Open Season
Each league member will play one conference game this week. The MVC last played a league game pre-Christmas in 2017-18 (Dec. 22, 2017). The Dec. 1 league season-opener is believed to be the earliest start to a conference season in league history.
12-2-1950 – Houston at Bradley
12-4-2002 -- Creighton at UNI
12-5-1998 -- Southern Illinois at Creighton
12-5-1998 -- UNI at Indiana State
12-6-1997 -- Drake at Illinois State
12-6-2003 -- Southern Illinois at Drake
12-7-1967 – Memphis at Bradley
12-7-1996 -- UNI at Creighton
Another Top 25 Win
Behind a career-high tying 35 points by AJ Green, UNI knocked off No. 16 St. Bonaventure, 90-80, on Saturday. It marked the first top-25 win for the MVC this season (in five tries). UNI’s last win against a top-25 program was against No. 23 Colorado on Dec. 10, 2019. It was UNI’s 10th win against a top-25 team as a Missouri Valley Conference member. Missouri State welcomes nationally ranked BYU to Springfield this coming Saturday for a nationally televised contest on CBS Sports Network.
MVC Player of the Week
AJ Green, UNI
6-4, 190, Jr., G
Cedar Falls (Iowa) Cedar Falls High
Green led UNI in scoring with 35 points in the Panther road win against No. 16 Bonaventure. With that effort, he jumped to No. 14 on all-time scoring list among all Panthers in the UNI program. His nine three-pointers in the game tied the UNI program record for most three-point field goals made. He also recorded five rebounds and four assists. Overall, he was 11-for-18 in field goals and 9-for-15 in three-pointers. He went 4-for-5 in free throws. He’s currently sitting in fifth among all Panthers for career record of three-point field goals made with 190.
MVC Newcomer of the Week
Antoine Smith Jr., Evansville
6-7, 215, Jr., F
Westerville, Ohio (Collin County Community College)
Smith Jr. averaged just 2.6 points per game over the first five games of the season, but in a 4-game week, he turned the corner to finish with an average of 13.5 points per game. His shooting was off the charts, hitting 59.4% of his field goal attempts, 11 out of 21 3-pointers (52.4%) and 81.8% from the line. Smith played an average of 36.2 minutes while chipping in 2.5 rebounds per game and a total of four assists. Against Rice, Smith was a perfect 9-of-9 from the floor and 6-for-6 from long range on his way to a career-high 24 points. Against Akron, he tallied 16 points while hitting 3 of his 6 long range tries. He capped the week off with 10 points, two assists and two boards in Sunday’s road win at Eastern Illinois.
Where We Sit in KenPom
The MVC is No. 11 as a league in the KenPom rankings (through Nov. 28). Three MVC teams are in the Top 70, including Loyola (26), Drake (58) and Missouri State (62).
Among the Nation’s Best
UNI leads the MVC and is 13th in Division I for three-point field goals per game, with an average of 11.0. Loyola is also making more than 10 three-pointers per game (10.4). The Ramblers also rank 10th best nationally with their 42.2 percentage from long range. Notably, only one team in league history averaged 10.0 or more three-pointers for an entire season (Bradley made 10.0 treys per game in 2007.)
Loyola’s Home Streak
Loyola carries a 26-game home-court winning streak into Wednesday’s MVC opener vs. Indiana State. That 26-game run is the fifth-longest active streak in NCAA Division I play. Loyola opens MVC play at home on December 1 when it hosts Indiana State. The Ramblers have won 20 consecutive conference wins at Gentile Arena since a 65-61 loss to Missouri State on February 17, 2019. Over the last four years, Loyola has gone 34-2 (.944) at home in MVC play.
- 55 -- Gonzaga
- 39 - Liberty
- 35 - Prairie View
- 28 - Houston
- 26 -- Loyola
- 20 - UC Santa Barbara
Scoring/Rebounding Leaders
Illinois State’s Antonio Reeves and Missouri State’s Gaige Prim lead the league in scoring and rebounding, respectively. Reeves’ 21.3 average ranks 17th nationally. Prim averages 10.3 rebounds per game, which also ranks 17th in the NCAA. Prim is looking to become the second Bear to lead the MVC in rebounding in back-to-back seasons (Alize Johnson, 2017, 2018).
Helping Hand
Loyola assisted on 20 of its 26 field goals made in a 77-59 win against Arizona State on November 26. Through seven outings this season, the Ramblers have registered an assist on 130 of their 202 field goals – a remarkable 64 percent. The Ramblers rank 21st nationally in assist:turnover ratio (1.57).
