How Seed It Is
Only two regular-season games remain for each MVC squad. Below is a snapshot of what’s left for each team and the range of possible seeds for the State Farm MVC Tournament (March 5-8 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis).
Range of Seeds
UNI (12-4) 1-2-3
LUC (11-5) 1-2-3-4
BU (10-6) 2-3-4-5-6-7
SIU (10-6) 2-3-4-5-6
INS (9-7) 3-4-5-6-7-8
DU (8-8) 4-5-6-7-8
MSU (8-8) 4-5-6-7-8
VU (8-8) 3-4-5-6-7-8
ILS (4-12) 9
UE (0-16) 10
MVC MBB Weekly Notebook (PDF)
MVC Player of the Week
Christian Williams, Indiana State
6-6, 195, Sr., G
Decatur (Ill.) St. Teresa High [Iowa]
Williams paced the Sycamores by averaging 15.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game as ISU took down league-leading UNI and won on the road against Evansville. Williams hit 9-of-14 shots for the week (64.3 percent), 2-of-4 from distance (50 percent) and was 10-of-11 from the free throw line (90.0 percent). He added three assists and a steal over the course of the two-game stretch. Williams scored 14 points and hit 4-of-7 from the field, with a pair of 3-pointers vs. UNI. He hit all four of his FT attempts in the final 1:14 to help seal the victory, but also drew the defensive assignment on AJ Green on the final two possessions in which he forced Green to drive in for a two-point jumper instead of trying to the try the game with 7.7 seconds left and also guarded Green as he looked at a 3-pointer which would have knotted the contest. At Evansville, he led the way with 16 points and was 5-of-7 from the field and an impressive 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Trailing by a point with 1:07 remaining, Williams converted a conventional 3-point play which gave the Sycamores a 58-56 lead. He was perfect at the line (4-of-4) in the final seconds to seal the victory.
MVC Newcomer of the Week
Jake LaRavia, Indiana State
6-8, 215, Fr., G/F
Indianapolis (Ind.) Lawrence Central High
LaRavia averaged 13.0 points and 5.5 rebounds as the Sycamores swept a pair of contests against UNI and at Evansville. He was 11-of-17 from the field (64.7 percent), with a pair of 3-pointers and three assists as well as a trio of blocked shots. LaRavia scored eight points and pulled down four rebounds while battling early foul trouble in the win over Evansville. He scored the first bucket in both the first and second halves and his two free throws with 5:32 remaining knotted the contest at 48. Against UNI, LaRavia tied for the team lead with 18 points and paced the Sycamores on the glass with seven rebounds while going 8-of-12 from the field, with a pair of 3-pointers. UNI trimmed the Sycamore lead down to just one point as the clock went under a minute and LaRavia scored inside with 38 seconds remaining to stretch the advantage back out to 65-62 to set up Christian Williams’ defensive heroics.
Trending Towards 20 Wins
UNI reached 20 victories with its win at Valparaiso on Feb. 5. Three other league teams have 18+ wins with two regular-season games remaining. Should two of them also reach 20 wins before the tournament it will mark the 10th time in 30 years of the event in St. Louis that three teams had 20+ wins prior to the tourney. It hasn’t happened since 2010, and the league championship has never had four 20-win teams prior to the event.
3 Teams, 20+ Wins at Arch Madness
1994 -- Bradley#, Southern Illinois*, Tulsa*
2000 -- Creighton*, Indiana St.*, Missouri St.#
2004 -- Creighton#, S. Illinois*, Wichita State#
2005 -- Creighton*, UNI*, Southern Illinois*
2006 -- Missouri State#, UNI*, Wichita State*
2007 -- Bradley#, Missouri State#, S. Illinois*
2008 -- Creighton#, Drake*, Southern Illinois#
2009 -- Creighton#, Illinois State#, UNI*
2010 -- Illinois State#, UNI*, Wichita State#
*denotes NCAA; #denotes NIT
Home Cooking
Collectively, the league has won 73.8 percent of the time at home during league play this year (after winning 90.2 percent of its home games in non-league play). That 73.8 percent winning percentage is the best in the MVC since at least 1996-97, and it’s the best in the NCAA this season.
Conference Homecourt Records (thru 2/23)
1. Missouri Valley .738
2. MAAC .697
3. Big Ten .696
4. Ivy League .675
5. MEAC .671
Arch Madness 30
In March, the MVC will be celebrating its 30th-straight conference men’s basketball tournament in St. Louis. Only the Big East has had a longer run with its neutral-site event in the same city.
9-9 Team on Thursday?
