League Leaders
Illinois State’s 5-0 league start matches 14 others who have started perfect with five or more league wins in 2021-22 (through Jan. 17 games).
NCAA Teams With Perfect League Marks
7-0 NC State, South Dakota
6-0 Fairfield, Indiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Toledo
5-0 Belmont, Boston,
Illinois State, Iowa State, Jackson State, Louisville, SFA, Western Kentucky
After going 1-5 in November to start this season, the Redbirds have turned it around, winning eight of their last ten contests while currently on a six-game winning streak.
Redbirds Top Start
Illinois State’s 5-0 record in the Valley is its best start in conference play since the 2007-08 campaign in which the Redbirds went 8-0 to begin MVC action. Illinois State’s best Valley start came in 2006-07, starting the season 9-0.
Rec. Team (Year) Loss Final
9-0 Illinois St. (06-07) UE 2nd (13-5)
Home Sweet Home
The most wins by home teams in league play came in 2008 (61-29 at home in conference play). The league has compiled an 15-8 (.652) mark so far in 2021-22.
Two MVC teams are unbeaten at home: Missouri State (7-0) and Southern Illinois (4-0) have unblemished records on their home courts this season.
Missouri State has the longest active home win streak in The Valley with 14 straight home wins. The streak sits as the 8th longest active home court win streak in the nation.
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Streak Ended
Missouri State saw its 21-game MVC regular season win streak come to a close Thursday at UNI. The streak was the second-longest conference win streak in program history and fourth longest in Valley history.
Consecutive MVC Wins (League History)
1. 47, Drake 2/26/16 to 1/27/19
2. 37, Southern Illinois 3/6/85 to 12/30/87
3. 24, Missouri State 1/9/99 to 2/5/00
4. 21, Missouri State 3/1/20 to 1/13/22
ESPN Bracketology
The latest ESPN.com women’s basketball bracketology from Charlie Creme (Jan. 14) has two MVC teams in the field of 64. Illinois State represents The Valley’s AQ and is a 16 seed at No. 1 seed Louisville. Missouri State is a No. 9 seed playing DePaul at Stanford. The MVC is one of just nine leagues receiving multiple bids, joining the Power Five leagues, American, Atlantic Sun and Big East.
Elite Defense
Missouri State enters the week currently ranking in the top 15 nationally in three defensive categories, including: Field Goal Percentage Defense (12th, 34.4%), Scoring Defense (9th, 51.7 ppg) and Three-Point Field Goal Defense (6th, 23.4%).
The Lady Bears are one of just two teams nationally ranking in the top 15 in all three of those categories, joining #20 North Carolina (12th in scoring defense, 3rd in FG% defense and 12th in 3-pt FG% defense).
NET Update
The NCAA NET Report (Jan. 17) has five Valley teams that rank in the top-120. Missouri State leads the way at No. 27 with UNI (47), Drake (90), Southern Illinois (92) and Loyola Chicago (117) rounding out the schools in the Top 120. The Valley sits 10th as a league.
Team NET
Missouri State 27
UNI 47
Drake 90
Southern Illinois 92
Loyola 117
Illinois State 158
Indiana State 197
Valparaiso 239
Bradley 261
Evansville 264
MVC 10
HerHoopStats.com Stat of the Week
Illinois State’s Kate Bullman put up a stat line in the Redbirds’ win over Valpo Thursday that has not been duplicated in a Division I game this season. Bullman is the only player with at least 15 points, 13 rebounds, six blocks and three steals in a Division I game this season.
1,000 Point Club
The Valley has 10 active players in the 1,000-point club. Loyola senior Allison Day became the 28th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career in Thursday’s win at Bradley. Missouri State has three players over 1,000 career points, while Loyola and Southern Illinois have two.
Two more players are nearing the milestone and could reach 1,000 points this week. Evansville’s Abby Feit is poised to become the 21st member of the Aces’ 1,000 point club. Feit sits 23 points away from the mark. Drake’s Maddie Petersen is also nearing the mark, sitting 38 points away from 1,000.
