The two-time First Team All-MVC pick did all of that damage in just 24 minutes of action. He then poured in 22 points and added four boards, two helpers, block and a steal to spark the Ramblers to their eighth straight win over their city rival, UIC.

MVC Newcomer of the Week
Shanquan Hemphill, Drake
6-6, 195, Sr., F, Gary (Ind.) Michigan City [Green Bay]
Hemphill had seven points and a season-high 10 rebounds in the win over Air Force on Sunday with two assists and two steals as Drake improved to 6-0 on the season.  That performance came on the heels of a season-high 23 points in 24 minutes against McKendree on 11-of-13 shooting.  He also had six rebounds and three assists in that contest.

OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

• Ja’Shon Henry, Bradley -- Led the Braves in their lone game of the week. The junior forward scored 18 points in just 19 minutes of action against Lewis, making 5-of-6 field goals to go with a career-best nine free throws.
• Tywhn Pickford, UNI -- Came off the bench at Richmond to score a season high 19 points with 8 rebounds. The senior guard went 6-10 from the field and made 4 of his 7 free throw attempts. Pickford grabbed 3 offensive rebounds and 6 defensive boards and added 2 steals on the night. 
• Donovan Clay, Valparaiso -- Clay led the team with a season high 20 points on Saturday at Central Michigan, the third game of 20+ points in his collegiate career and a career high for points in a road contest. He finished just two points shy of his overall career high. Clay added five rebounds, three assists, a steal and a blocked shot against the Chippewas. 
• Trent Brown, Southern Illinois -- Only scored six points but might have been the most important player in SIU’s 70-66 win over Murray State on Friday night at Banterra Center. Brown was the primary defender on Murray State star Tevin Brown, who averaged 18 points per game last year. Trent held Tevin to three points on 1-of-7 shooting on Friday. Trent also hit arguably the biggest shot of the game: In a tie game with less than four minutes to go, Brown hit a 3-pointer in the corner to give SIU a 63-60 lead. Brown finished the game with four assists and no turnovers, and a game-high +12 on the +/- chart.  
• D.J. Wilkins, Drake -- Led Drake to the 28-point win over Air Force with a career-high 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the three-point arc … his six three-pointers were also a career-high and he is shooting 13-of-20 from the three-point arc in the last four games … he also added three rebounds in the win.
• Jawaun Newton, Evansville -- Making his season debut, Newton poured in a career-high 19 points to lead Evansville to a 68-65 win against Eastern Illinois, snapping a 22-game drought.  Newton connected on four field goals and did most of his work at the free throw line, knocking down 11 of his 13 attempts.  His efforts at the line marked his career highs.  He added six rebounds and three assists.
• Cooper Neese, Indiana State -- Averaged 16 points to go along with seven assists, two rebounds, and a pair of steals over two games for the Sycamores. He had a season-high 22 points in a loss at Purdue Saturday. He was 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-8 from distance in the game against the Boilermakers. He added 10 points for ISU in a win over Truman State to open the season.
• Dusan Mahorcic, Illinois State -- Scored 14 points while pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds against Ball State on Saturday evening. He made 7-of-10 shots from the field, and blocked a shot in 27 minutes of action. Of his 13 rebounds, five came on the offensive end.
• Randy Miller Jr., Indiana State -- Led the team with 19 points in a season-opening win over Truman State.  The North Carolina Central transfer was 7-for-11 from the field and connected on two 3-pointers in the win TSU. He added three rebounds and two steals.
• Jax Levitch, Evansville - Scored 11 points hitting four out of five field goals while adding a perfect 3-for-3 effort from outside against Eastern Illinois.  He added a steal in 27 minutes of play.  Levitch improved his outside shooting to an MVC-best 64.3%, hitting 9 of his 14 attempts on the year.
• Anthony D’Avanzo, Southern Illinois -- had 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block in only 23 minutes in SIU’s 70-66 win over Murray State on Friday night at Banterra Center. D’Avanzo shot 4-of-6 from the field, 2-of-3 from the 3-point line and 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the win, and he scored 10 of his SIU-high 13 points in the first half, leading SIU to a 40-32 halftime lead. 
• Sheldon Edwards, Valparaiso -- Edwards led the team in rebounding at 5.5 per game and was second in scoring at 12.0 points per contest this week. He shot 56.3 percent from the field in a week that was highlighted by his team-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting in Wednesday's 80-58 victory over SIUE.
• Braden Norris, Loyola -- Norris averaged 8.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists, hitting 50 percent (5-for-10) of his three-point tries, in wins over Chicago State and UIC last week. The redshirt sophomore guard scored 11 second-half points to help the Ramblers defeat the Flames for the eighth straight time and also notched six points and a pair of dimes in a win over Chicago State.

