Weekly Notebook (PDF)

MVC Player of the Week
Elijah Childs, Bradley
6-8, 230, Sr., F, Kansas City (Mo.) Lee’s Summit West
Elijah Childs led the Braves to a 2-1 start to the season during three games at the Xavier Invitational. Named to the All-Tournament Team, Childs led Bradley with 15.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.0 steals per game. The junior scored a season-high 17 points against the Big East hosts, while recording his first double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 boards against Oakland.
 
MVC Newcomer of the Week
Josiah Strong, Illinois State
6-3, 194, Jr., G. Brooklyn Park (Minn.) Champlin Park High [Navy/Iowa Western CC]
Strong averaged 18.0 points per game, making 11-of-25 shots from the field (.440), 46.2 percent of his shots from long range (6-of-13), and all eight of his free throw tries. He also pulled down six rebounds, dished out four assists, and blocked two shots as the Redbirds opened the season 1-1. In a 10-point win over UMass Lowell, he made 6-of-14 shots from the field, 3-of-8 from beyond the arc, and all six free throw tries for his career-high 21 points. He pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists.

Notable Performances

• AJ Green, UNI -- Finished with 67 points and 17 rebounds in last week’s Crossover Classic. 
• Garrett Sturtz, DU -- Had a pair of double-figure outings that included a team-high 15 points in the win at Kansas State … he added 10 rebounds to that performance for his first career double-double.
• Mileek McMillan, Valpo -- Had a team-high 18 points in a road matchup with SEC opponent Vanderbilt.
• Terry Nolan Jr., BU -- Collected All-Tournament Team honors at the Xavier Invitational. He scored the game-winning basket with 0.8 seconds remaining to lead BU to victory in its season opener against Toledo.
• Shanquan Hemphill, DU -- Had two double-digit performances in his first two games as a Bulldog … averaged 11.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game
• Bowen Born, UNI -- Scored 43 points in three games as he went 15-34 (.441) from the field and knocked down 10 three-pointers
• Trey Hall, UE -- Averaged 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while seeing 28 minutes of action vs. Louisville and Prairie View A&M.

Call to The Hall
One of the greatest players in Bradley and MVC basketball history, Hersey Hawkins was announced on Sunday as a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021.

Pause in the Action
Missouri State’s program is on pause for the next couple of weeks after a positive COVID test.  Indiana State, Loyola and Southern Illinois have also had recent COVID-related interruptions.  Since Nov. 11 (two weeks prior to the start of the basketball season) and through today (Nov. 30), MVC schools have had 14 total games canceled/postponed due to COVID.  Conversely, league schools have added seven games to their respective schedules.

New Scheduling Model
The Conference has adopted a new scheduling format for men’s and women’s basketball Conference games.  The Conference will continue to play an 18-game format in which most MVC teams will face one another in a two-game series on back-to-back days at the same site. Each institution will play four road series and four home series and will also face their designated ‘travel partner’ in a single-game, home-and-home series.
Men’s basketball played league games using that scheduling model for the first 13 seasons (1907-08 thru 1919-20) before adopting the more traditional home/away scheduling model.

ILS:  Big 150
With the team’s win over UMass Lowell, Illinois State head coach Dan Muller picked up his 150th career coaching victory. His win total puts him fourth in school history for career wins, with Bob Donewald’s 208 next on the all-time list. 

LUC:  Making Their Shots
Loyola has finished each of the last four seasons ranked in the top 17 in the nation in field goal percentage, ranking tied for fourth last year at 49.7 percent.

UNI:  Draining 3s
Noah Carter set a new UNI single-game three-point record, knocking down nine threes against Western Kentucky.  The Panthers tied a league record with 20 total three-point goals.
 
DU:  Bulldogs Start 2-0
Drake begins a season 2-0 for the first time since 2017-18 and is 2-0 with both wins coming away from Des Moines for the first time since the 1921-22 season.  Drake’s win at K-State was its first at a Big 12 opponent since Dec. 3, 2006, when the Bulldogs defeated Iowa State in Ames, 80-78.  Drake became just the seventh non-conference opponent to win at Bramlage Coliseum since 2006-07. K-State is now 102-7 (.944) in non-conference games at Bramlage Coliseum since 2006-07.

BU:  SC Top 10
Bradley landed two plays on SportsCenter’s Top 10 during the first three days of the college basketball season. Senior Elijah Childs started things off for BU with his alley-oop dunk finishing as the No. 5 Play of the Day on Wednesday. Freshman Dariush Hannah then bettered Childs mark as his dunk two days later was the No. 3 Play of the Day on the channel’s flagship show.

VALPO:  Series Streaks
Valpo enters this week hoping to continue a trend in one all-time series and reverse a trend in another.  Valpo will attempt to extend their head-to-head winning streak to 18 with UIC, and conversely, Valpo will try to snap a streak of 14-straight losses against Big Ten competition on Friday at Purdue. 

SIU:  Young Dawgs
SIU opens the 2020-21 season as one of the youngest teams in the country. Ten of SIU’s 14 players are freshmen or sophomores, and only one player on the roster (Jakolby Long) has more than one season of Division I experience.  SIU’s December 2 game at SEMO marks the latest season opener for a Saluki Basketball season since 1992-93, when Rich Herrin’s team opened on December 3

UE:  Making the Jump
One of Evansville’s highlights in the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic was the performance of junior Shamar Givance.  Playing a team-high 30.3 minutes per game, Givance averaged 11.5 points while shooting 47.1% from the field.  He connected on six out of eight free throw attempts.  Last season, Givance had just one double figure scoring game.