NOTEBOOK (PDF)
Missouri State continues to sit at the top of the standings at 9-0 after winning a pair of tough wins at Illinois State.
Drake remained in second place and sits 10-3 in league play after taking two over Southern Illinois. The Bulldogs have now won five straight, including nine of their last 11 games.
Loyola jumped up to third in the standings following two wins at Evansville and are now 7-4 in MVC action. Loyola’s best Valley finish is fifth in 2015-16 (10-8).
Bradley and UNI occupy the fourth and fifth spot in the standings after splitting a pair of games in Peoria over the weekend.
Still Perfect
Missouri State is now 9-0 in MVC play for the fifth time in school history. The Lady Bears got to 10-0 in 2019 and 2000, 11-0 in 2004 and 12-0 in 1996. Missouri State is currently one of 14 teams nationally still sitting perfect in league play this season.
Elite NCAA Resume
Missouri State is once again putting together an elite NCAA Tournament resume. The Lady Bears are one of 13 teams with at least five Quad 1 wins this season (as of Feb. 15). Missouri State is 11-2 vs. Quad 1 and 2 combined. Only #2 South Carolina, #3 Louisville, #5 Texas A&M and #6 Stanford also combine for 11+ wins vs. Q1&2.
Only Stanford (10) exceeds the Lady Bears’ total of eight such road wins, and only Missouri State is at least 8-0 in Q1/2 road games this season.
Rise of The Valley
The 2019-20 season tied the highest RPI ranking the MVC has recorded in its history showcasing how The Valley is becoming one of the best mid-major leagues in the country. The league also saw five teams in the Top 100 of the RPI for the first time since the 1998-99 season. In 2018-19, the league posted a top-15 RPI for the first time since 2012-13 a year after seeing the league’s worst RPI in 2017-18 (24). The Valley is looking to match or surpass last year’s record numbers in 2020-21.
Year MVC RPI Top 100 RPI Teams
2020-21 7 (NET) 5 (NET)
2019-20 8 5
2018-19 14 3
2017-18 24 2
Conference NET
The Valley ranks 7th nationally in the conference NET report. The Valley sits behind the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, Big Ten and Big East entering this week.
The Valley finished the 2019-20 season with a league-best conference RPI of 8th.
NET Update
The latest installment of the NCAA NET Report (Feb. 15) has five Valley teams that rank in the top-90. Missouri State leads the way at No. 24 with Drake (46), UNI (73), Illinois State (80), and Bradley (84), rounding out the schools in the Top 90.
The Valley joins the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC as the only leagues nationally with five teams in the NET Top 90.
Streaks in League Play
Drake will put its 15 game win streak vs. Illinois State on the line this weekend as the Bulldogs head to Normal. The Redbirds last win over the Bulldogs was on Jan. 3, 2014 (80-71).
Longest Current Winning Streaks vs. MVC Opponent
15 – Drake over Illinois State (2014-present)
15 – Drake over Loyola (2014-present)
14 – Missouri State over Loyola (2014-present)
14 – Missouri State over Indiana State (2015-present)
13 – UNI over Evansville (2015-present)
13 – Drake over Evansville (2016-present)
Climbing the Chart
Bradley senior Gabi Haack sits 11th in MVC history with 259 career triples after adding three to her total over the weekend. Haack is two triples from pushing her career total among the top 10 in the MVC.
MVC Career Three-Pointers
5. 266 - Lindsay Whorton, Drake 2004-08
6. 265 - Jenni Lingor, Missouri State 2002-05
7. 263 - Kelsey Luna, Indiana State 2006-10
8. 262 - Jaleshia Roberson, Missouri State 2008-12
9. 261 - Kelsey Woodard, Creighton 2007-11
261 - Jacqui Kalin, UNI 2007-10; 2012-13
11. 259 - Gabi Haack, Bradley 2017-present
Polling
Missouri State remained No. 25 in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll. MSU was No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll (Feb. 9), marking its 29th-straight appearance in the poll.
BU: Doing It All
Bradley’s Nyjah White converted an impressive five three-point play opportunities and scored a career-best 29 points in Saturday’s victory over UNI. White, who also had 10 rebounds, five assists, one block and three steals in the win, is one of two players in the MVC to rank in the top 15 in both scoring (13th) and rebounding (13th) and top 10 in assists (7th). Scoring her 900th career point Saturday, White is now one of three players in Bradley history with 900 career points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 60 blocks and at least 100 steals; joining Bradley Hall of Famer Heather Best (1995-99) and Raisa Taylor (2007-11).
DU: Rally Time
Drake rallied from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit in the first victory over the Salukis. The Bulldogs trailed 43-35 at halftime as they earned their first win of the season when trailing at the halftime break, going 0-6 before the Thursday win. The 74-70 comeback win was nearly identical to Drake’s rally against SIU at the Knapp Center during the 2017-18 season. In that game, the Bulldogs came back from 14 points down in the third to win 84-73.
