Men's Basketball

MVC MBB Weekly Notebook (Nov. 20)

MVC Player of the Week:  Keyshawn Evans, Illinois State
MVC Newcomer of the Week:  Marques Townes, Loyola
 
Weekly Notebook (PDF)

Next Up:
Tuesday, Nov. 21 (Times CENTRAL)
Fresno State vs. Evansville (CBS SN)  |  Cancun, Mexico • 7:30 p.m.
Mississippi Valley State at Loyola (ESPN3)  |  Chicago, Ill. • 7:00 p.m.
Missouri State vs. TBD (FloHoops)  |  Estero, Fla. • 10a/4p
SIU at #18 Louisville (ACC South/FS Midwest)  |  Louisville, Ky. • 6:00 p.m.
Samford at Valparaiso (ESPN3)  |  Valparaiso, Ind. • 7:00 p.m.
 
Quick Start
  • Missouri Valley Conference teams have combined for a 29-9 non-conference record (through games of Sunday).  Last year, the league had a 26-12 start through the first 38 games of the campaign.
  • The 18-1 record at home ranks 6th best in terms of winning percentage.
  • The 5-2 record in road games is second-best (to the Pac-12 at 1-0) in winning percentage, while the league’s five road wins is second only to the Big West, which is 6-14 away from home this year.
  • The Valley’s overall non-conference slate is bolstered by four league teams who haven’t lost (Evansville, Loyola, Southern Illinois and Valpo).  A total of 86 teams nationally are still undefeated.
 
Power Play
The MVC has recorded a 3-3 record against teams from Power 5 conferences.  Last season the league combined for a 5-18 record against Power 5 teams.  Last season, the MVC was 73-56 overall (and 68-38 against non-Power 5 teams).  This year’s wins are by Indiana State (at Indiana), Drake (vs. Wake Forest) and Illinois State (vs. South Carolina).
 
Timmer Moves Up Charts
With his 70 points in three games at the Paradise Jam, Reed Timmer moved up Drake’s all-time scoring list into eighth place with 1,434 career points.  He leapfrogged Ben Simons (1,372 points, 2009-12) and needs just 37 more points to move into seventh all-time with former NBA-er Wayne Kreklow (1,471 points, 1975-79).  Timmer is the league’s active leading scorer and ranks 20th among all NCAA active players.
 
Off the Bench
Valparaiso leads the MVC and ranks 8th nationally in bench scoring.  The Crusaders have averaged 43.3 points per game from their non-starters.
 
Working Overtime
Indiana State fell to Ohio, 96-94, in the longest college basketball game of the season on Nov. 19, as the contest went four overtimes.  Drake also played in a multi-overtime game on Nov. 19, winning against Drexel to take third place in the Paradise Jam.  Only five games in the past 20 years in the NCAA have been longer -- the most recent was a 5-overtime contest between Louisville-Notre Dame on Feb. 9, 2013.  No MVC team has played a 4OT game in that span, but there have been 3 league games that have gone 3OT since 1999, including Bradley-Missouri State (2/25/15), Drake-Wichita State (1/28/12) and Indiana State-Wichita State (1/22/11).
 
The New Guys
Several MVC newcomers have made an impact in their first years in the league.  Marques Townes of Loyola is the only newcomer to rank in the Top 10 in the league in scoring (8th) and rebounding (6th), while Kavion Pippen of Southern Illinois (16th/3rd), Qiydar Davis of Indiana State (24th/10th), Milik Yarbrough of Illinois State (16th/17th) and Markus Golder of Valpo (22nd/23rd) rank among the league’s Top 25 in both scoring/rebounding, respectively.
 
Doubling Trouble
Alize Johnson of Missouri State had 23 points and 20 boards against North Dakota State -- he’s the second player to record a 20-20 game this year. (Noah Dickerson of Washington is the other.)  Johnson and Egidijus Mockevicius of Evansville are the only two players in the MVC in the past 20 seasons to have multiple 20-point, 20-rebound games (Johnson-3; Mockevicius-2).