Winning the First One a Key
Since 1993-94, only four teams (UNI, a 2009 co-champ, Loyola in 2018, Drake in 2019 and UNI in 2020) have won at least a share of the MVC regular-season title without winning the league opener. In fact, 25 of the last 30 regular-season champs (or co-champs) have opened 2-0 or better in MVC play, with UNI (2008-09 and 2019-20), Wichita State (2011-12), Loyola (2017-18) and Drake (2018-19) the exceptions. In 2018-19, Drake became the first regular-season champ since 1992-93 to start league play with back-to-back defeats.
Double Trouble
Bradley’s Rienk Mast has recorded four double-doubles for the Braves through their first seven games. That figure leads the league and ranks fifth nationally.
BU .. Hitting the Glass
Bradley has controlled the glass so far during the 2021-22 campaign. The Braves currently lead the Valley in total rebounds per game (42.43), rebound margin (+8.7), offensive rebounds (14.00) and defensive rebounds (28.43) – ranking 25th, 39th, 25th and 62nd, respectively, in the nation. Following Saturday’s 44-21 advantage in rebounds against Maine, Bradley has outrebounded two teams by at least 20 rebounds twice in one season for the first time since 2016-17.
DU .. Bring on December
After closing the month of November with three straight losses in the ESPN Events Invitational, Drake will be anxious to turn the calendar. During the past three seasons, Drake is 22-3 in the month of December under coach Darian DeVries with the only losses coming to Iowa State (2018), No. 14 Dayton (2019) and at Bradley (2019). Drake’s nine wins in December of 2020 were the most in the month by a team since 2011-12 when St. Mary’s and Southern Miss won nine December games.
UE .. Career Week
In the 89th game of his UE career, senior Jawaun Newton recorded his first career double-double, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds against Akron. His 10 caroms marked a career-high that lasted just four days as Newton followed it up with his second double-double in a road win at Eastern Illinois. Newton registered 13 points while grabbing 12 boards, his new career-high. The effort on Sunday capped off a career week for Newton, which started on Monday with the top scoring output of his career against Rice where he totaled 30 points.
ILS .. Multiple 20’s
This season Antonio Reeves has scored 20+ points four times and Sy Chatman has reached the 20-point plateau three times. Only two other schools in the country have two players who have scored 20 or more points three times - Nevada and Missouri State.
INS .. Oh Henry!
Cameron Henry has been the wheel that keeps Indiana State basketball moving so far this season. The guard has either made or assisted on 37 percent of all Indiana State field goals through seven games. The senior has 39 field goals and 30 assists while averaging 14.3 points and 4.3 assists per game.
LUC .. Power Play
Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Loyola has recorded nine wins versus teams from Power 5 conferences. The Ramblers have split their last six contests versus Power 5 foes, picking up wins against Georgia Tech, Illinois and Arizona State.
MSU .. Ford vs. the Feathers
Missouri State begins league play this week against Illinois State, a program very familiar to Bears head coach Dana Ford. Ford is a 2006 graduate of Illinois State where he played for coaches Tom Richardson and Porter Moser from 2002-06 as a regular starter, leading the Redbirds in steals his senior year. Ford is 5-2 in his career against Illinois State, including a 5-1 ledger as Missouri State’s head coach.
UNI .. Three’s a Charm
AJ Green holds the top spot in the MVC for three-point field goals per game with 3.4 per game, which is 22nd in Division I. Trae Berhow sits in the third among the conference and 108th in Division I with 2.60. Trae Berhow’s 46.4% three-point field goal percentage is the best in the MVC, while AJ Green is fourth with 39.5%.
SIU .. Closing Out on Shooters
The Salukis currently rank 12th nationally and lead the MVC in three-point field goal defense. Southern is holding foes to just 25-percent from behind the arc. SIU has held all six of its 2021-22 opponents to six or fewer three-pointers this season. Only one opponent thus far, Creighton, has done so while shooting better than 40 percent from three.
VALPO .. Century Mark
The 106 points in Valpo’s 106-69 win over Trinity Christian on Saturday accounted for Valpo’s highest total since 121 on Nov. 6, 2018 vs. Concordia Chicago. The 37-point margin of victory was Valpo’s largest since beating Judson by 40 (85-45) on Dec. 6, 2020. The Beacons set season highs in field goal percentage (56.2), rebounding margin (+22), assists (28) and steals (11).
MSU .. Naples Rewind
Missouri State is coming off a 3rd-place finish last week at the Naples (Fla.) Invitational in which they defeated Long Beach State (92-66) and George Washington (72-54), while dropping a narrow one-point decision on a buzzer beater to ETSU (77-76) in the semifinals. As a team, the Bears shot .515 (86-for-167) from the field overall and an amazing .508 (33-for-65) from 3-point range, while scoring 80.0 points per game.