UE: Defense Holds Strong
Despite practicing just once since February 1, the Aces continued their strong defense in the weekend series against Loyola. Evansville held the Ramblers under 40% shooting in both games, marking the third-straight game and fourth game in the last five that the Aces have held their opponents to less than 40% from the field.
ILS: Play4Kay
The ‘Birds will host their annual Play4Kay game when Drake visits Redbird Arena Friday. ISU set a new fundraising record in last year’s game, raising over $27,000 to be donated to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and being recognized as a Play4Kay divisional winner (among non-BCS DI schools) for the fifth year in a row.
The Redbirds have a personal connection to the Play4Kay cause, as head coach Kristen Gillespie played and coached under Coach Yow at NC State, helping them to a Final Four appearance her junior year as the starting point guard in 1998.
INS: Back in Action
Sycamore women’s basketball will return to action this weekend against Southern Illinois after missing three weeks due to positive COVID-19 cases within their own and other programs. Indiana State last played on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at Evansville, making Friday’s contest with the Salukis exactly 23 days since their last Valley competition and 27 days since their last home game.
LUC: 50 Below
Loyola turned in a pair of dominant defensive showings as it rolled to a weekend road sweep of Evansville to improve to 9-6 overall and 7-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Ramblers held the Purple Aces below the 50-point mark in both wins, a feat they have now accomplished in five of their last nine games. In Saturday’s 61-31 win, Loyola limited Evansville to just 17.3 percent (9-of-52) from the field and forced a season-high 22 turnovers. The 31 points scored by the Purple Aces are the fewest allowed by the Ramblers in an MVC contest since joining the league and the lowest point total put up by a Loyola opponent since a 46-28 win over Chicago State on December 1, 2017.
MSU: Road Warriors
The Lady Bears improved their road winning streak to nine games with a sweep of Illinois State, tying for the second-longest road streak in school history behind a 13-game stretch from Jan. 18-Nov. 14, 2019. MSU is one of three teams nationally with at least eight road wins without a loss and joins Stanford as the only two schools with at least that many road victories against NET Quad 1 & 2 opponents. It’s also the seventh consecutive season that Missouri State has racked up at least six Valley road wins.
UNI: Panther Perfection
The Panthers went 29-of-29 on free throws during their two-game split with the Braves. UNI’s 16-of-16 effort Saturday broke the program record for single-game free throw shooting that was set in Friday’s win (13-of-13). The previous mark was a 12-of-12 effort vs. Creighton in 2003.
SIU: Reaching Milestones
Makenzie Silvey made five three-pointers in Southern’s weekend series at Drake. In doing so, she became just the fourth player in Saluki history to make 200-plus career three-pointers. She joins Rishonda Napier, Kylie Giebelhausen and Teri Oliver as the only Salukis to accomplish the feat. She’s now 20 three-pointers shy of cracking the top-25 in MVC history. The Glen Carbon, Ill. native also came away with a pair of steals over the weekend to bump her career total to 142- which ranks her 10th in school history.
VALPO: Coming Off Long Layoff
Valpo will play its first game in 14 days when it hosts Evansville on Friday, its third game of the season after at least a 10-day layoff from competition. The Brown and Gold were away from competition 18 days before their 63-56 win over UNI on Jan. 7, while an 11-day layoff preceded Valpo’s 61-51 loss to Missouri State Jan. 30.
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Player and Newcomer of the Week are Missouri State's Jasmine Franklin and Loyola's Sitori Tanin.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Jasmine Franklin, Jr., F, Missouri State
Jasmine Franklin led Missouri State in scoring and rebounding in the Lady Bears’ two victories at Illinois State, averaging 15.5 points, 8.5 boards, 2.5 assists, 2.5 steals and one block per game while shooting 6-for-11 in each contest and 78 percent at the foul line. Friday, Franklin collected her 20th career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, adding three assists, two steals and two blocks. Saturday, the junior had a team-high 15 points with seven boards, three steals and two assists. Franklin also drew a team-high 11 fouls from ISU in the two-game set.
Other Notable Performances: Nyjah White (BRAD); Grace Berg (DU); Abby Feit (UE); Ellie Rice (LUC); Kam Finley (UNI); Makenzie Silvey (SIU)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Sitori Tanin, Fr., F, Loyola
Loyola freshman forward Sitori Tanin continued her impressive play of late, averaging 12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in two road victories over Evansville this past weekend. The Middleton, Wis. product narrowly missed out on her first career double-double in Friday’s 67-49 victory, finishing with 13 points (6-12 FGs, 1-2 FTs) and nine rebounds in addition to a block and a steal. She reached double figures in scoring for a third-straight outing on Saturday, adding 11 points (5-9 FGs, 1-3 FTs), seven rebounds, a season-high three assists, a block, and two steals in a thorough 61-31 win.
Other Notable Performances: Uche Ufochukwu (BRAD); Grace Berg (DU); Terrion Moore (ILS)