PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State (G, 6-5, 194, Jr., Columbia, Mo., Rock Bridge High)
Mosley recorded his 20th career 20-point scoring game in Saturday’s win over Oral Roberts. He was 10-for-20 from the field and scored a game-high 25 points to reach the milestone. His effort against ORU came on the heels of a 21-point outburst in MSU's road win at Little Rock earlier in the week. For the week, Mosley led the Bears to a 2-0 outing, averaged 23.0 points per game with his fourth and fifth 20-point outputs of the season while making 19-of-35 (.543) field goal attempts, 7-for-7 at the line, and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game.
NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Ben Coupet Jr., Southern Illinois (G, 6-7, 185, Sr., Chicago, Ill., Simeon, UNLV/Little Rock) scored a career-high 27 points in SIU’s 69-65 loss at Tulsa. He made 6-of-11 shots from 3-point range, 9-of-15 overall and added four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. The Salukis were tied with Tulsa, 60-60, with three minutes remaining in the game.
Weekly Notebook (PDF)
NET Rankings Leaders
Loyola leads the league in the latest installment of the NET ratings, at No. 18. Last year, three league schools ranked in the Top 100 of the NET. Loyola was 10; Drake was 43; and Missouri State finished at 97. The league had four teams in the Top 150. This year, the league currently has three teams rated 113 or better.
MVC -- NET Ranking Leaders
18 - Loyola
109 - Missouri State
113 - Drake
KenPom Leaders
The MVC is No. 11 as a league in the KenPom rankings (through Dec. 13). Three MVC teams are in the Top 100, including Loyola (23), Missouri State (73), and Drake (81).
Loyola’s Home Streak
Loyola enters Sunday’s contest versus Norfolk State on a 28-game win streak at Gentile Arena, the fifth-longest, active streak in the country (through Dec. 13).
57 -- Gonzaga
41 -- Liberty
35 -- Prairie View
31 -- Houston
28 -- Loyola
19 -- Baylor
Hitting Their Shots
Loyola has led the league in FG percentage five-straight seasons. No other MVC program since the league began keeping FG percentage records in 1964 had done it more than three-straight seasons. Loyola is doing it again, hitting on 50.8 percent of its shots to lead the MVC and rank No. 9 in the NCAA.
DeVries Starring for Drake
Since being inserted into the starting lineup against St. Thomas on Dec. 5, freshman swingman Tucker DeVries of Drake is averaging 21.3 points, 4.3 three-point baskets and 2.0 steals in three games. He followed up a 21-point effort against St. Thomas with a career-high 24 points, including a career-high five treys at Omaha last Wednesday and then added 19 points with a career-tying five treys against Clemson Saturday. DeVries, with 139 points, ranks 16th among all NCAA freshmen.
At the Line
Missouri State’s Isiaih Mosley leads the league and ranks 9th nationally in free throw percentage (93.5). He started the season by making his first 17 charity tosses and has made 29 of 31 for the season. As a team, Missouri State leads the MVC with its 79.9 accuracy rate from the stripe - no league team on record (since 1964) has had a full-season percentage better than that. Wichita State, in 1967, holds the league standard, at 78.8. The Bears rank 10th nationally in FT shooting.
BU .. Board Certified
Sophomore Rienk Mast ranks among the nation’s best in rebounding this season. He leads Bradley and ranks 42nd nationally with 8.9 rebounds per game – the highest average by a Brave since Luke Jackson averaged 9.4 in 1988-89. Overall, the sophomore has collected at least 10 rebounds in 5-of-10 games this season, while leading BU on the glass in seven contests.
DU .. Balancing Act
Drake had five players score in double figures in the win at Omaha last week, and then outdid that by one, with six players reaching double digits in the overtime loss to Clemson. Freshman swingman Tucker DeVries paced a balanced attack with a team-high 19 points followed by 15 from ShanQuan Hemphill, 13 from Garrett Sturtz and D.J. Wilkins as well as 10 apiece by Tremell Murphy and Darnell Brodie. Sturtz was making his first start of the season, replacing Brodie in the starting lineup.
