NOTEBOOK (PDF)

Perfect in MVC Play
UNI (2-0) and Southern Illinois (2-0) were perfect during the first weekend of league play, while Valpo and Missouri State did not play due to COVID protocols. Southern Illinois will put its undefeated MVC record on the line this weekend at Bradley, while UNI will travel to Valparaiso. Missouri State will open its league schedule at home vs. Loyola.

Best Starts in MVC?
Below is a look at the best league starts for current MVC members (includes each school’s top performance only):

Rec. Team (Year)                     Loss     Final
18-0 Drake (16-17 & 17-18)      N/A    1st (18-0)
18-0 S. Illinois (86-87 &87-88)   N/A    1st (18-0)
12-0 Missouri St. (95-96)        at ILS    1st (16-2)
12-0 Indiana St. (05-06)       at MSU     1st (16-2)
9-0   Illinois St. (06-07)               UE     2nd (13-5)
8-0   UNI (16-17)                        DU     2nd (15-3)
7-0   Bradley (18-19)            at MSU     3rd (13-5)
4-0   Evansville (99-00)        at MSU     2nd (14-4)
4-0   Loyola (16-17)                  MSU     5th (10-8)
0-2   Valparaiso (18-19)              SIU    6th (9-9)
 
Conference NET
The Valley ranks eighth nationally in the first NCAA’s conference NET report (Jan. 4).  The Valley sits behind the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, MAC and Big East entering this week. 

The Valley finished the 2019-20 season with a league-best conference RPI of 8th.

Conference NET
1.    ACC
2.    SEC
3.    Big Ten
4.    Big 12
5.    Pac-12
6.    MAC
7.    Big East
8.     Missouri Valley

NET Update
The first installment of the NCAA NET Report (Jan. 4) has four Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including nine of the 10 sitting in the top 200.  Missouri State leads the way at No. 27 with Illinois State (51), UNI (72) and Drake (84), rounding out the schools in the Top 100.

Team                NET
Missouri State     27
Illinois State        51
UNI                     72
Drake                  84
Bradley              108
Valparaiso          119
Indiana State      143
Southern Illinois  157
Loyola                 199
Evansville            277

Strength of Schedule
Two Valley teams have a SOS ranking in the Top 50 according to the NCAA (Jan. 4).  Missouri State leads The Valley with a SOS of No. 4.  Drake comes in this week ranked No. 43.  

Two Valley teams rank in the Top 10 of “Average Opponent NET Rank” as well.  Missouri State sits No. 2 nationally with an average opponent NET ranking of 43, while UNI sits No. 8 (72).

Top 25 Success
The Valley finished non-conference play 2-2 vs. AP Top 25 Teams this season, with Missouri State beating #12 Maryland in the season opener and UNI besting #22 South Dakota State.
 
The last time The Valley had a pair of AP Top 25 wins during the non-conference portion of the season was back in 2002 when Drake beat No. 18 Iowa State and UNI beat No. 24 Iowa State.

Power Five Wins
The MVC secured five wins over Power Five programs during the shortened non-conference schedule. The Valley registered a 5-9 vs. Power Five teams after going 9-12 in 2019-20. The Valley went 4-4 vs. the Big Ten, 1-1 vs. the SEC, 0-3 vs. the Big 12 and 0-1 vs. the ACC. Missouri State and Valpo each had two wins, while Drake had the other.

Polling
Missouri State sits No. 25 in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll after missing last week due to COVID protocol. MSU sits No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll (Dec. 29).  This marks the first time in program history the Lady Bears finished the non-conference schedule ranked in the AP Top 25 for two consecutive seasons.

BU: Rare Iowa Win
Bradley’s victory at Drake to close out the opening weekend of MVC play was the first win for the Braves at the Knapp Center since a 61-58 victory on Jan. 24, 2010.  In fact, Bradley snapped a 23-game losing streak in the state of Iowa dating back to that contest.  

DU: Another Valley Opener
Drake won its fifth-straight Valley opener with its 71-56 victory over Bradley on New Year’s Day. The Bulldogs’ impressive streak in Valley openers started with a win over former MVC member Wichita State on Dec. 30, 2016. The victory over the Braves also snapped a three-game losing streak for the Bulldogs. 

UE: Defense Strong Again
Evansville’s defense continued to be strong in Friday’s game at SIU, holding its fourth opponent of the season to 60 points or less and limiting the Salukis to 33.3% shooting from the field.

ILS: Crompton for Three!
Redshirt sophomore Mary Crompton continues to be deadly from long range, ranking fifth nationally and first in The Valley shooting 60% (15-of-25) from behind the three-point line. The Iowa City, Iowa native is also ranked 29th in all of NCAA DI in triples per game, averaging 3.0 three-pointers per contest on the season. 

INS: Ending the Drought
With a 63-48 victory over Loyola on Friday afternoon, Indiana State earned its first MVC-opening win since the 2015-16 season when they defeated Wichita State, 59-33. It was their first conference-opening victory on the road since defeating Evansville, 75-67 on Jan. 27, 2011.   