Since the MVC expanded to a 10-team tournament format in 1997 (23 previous tourneys), only Bradley (1998), Drake (2012) and Illinois State (2019) had a 9-9 league mark and played in the opening round (Thursday night) of the State Farm MVC Tournament. All three won their opening game in the tournament.
No. 1 Seed “Success”
Counting 2019, the top-seeded team has won the tournament 16 times in 43 tries, and it has happened only nine times in the 29-year history in St. Louis.
History of Top Seed in STL
In 29 previous MVC Tournaments in St. Louis, the No. 1 tournament seed has:
11 - Lost in the Semifinals
9 - Won the Tournament
9 - Lost in the Championship Game
Worst Friday Pole Position?
The sixth-seeded teams have gone a combined 9-29 in tournament games in St. Louis. Since the league expanded to its current 10-team format in 1997, only one team that has played in the opening round has reached the semifinals (won two games). Bradley (9-9), seeded No. 7 in 1998, beat 10th-seeded Drake and then it toppled No. 2 seed Creighton, before falling in the semifinals to Missouri State.
Best Pole Position?
Thirty-nine of 43 previous MVC tournament champions were seeded 1, 2, or 3. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds have had the most success, combining for 32 titles. Last year, Bradley was the No. 5 seed and defeated No. 6 seed UNI in the title game. No seed worse than No. 5 has won the title.
Title Town
The MVC has had eight different regular-season champs in the past 13 seasons (Creighton-2009, 2013; Drake-2008, 2019, Illinois State-2017; Loyola-2018, 2019; Missouri State-2011; UNI-2009, 2010; Southern Illinois-2007; Wichita State-2012, 2014, 2015, 2017).
Co-Champions
The league has produced co-champions just five times since 1985 and 22 times in its 112-year history.
Most Recent MVC Seasons w/Co-Champs
1992 -- Illinois State/Southern Illinois (14-4)
2002 -- Creighton/Southern Illinois (14-4)
2009 -- Creighton/UNI (14-4)
2017 -- Illinois State/Wichita State (17-1)
2019 -- Drake/Loyola (12-6)
Nothing But NET
Seven MVC schools rank in the top 160 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET). Last year, only three MVC teams were in the Top 160 at season’s end. Five league schools are rated higher than last year’s best-rated team in the NET (Loyola led the league with a season-ending 131 NET rating in 2018-19.) Co-champion Drake was the league leader at the end of the regular season with a 127. As a conference, the MVC is the 11th-rated league in the NET ratings. Last season, the MVC was No. 14 in the NET at season’s end.
SIU Goes for Historic Win
Southern Illinois, picked last in the pre-season MVC poll, enters this week with 10 conference wins. No MVC last-place pick has ever won 11 conference games. Drake, in 2018, was the only other last-place choice to win 10 games, and that year the Bulldogs became the only last place pick to finish in the Top 3 (T-3rd).
Another MVC Coaching Alum
There are currently five MVC head coaches who have also played in the MVC. Dan Muller and Bryan Mullins are both coaching at their alma maters. In MVC history, there have been 8 head coaches to lead their alma maters.
Moving Up the Charts
Now in his 14th season as head coach at UNI, Ben Jacobson continues to climb the all-time MVC lists for victories. Only one other coach has won as many as 289 games during his 14th MVC season. Henry Iba of Oklahoma State had 302 total wins at the end of his 14th year.
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. Loyola’s Porter Moser is just the second to earn a league title as a player then in back-to-back seasons as a head coach. Of those five coaches, Craig Ruby (Missouri) has the most combined titles with two as a player and two as a coach (also at Mizzou).
Climbing the 3-Point Ladder
Indiana State’s Jordan Barnes continues to climb the MVC’s all-time lists for three-point field goals as the senior has 268 in his career to rank 3rd at Indiana State. He’s t-8th in MVC history. Nate Kennell of Bradley has moved into second all-time at BU with 240 treys.
Top Scoring MVC Freshmen
Marcus Domask of Southern Illinois leads MVC freshmen with 416 points. In league history, 23 freshmen have scored 400+ points, including 11 since 2000. Eight MVC freshmen since 2000 to hit 400 points earned the league’s Freshman of the Year award. Domask’s 416 points are tied for 17th all-time in MVC history for a freshman.
Defending the Shot
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 in 2018 and represented the league in the NCAA Tourney.) Bradley’s current 39.3 percent figure is the eighth-best in the MVC since 1980.