UE .. Only One
Evansville senior guard Shamar Givance is one of the most dynamic players in the MVC. He leads the Purple Aces scoring, assists and steals. The Toronto native is the ONLY player in the MVC who currently ranks in the top five in assists and steals. His 15.0 points per game is 10th in the league.
ILS .. Two for a Dozen
When Antonio Reeves and Josiah Strong combined for 12 made three-point baskets between them in ISU’s win against Chicago State (six each), it was the third-highest two-person three-point total in ISU history. Only Tyler Brown (8) and Nic Moore (6) at Ole Miss in the NIT during the 2011-12 season, and Antonio Cooper (7) and Maurice Trotter (6) vs. Drake during the 1995-96 season, did a pair have more than ISU’s two against the Cougars.
INS .. Moving the Rock
Indiana State ranks second in the MVC with 13.9 assists per game while sitting third with a 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. Five players have recorded over 10 assists with Cameron Henry leading the way by a large margin with 36.
LUC .. Power Play
With wins over Arizona State and Vanderbilt, this marks the first time since the 1991-92 season, when it took down Northwestern and Purdue in back-to-back contests, that Loyola has posted multiple regular season wins (postseason excluded) versus Power 5 conference foes in the same campaign. Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Loyola has notched 10 wins versus teams from Power 5 conferences.
MSU .. Ford Hits a 100
Wednesday’s home game against South Dakota State will be Dana Ford’s 100th game as Missouri State head coach. Now in his fourth season in Springfield, Ford is 55-44 (.556) as sideline boss of the Bears.
UNI .. Panther Milestones
Trae Berhow is 13 points from joining UNI’s 1,000 point club, currently sitting 45th in school history with 987 points as a Panther. The senior forward has recorded 1,295 points between playing for UNI and Pepperdine. And AJ Green enters the week with 197 made three-point field goals in his career. The junior guard is three made three-pointers away from becoming the fifth player in UNI history to hit 200 three-point baskets in program career.
SIU .. Close Rivals
Southern Illinois hosts Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday. Bryan Mullins is 2-0 vs. SEMO with a 64-45 win at home (12.7.19) and an 87-79 overtime win in Cape Girardeau (12.2.20). The last time the Salukis lost to SEMO was on Dec. 9, 2017 at home (75-69).
VALPO .. Perfect at the Stripe
Valpo posted a flawless 14-of-14 performance at the free-throw line in Saturday’s 68-67 setback vs. Charlotte, the team’s first perfect performance at the foul line since going 5-of-5 on Feb. 7, 2018 at Evansville. This marked Valpo’s first perfect showing at the stripe with at least 10 attempts since going 14-of-14 on Nov. 17, 2016 at Oregon. Only five teams nationally this season have a perfect free-throw shooting game with more than 14 attempts.
MSU .. Prim Still Prime
Despite limited playing time over the last 2 games, Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) is averaging 16.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game this season -- the exact same averages he finished with last season en route to All-MVC first-team laurels. Prim is the MVC leader -- and ranks high nationally -- in FG percentage (35th), double-doubles (27th), total rebounds (30th), offensive rebounds per game (34th) and rebounding average (35th).
BU .. Best in the Second Half
Junior Terry Roberts has been at his best when the game is on the line – scoring 10.7 of his team-leading 15.4 points per game in the second half (69.4 percent). The junior is shooting nearly 10 percent better from the field after halftime (51.8 to 42.0) and nearly 13 percent better from 3-point range (41.4 to 28.6) as he has led BU throughout the 2021-22 campaign. In last Tuesday’s contest at Toledo, Roberts tallied 15 points in the final 7:12 of the game as he nearly led Bradley back from a 12-point deficit during that span.
LU .. Reaching 1,000
With his first basket, a three-pointer, in the Ramblers’ 69-58 win at Vanderbilt on December 10, graduate student Lucas Williamson became the 45th player in Loyola men’s basketball history to score 1,000 career points. The guard needs 32 rebounds to become the 23rd player in program history to accumulate 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career.