This week's Missouri Valley Conference players of the week in men's basketball are Ryan Taylor of Evansville and Cameron Krutwig of Loyola.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ryan Taylor, Evansville, Gd., Jr., Gary, Ind.
The unbelievable season continued for Purple Aces junior Ryan Taylor as he averaged 27.5 points per game over the last week for UE.  Taylor dropped 30 points on Wednesday at Indiana State, hitting 11 shots while tying his career mark with eight rebounds.  He backed that up with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting and a 5-of-10 effort from long range in a 75-44 win over Southern Illinois.  Taylor averaged 36 minutes per game over the course of the week along with 6.5 rebounds.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola, Fr., Ctr., Algonquin, Ill.
In helping Loyola extend its winning streak to seven games, its third seven-game streak of the season, Krutwig averaged 15.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, while connecting on a staggering 82.4 percent (14-for-17) of his field goal attempts. The 6-foot-9 freshman center played a key role in Loyola capturing its first Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title and first outright conference title since 1984-85. Loyola also established a program record with 15 league wins. He contributed 14 points, six rebounds and two assists, hitting 6-of-7 shots from the field, in the Ramblers’ 75-56 victory at Southern Illinois on February 21 that clinched the outright conference championship. He followed that performance with 16 points, five boards and four assists off the bench in a 68-61 decision over Illinois State on February 24.

OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES LAST WEEK:

Keyshawn Evans, Illinois State -- Averaged 21.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game … Made 14-of-31 shots from the field (45.2%) and 11-of-21 (52.4%) from beyond the arc. He also made all four of his free throw attempts, and had just three total turnovers … In the opening game of the week, an overtime win over Drake, he scored 23 points, making 7-of-15 shots from the field, and 5-of-11 from beyond the arc … He also dished out six assists with no turnovers against the Bulldogs … In the regular season finale against Loyola he made 7-of-16 of his shots from the field and 6-of-10 from beyond the arc to score 20 points … He also pulled down four rebounds with four assists and a steal.

Donte Thomas, Bradley -- Averaged 17.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in a pair of games to finish the regular season – shooting 56.0 percent, while also adding four steals and two blocks. On Wednesday against Missouri State, Thomas scored 10 points to go with seven boards and three steals, while also holding MVC Preseason Player of the Year, Alize Johnson, to just six points on 2-of-9 shooting. The senior then scored a career-best 24 points on Saturday in the final home game of his career, also adding eight rebounds and two blocks.

Jordan Barnes, Indiana State -- Led the Sycamores with a 16.0 ppg average and connected on a combined seven 3-pointers in the Sycamores sweep of Evansville and Bradley during the final week of the regular season. The two wins helped ISU avoid Thursday night at Arch Madness. Barnes added a 7-of-8 marl from the free throw line and the 5-11 point guard averaged 7.5 rebounds per game with six assists and a steal. 

Reed Timmer, Drake -- Averaged 27.0 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from the three-point arc in a par of games … opened the week with 26 points and six rebounds in the loss at Illinois State and followed that with 28 points on 8-of-12 shooting and a 5-of-7 showing from the arc against Valpo … he closed the season by scoring 20 or more points in four-straight games to move into the top-20 in all-time in scoring in MVC history.

Bennett Koch, UNI -- Became the 42nd UNI Panther to reach 1,000 career points when he scored 25 points in a 68-63 road win Tuesday at Valparaiso. Koch drained all eight of his field goal attempts. He is the only player in the country to have two games this season in which he has scored 25 points and has been perfect from the field with a minimum of eight field goal attempts. Koch grabbed seven rebounds, blocked two shots, handed out an assist and tallied a steal against the Crusaders as UNI snapped an 11-game road losing streak.

Markus Golder, Valparaiso -- Averaged team highs of 13.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game on 63.2% shooting from the field as the Crusaders split a pair of games in the final week of MVC action. He opened the week with 14 points (6-9 FG), five rebounds and three assists in a tight loss at home to UNI. Golder then capped the regular season with 13 points (6-10 FG) and nine rebounds, tying for team-high honors in the latter category and narrowly missing his second double-double of the year in the win at Drake - Valpo's first road MVC win of the season. Golder ends the regular season having scored 12 or more points in each of the Crusaders' last seven contests

Milik Yarbrough -- Illinois State -- Averaged 15.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game on the week … Made 13-of-26, and 4-of-5 from the free throw line … Scored 22 points with 10 rebounds in the first game of the week against Drake … Made 9-of-17 shots from the field, while also dishing out five assists and a blocked shot … Against Loyola he scored nine points while pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out six assists with two steals. Has dished out at least five assists in nine of his last 10 games.

Qiydar Davis, Indiana State -- Posted 11.0 points and 3.0 rebounds per game as the Sycamores avoided Thursday night with a pair of wins over Evansville and Bradley. Davis had the game winning offensive rebound and put back field goal with just under 10 seconds remaining to secure a 66-64 victory over the Braves. He finished the game with 10 points and added two rebounds as he hit a pair of 3-pointers as well. Davis also had 12 points and four rebounds in the grinding 58-53 win over Evansville on Wednesday night. He added a pair of steals in the win over the Purple Aces.

Jarred Dixon, Missouri State -- Averaged 19.0 points while shooting 54.2 percent from the field last week.  He connected on 7-of-12 three-pointers and added six rebounds and three assists in two games.