Valpo Sets 3-Point Mark
Valpo converted 18 3-pointers in its 90-78 win over Bradley at the ARC, coming one shy of establishing a school record for 3s in a single game while shattering the mark for the most in a MVC contest. The record for 3s by a Valley team in any game is 20, but the previous record in conference play was 17, reached on five occasions. It was the most triples Valpo has knocked down in a game since the record-setting night against Butler on Feb. 6, 1989.
JJ Jumper
Since 1992-93 only two players have played a full season in which he made zero two-point baskets and 50 or more three-pointers. Jonah Jackson of Drake enters this week with 58 made field goals this year (all three-pointers).
Historic Shooting Percentage
Austin Phyfe of UNI is shooting 68.8 percent from the field (130 of 189) and that would rank second in the NCAA this year (the NCAA per-game minimums are higher than the MVC’s). If he maintains that percentage, Phyfe would set an all-time MVC record.
FG Percentage -- MVC Full-Season Leaders
.688 Austin Phyfe, UNI, 2019-20
.674 Vernon Moore, Creighton, 1984-85
.669 Aundre Jackson, Loyola, 2016-17
.668 Luke Jackson, Bradley, 1987-88
.663 Mike Grimes, Creighton, 2002-03
It’s a Steal
Javon Freeman-Liberty has 65 steals this year, shattering a school mark that has stood for nearly two decades. Freeman-Liberty is in position to become the first player to lead the MVC in steals in consecutive seasons since Hersey Hawkins of Bradley did so in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
King Krut
Loyola’s Cameron Krutwig ranks among the MVC leaders in points, rebounds, assists and FG percentage. Only seven previous times since 1980 (the first year assist leaders were tracked) has a player ranked in the MVC’s Top 10 in each of those four categories. No player in MVC history has finished in the Top 5 in each of those four categories. Krutwig also is among the league’s Top 10 in steals.
Reaching 1,000 Points
AJ Green of UNI enters this week with 1,064 career points. Below is a list of the top point totals for MVC student-athletes who played their freshmen and sophomore seasons in the MVC. Doug McDermott of Creighton scored 1,382 in his first two years at Creighton to lead the way.
Top MVC Point Totals Thru Sophomore Season
1,382 -- Doug McDermott, CU (2010-11 & 2011-12)
1,225 -- Mitchell Anderson, BU (1978-79 & 1979-80)
1,125 -- John S. Williams, INS (1982-83 & 1983-84)
1,095 -- Hersey Hawkins, BU (1984-85 & 1985-86)
1,071 -- Shea Seals, Tulsa (1993-94 & 1994-95)
1,069 -- Cliff Levingston, WSU (1979-80 & 1980-81)
1,064 -- AJ Green, UNI (2018-19 & 2019-20)
1,050 -- Cleo Littleton, WSU (1951-52 & 1952-53)
1,043 -- Tarise Bryson, ILS (1998-99 & 1999-00)
1,034 -- D.J. Balentine, UE (2012-13 & 2013-14)
1,010 -- Rodney Buford, CU (1995-96 & 1996-97)
MVC’s 1,000-Point Scorers
A host of MVC players have surpassed 1,000 points for their careers this year. Darrell Brown ranks t38th all-time in MVC history and is the league’s active leading scorer with 1,760 career points.
MVC Active Scoring Leaders
1,760 - Darrell Brown, Bradley (Sr.)
1,515 - Jordan Barnes, Indiana State (Sr.)
1,342 - Cameron Krutwig, Loyola Chicago (Jr.)
1,219 - Tyreke Key, Indiana State (Jr.)
1,213 - *Lamont West, Missouri State (Sr.)
1,169 - Nate Kennell, Bradley (Sr.)
1,095 - *Tulio Da Silva, Missouri State (Sr.)
1,064 - AJ Green, UNI (So.)
1,019 - K.J. Riley, Evansville (Sr.)
968 - Elijah Childs, Bradley (Jr.)
*some statistics compiled at former institution
Charity Tosses
Earlier this season, AJ Green of UNI established a school record by making 44-straight free throws. He currently leads the league and ranks fourth nationally with his 92.0 percent accuracy from the foul stripe. Only four players in MVC history have had a full-season percentage better than that: Blake Ahearn of Missouri State (4x), Rick Fields of Indiana State, Mike Glenn of Southern Illinois and Vince Greene of Illinois State.
Attendance: Up.
Four league schools have seen increased home attendance from a year ago, with UNI experiencing the biggest spike since last season (+546 per game).
Helping Hand
Drake’s Roman Penn continues to lead the league and rank 30th nationally in assists and with 165 assists has the third-most assists in a season in Drake history. Only two players in the MVC since 1996-97 have eclipsed 200 assists in a season. The MVC record is 373 (Anthony Manuel, Bradley, 1987-88)