Pause in the Action
Since Nov. 11 (two weeks prior to the start of the basketball season) and through today (Dec. 14), MVC schools have had 23 total games canceled/postponed due to COVID.  Conversely, league schools have added 18 games to their respective schedules since the start of the season.

Non-Conference Games Permitted:  90   |   Non-Conference Games Scheduled:  68
Games Cancelled:  23   |   Games Added:  18
Non-Conf. Games Played/Remaining:  40/23

Power Play
Last year, MVC schools recorded a 5-9 mark against teams in ‘power’ conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and the SEC), which included a 3-3 mark against SEC programs.  So far this season, the league is 1-6 in such contests.  Loyola faces nationally ranked Wisconsin this week.

Home Sweet Home
Collectively, the league won 71.1 percent of the time at home during league play last year (after winning 90.2 percent of its home games in non-league play). That 71.1 percent winning percentage matches the best in the MVC since 1999-00, and it was the best in the NCAA last year.  So far this year, league teams are 16-1 (94.1 pct.) at home.

Beating a Ranked Team
Loyola battles No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 25 Richmond this week.  Two league teams knocked off a ranked opponent last year. UNI won at nationally ranked Colorado, and Evansville made history with its win at #1 Kentucky -- it marked the first time the Aces had beaten a top-ranked team.

SIU:  Scoring Salukis
Southern Illinois averaged 62.2 points per game in 2019-20 and only scored 70+ points six times (going 6-0). This year’s Salukis are averaging 86.3 points per game, shooting 49% from the field and 44% from the 3-point line, which ranks eighth-best nationally.

UNI:  Green To Miss Season
The 2020 MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year and this year’s Preseason Player of the Year AJ Green of UNI will miss the remainder of the 2020-21 season after coach Ben Jacobson announced he will undergo hip surgery.

LUC:  Back-to-Back, Jack
With the late addition of games against Wisconsin (Dec. 15) and Richmond (Dec. 18), Loyola will play nationally ranked teams in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2017-18 season. That year, the Ramblers upended No. 22 Miami (64-62), No. 13 Tennessee (63-62) and No. 24 Nevada (69-68) in succession in the 2018 NCAA Tournament en route to a trip to the Final Four.
 
MSU:  Out of Hibernation
Missouri State is slated to finally get its 2020-21 campaign off the ground this week with the potential for four games over an eight-day span. The Bears host William Jewell in their opener on Wednesday before entertaining Northwestern State on Saturday and Sun Belt preseason favorite Little Rock Dec. 21. Dana Ford’s squad is also seeking a game on Dec. 23. 

UE:  It’s Over
Evansville snapped a 22-game winless streak on Wednesday with a 68-65 win over Eastern Illinois.  It put an end to the longest drought in program history.  One of the big differences was the first-half play – in its first three games, UE averaged a deficit of 7.67 points at halftime, but in the win over the Panthers, the Aces held a 15-point lead.  Evansville also did a great job of spreading the ball around as five players finished in double figures for the first time since the win over Morgan State in November of 2019.

ILS:  Big Rebounds
Against Ball State, Illinois State junior forward Dusan Mahorcic pulled down 13 rebounds in his second NCAA Division I game, which is tied for the fifth-highest single-game total against Ball State in program history.

INS:  Locked and Loaded
Junior Cooper Neese of Indiana State put on a shooting clinic Saturday at Purdue. The 6-4 guard was 7-for-11 from the field against the Boilermakers including 4-for-8 from 3-point land. On the season Neese is 6-for-14 from deep and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.

BU:  Defensive Leader
After leading the Missouri Valley Conference in field goal percentage defense in each of the last three seasons, Bradley has gone a step further so far in 2020-21. The Braves rank second nationally in Division I games by allowing opponents to shoot only 32.1 percent from 2-point range. That is 17.2 percent better than the national average (49.3%), while BU held foes to 45.6 percent inside the arc last season.

FG Pct. Defense - NCAA Leaders (All Games)
1. Fresno State (Mountain West)    27.0
2. Purdue Fort Wayne (Horizon)    30.3
3. Santa Clara (WCC)        33.1
4. Northwestern (Big Ten)    33.2
5. UAB (C-USA)        33.3
6. Bradley (MVC)        33.9


VALPO:  Fountain of Youth
Valpo’s top four scorers and five of the team’s top six are freshmen or sophomores.  This season, 68 percent of the team’s scoring has come from freshmen or sophomores, as those groups have combined for 290 of the team’s 426 points.   The sophomore class is accounting for 37 percent of the team’s scoring (156 points), while the freshmen class accounts for another 31 percent (134 points). 

DU:  Winning Ways
Drake has won all six of its games by double digits, marking the first time Drake has had six-straight wins by 10 or more points since December, 1987 … Drake has won its last three games by an average of 32.0 points … Drake has won 22-straight non-conference home games, a streak that has lasted nearly four full calendar years.