LUC: Finding A Way
After dropping a 63-48 decision to Indiana State to open MVC play on Friday, Loyola bounced back to pick up a 59-52 victory over the Sycamores on Saturday.  Much like in the series opener, offense proved tough to come by, with Loyola shooting 33.9 percent (19-for-56), compared to 37.5 percent (18-for-48) for Indiana State.  The Ramblers were able to take advantage of 20 Sycamores turnovers, cashing in for 16 points off of them.  Saturday marked just the fourth time in head coach Kate Achter’s tenure that Loyola has won a game in which it shot lower than its opponent from the field. 

MSU: Lady Bears MVC History
This season is Missouri State’s 29th in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Lady Bears have finished third or better in the final league standings 21 times in 28 seasons, including each of the last six years, winning 12 or more games each time. MSU is 47-7 in Valley play the last three seasons and 81-17 in the last 98 league contests.

UNI: Call It A Comeback
UNI trailed by as many as 13 points Saturday before rallying for a 72-67 win and a two-game sweep of Illinois State. The Panthers had previously lost its last 34 games with a double-digit deficit since a 61-59 overtime triumph February 19, 2017 at Indiana State (down 15).

SIU: Early Success Continues
The Salukis were one of two MVC teams to sweep the opening weekend of conference play, as they defeated Evansville, 59-41, on Friday and followed with a 69-51 victory over the Aces on Saturday. SIU’s win Friday improved the Salukis to 8-0 in conference openers under eighth-year head coach Cindy Stein, while the Salukis win Saturday clinched SIU its first 2-0 start to Valley play since 2018. The Salukis held Evansville, the nation’s fourth-best three-point shooting team coming into the weekend, to a season-low 16.7-percent (2-of-12) shooting from behind the arc on Saturday, and to just four three-pointers on 17.3-percent shooting for the weekend. 

VALPO: White Does It All
Valpo senior Grace White has filled up the stat sheet all season long, and currently ranks among the top-7 in the MVC in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. The last MVC player to finish a season in the top-10 in all 5 categories was Missouri State’s Tyonna Snow, the 2016 Jackie Styles Player of the Year.  

Climbing the Chart
Bradley senior Gabi Haack moved into 21st position in MVC history with 233 career triples after hitting five during the series with Drake.  Haack passed Illinois State’s Kristi Cirone and UNI’s Amber Sorenson and Drake’s Lizzy Wendell.   

MVC Career Three-Pointers
    16.    248 - Michelle Nason, Western Illinois/Bradley    1992, 93-95
    17.    242 - Liza Fruendt, Missouri State    2014-18            
    18.    236 - Julie Rittgers, Drake    1991-95
    19.    235 - Kiersten Miller, Drake    1994-98
             235 - Teri Oliver, Southern Illinois    2009-12
    21.    233 - Gabi Haack, Bradley    2017-present
    22.    230 - Amber Sorenson, UNI    2012-16
             230 - Lizzy Wendell, Drake    2014-17

This week's Missouri Valley Conference Player and Newcomer of the Week are UNI's Bre Gunnels and Southern Illinois' Adrianna Katcher. 

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Bre Gunnels, Sr., F, UNI
UNI senior Bre Gunnels scored 33 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in two games as the Panthers swept Illinois State over the weekend. Friday, she matched her career-high with 18 points and also grabbed nine rebounds, going 7-for-10 from the field, while also recording a pair of blocks in the 82-71 win. She had a heads up play at the end of the third quarter when teammate Kam Finley launched a half-court shot and missed, but she gathered the rebound and made a runner at the buzzer to extend the Panther’s lead.  Saturday, she went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line while scoring 15 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to lead the Panthers to a 72-67 win. She also added two steals. She committed just four fouls in two games while carrying big defensive responsibilities.   

Other Notable Performances: Lasha Petree (BRAD); Monica Burich (DU); Abby Feit (UE); JuJu Redmond (ILS); Adrian Folks (INS); Allison Day (LUC); Payton McCallister (SIU)
 
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Adrianna Katcher, Fr., F, Southern Illinois
Adrianna Katcher averaged 8.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals in a pair of Missouri Valley Conference wins over the weekend. Katcher scored six points and grabbed a career-high 14 boards, of which eight came on the offensive glass in SIU’s 59-41 win on Friday. The freshman from Urbana, Iowa also held 2020 MVC Freshman of the Year Abby Feit to a career-low four points on 2-of-8 shooting and tallied the most rebounds in a game by a Saluki freshman since 2017. Katcher followed with a career-high 11 points to go along with seven rebounds, three steals and three assists in Southern’s 69-51 win over Evansville on Saturday. Katcher leads all Valley freshmen, and is tied for sixth nationally among freshmen, with her 8.3 rebounds per game average.  

Other Notable Performances: Grace Berg (DU); Sydney Thurwalker (UE); Terrion Moore (ILS); Bre Hampton-Bey (LUC); Emerson Green (UNI)