Men's Basketball

MVC MBB Weekly Notebook (D20)

12-0 Week Fuels MVC
The league has won its last 12 non-conference games (every contest since Tuesday, Dec. 14), and that has resulted in a jump in the Conference NET ratings.  The Missouri Valley Conference enters this week ranked 12th in the NET, and the league continues to sit at No. 11 in the KenPom ratings.

MVC Notebook (PDF)

MVC Player of the Week
AJ Green, UNI
6-4, 190, Jr., G
Cedar Falls, Iowa / Cedar Falls High
Green averaged 26.5 points per game as the Panthers won a pair of non-conference contests last week.  Green posted 24 points at home on Tuesday against Jackson State and 29 on the road at Marshall on Saturday, passing former Panther Kwadzo Ahelegbe (2006-11) for 10th on UNI’s all-time scoring list with 1,354 total points. His performance at Marshall marked his 18th career game with 25+ points, and third this season. Green also moved into second in program history in career made three-point field goals with 205, trailing only Matt Bohannon (2012-16) on the list with 268.

MVC Newcomer of the Week
Jaylen Minnett, Missouri State
6-1, 182, Sr., G
Terre Haute, Ind. / South Vigo High [IUPUI]
Minnett averaged 15.0 points, 2.5 assists, and 3.0 steals per game as part of a 2-0 week for Missouri State. Minnett posted a team-high 16 points in the team’s win over South Dakota State, pouring in four 3-pointers and snagging 4 steals in a convincing home win over the Jackrabbits. He followed that with 14 points vs. UCA with four 3-pointers, a game-high 5 assists and 2 more steals. With the impressive week, Minnett moved into 5th place on the list of active 3-point shooters with 320 career threes.


NET Rankings Leaders
Loyola leads the league in the latest installment of the NET ratings, at No. 15.  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 four teams rated 150 or better.

MVC -- NET Ranking Leaders
15 - Loyola
92 - Missouri State
101 - Drake
148 - Southern Illinois

KenPom Leaders
The MVC is No. 11 as a league in the KenPom rankings (through Dec. 19).   Three MVC teams are in the Top 100, including Loyola (26), Missouri State (64), and Drake (89).

Streaking
Six league teams enter the week with winning streaks of two or more games.  Loyola’s five-game streak is best in the league, but the Ramblers are not scheduled to play until Sunday, Jan. 2, when they travel to SIU.

Go-To Guys
Antonio Reeves of Illinois State leads the league in scoring and has led the Redbirds in scoring in nine games this year, an MVC best.  Eight MVC players have led their teams in scoring five or more times this season.
  • Antonio Reeves, Illinois State -- 9
  • Shamar Givance, Evansville -- 7
  • Terry Roberts, Bradley -- 6
  • Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State -- 6
  • Tucker DeVries, Drake -- 5
  • AJ Green, UNI -- 5
  • Cooper Neese, Indiana State -- 5
  • Jawaun Newton, Evansville -- 5

Home Cooking
After a slow start at home in non-conference play, league teams have picked up the pace in Conference arenas.  Through games of Dec. 5, MVC teams had a 25-11 home record in non-conference play.  Since then, MVC teams are 14-1 at home.  Last season, Valley schools posted a 34-2 home record in non-league games, and the MVC was 55-6 at home the year prior.

Road Warriors
League teams have posted an 11-13 record in true road games in non-league play this year.  Since 1972-73, the Valley has had only two seasons of .500 or better on the road in non-league play, going 19-18 during the 2014-15 season and 19-19 in 2009-10.  The MVC has three non-league road games on the schedule before Christmas.

Pause
Due to a some positive COVID-19 test results, Loyola’s final two games of December – versus Norfolk State and at Davidson – were canceled. The Ramblers completed an undefeated December (4-0) for the first time since winning all six games in the final month of the calendar year during the 1991-92 campaign. Evansville also went on pause forcing a cancellation of its game against UT Martin and road game at SMU this week.  Drake’s game with Chicago State on Dec. 19 was also cancelled, but the Bulldogs picked up a home contest vs. UT Martin.    The Drake-Saint Louis game scheduled for Vegas on Wednesday was cancelled as well.
  • Games Cancelled/Added:  6/1

Recapping Last Season
The MVC played a full 90-game conference schedule (and was the only Division I league to do so).  The MVC had 32 game-date shifts in league play since Christmas and rescheduled 17 games during the process.
  • Non-Conference Games Permitted:  90
  • Non-Conference Games Scheduled:  68
  • Games Cancelled/Added:  25/24
  • Conference Games Scheduled/Played:  90/90
  • MVC Games Postponed/Rescheduled:  17/17
  • Total MVC Games Moved:  32
  • Regular-Season MVC Games Canceled:  0

Loyola’s Home Streak
Loyola will enter the New Year with a 28-game win streak at Gentile Arena, the fifth-longest, active streak in the country (through games of Dec. 19).

Block Party
Illinois State ranks 8th nationally with 6.6 blocks per game.  Since the league began tracking team blocked shot averages (1987), only one team has averaged better than 5.0 blocks per game (Wichita State in 2014 had 5.1.)   Bradley is also currently averaging 5.5 blocks per game, which ranks No. 26 in the NCAA.  Sy Chatman of Illinois State leads the league (1.75 per game).

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. 6 in the NCAA.  The five teams ahead of Loyola in this stat have combined for a 48-5 record through games of Dec. 19.  Notably, the Ramblers also rank No. 3 in 3-point percentage at 42.3 from long range.

At the Line
As a team, Missouri State leads the MVC with its 80.4 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 9th nationally in FT shooting. Missouri State’s Isiaih Mosley leads the league and ranks 5th nationally in free throw percentage (94.3).   He started the season by making his first 17 charity tosses, and he has made 33 of 35 for the season.  He’s 11-of-11 this month.

BU .. Quick Starts a Key
Getting off to a good start has been key in Bradley games this season as the team with the halftime lead has won 10 of the 11 games this season. Additionally, only two of the 11 contests have featured a lead change in the second half of play.

DU .. Double Your Pleasure
Drake relied on the daily double of ShanQuan Hemphill and Garrett Sturtz to turn back Jackson State, 70-65, in overtime last Thursday.  Hemphill, who has come on strong in recent games after a slow start to the season, led the Bulldogs with 17 points and a season-high 12 rebounds -- his first double-double this season and third of his Drake career. Sturtz added 14 points and 10 rebounds -- the fourth time in his career he has reached double figures in both categories.  The last time Drake had two players with double-doubles in the same game occurred Feb. 6, 2021 at Valparaiso when Tremell Murphy collected 11 points and 11 rebounds and Hemphill had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

UE .. Dynamic
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 joins Bradley newcomer Terry Roberts as the only in the MVC who currently rank in the top five in assists and steals and Top 10 in scoring.  Givance’s 15.0 points per game is 10th in the league.

ILS .. Wire to Wire Wins
Over the last two games, Illinois State has not trailed at any point in the games. Since the 1996-97 season, ISU has had 10 pairs of games, back-to-back, where the Redbirds have not trailed. The last time Illinois State has had three consecutive such games was during the 1996-97 season against Northwestern (Dec. 18), Green Bay (Dec. 21), and UIC (Dec. 23).

INS .. Balanced Attack
Indiana State has put together a balanced scoring offense with four players averaging 10+ points or more and seven players going for over four points per game. Leading the charge for ISU is returner Cooper Neese who is averaging 15.7 points a game which ranks fifth in the MVC. His 2.4 3-point field goals per game is tied for seventh in the MVC.

LUC .. Triple Tosses
In its Dec. 10 victory at Vanderbilt, Loyola sank 17 three-point field goals, the second-highest, single-game total in program history, behind only the 20 it dropped on Coppin State on Nov. 9 in this year’s season opener. The Ramblers, who have knocked down 10 or more treys on six occasions this season, ranked fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (.423) through games of December 10. Over the last pair of contests, Loyola is converting 46.6 percent (26-for-58) of its triples tosses. 

MSU .. Approaching 1,000
Missouri State’s tandem of Gaige Prim and Isiaih Mosley are both approaching the 1,000-point milestone at Missouri State. Prim needs just 23 points to reach 1,000 after playing 64 games with the Bears. Mosley needs 47 points after 68 games in Springfield. MSU has had 29 1,000-point scorers in its basketball history, most-recently by Jared Dixon.

UNI .. Welcome to the Club
Trae Berhow became the 44th member of UNI’s 1,000-point club after an eight-point performance at Marshall. The senior forward has recorded 1,312 total points in his entire career playing at UNI and Pepperdine.  Notably, AJ Green moved into the top 10 list in scoring in UNI history after his 29-point game against Marshall. The junior guard from Cedar Falls sits with 1,354 career points in 77 career games played.

SIU .. 5 in Double Figures
Steven Verplancken made 5-of-6 from 3-point vs. SEMO and is shooting 52.3% from behind the 3-point line this year, up from 37.5% last year.  He also had 11 points in the win over Maryville.  In that Saturday win over Maryville, the Salukis had five players in double figures for the first time this season. Lance Jones (foot) did not play vs. the Saints.

VALPO .. #SCTop10 Again
Kobe King nailed a three-quarters court shot to beat the buzzer on Dec. 11 vs. Charlotte. Although the desperation heave was not enough as Valpo fell 68-67, the play checked in at No. 9 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays that evening. It was highlighted again two days later on ESPN’s popular “SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt” show. This marks the fourth time in a three-year span that Valpo basketball has produced an #SCTop10 play.