BU: Lineup Flux
While all 16 Braves have seen action this season, only three Braves have appeared in all 14 games. Tatum Koenig is the only Brave to start all 14 games to date, while sophomore forwards Tete Danso and Daija Powell are the only two other student-athletes to appear in all 14 games with Koenig. The dip to just three players to appear in every game occurred when Gabi Haack’s program-record streak of 129 consecutive games played ended Jan. 7 at Evansville. The drop to three players to appear in every game by the 11th game Jan. 7 is the fewest in a season since 2016-17, when just three student-athletes played in all 31 games.
DU: Playing Shorthanded
For the past two weeks, Drake has been battling injuries and COVID protocol, resulting in many players missing some time. The Bulldogs were down three starters in the losses to Loyola and Valpo and were without the services of graduate point guard Maddie Petersen in the losses to SIU and Missouri State.
Drake has lost four-straight games for the first time since 2013-14, when the Bulldogs dropped games to Evansville, Missouri State, Wichita State and Loyola. The Bulldogs started that season 1-6 in Valley play before finishing 9-9 in the league standings.
UE: An Emerging Threat
It has not taken long for freshman Gala Camarena to adapt to Coach Scherr-Wells system or collegiate basketball, especially from a scoring perspective. Averaging 11 minutes per game off the bench, Camarena has shown to be an accurate threat from beyond the arc, adding to Evansville’s bevy of shooters. Camarena sits inside the top 100 in the nation in 89th in three-point percentage, hitting 46.2% of her attempts from three this season.
ILS: Effortlessly Efficient
The Redbirds lead the Valley in both field goal percentage (46.4%) and three-point field goal percentage (36.5%), ranking 10th and 21st in the country in those categories, respectively. ISU has shot over 50% from the floor in five games this year and has shot 48.3% from the floor and 43.2% from deep during its six-game winning streak (up from 45.7% from the field and 33% from long range in the first 10 games of the season).
Illinois State is looking to end Drake’s streak of leading The Valley in FG% the past seven seasons.
INS: Turn Up the Heat
Defensive pressure has become Indiana State’s calling card this season, as the Sycamores lead the Valley in turnovers forced and steals. The Sycamores are the only team in the Valley with two games of 30-plus turnovers forced, including one in conference play against Drake. ISU has forced at least 15 turnovers in every game this season, while the Sycamores’ turnover margin of plus-3.4 ranks fourth in the MVC.
LUC: Conquered The Hilltop
Led by a sparkling defensive effort, Loyola picked up just its fourth road win over Bradley in the last 29 years this past Thursday, escaping Renaissance Coliseum with a 48-41 triumph. The Ramblers held the Braves to just 26.7 percent (16-for-60) shooting, the low mark by a Maroon & Gold opponent this season. Loyola enters the fourth week of Valley play currently ranked second in the MVC in field goal percentage defense, having limited opponents to just 37 percent efficiency.
MSU: Stepping Up
With the season-ending injury to Jasmine Franklin, senior Abi Jackson has stepped up as the Lady Bears’ main post player. Jackson leads the Lady Bears in conference play with 12 ppg and 8.5 rpg. She also leads the team with a .475 field goal percentage and eight blocks since beginning Missouri Valley Conference play. Jackson’s 2.21 blocks per game rank 23rd in the nation and her 31 total blocks this season rank 30th, while both numbers are tops in the MVC.
UNI: First Time Back-To-Back
Despite UNI’s long playing history against both Missouri State and Southern Illinois, the Panthers hadn’t won a game against the two teams back to back in program history, untl this week. UNI pulled off a stunner of a home upset against the Lady Bears on Thursday, winning 74-65, ending MSU’s 21-game MVC win streak. The Panthers were again able to get out to a hot start and grab the 66-57 win against Southern Illinois on Saturday.
SIU: 31 From the Top
Southern Illinois graduate guard Makenzie Silvey now sits at 1,748 career points, 31 shy of Cartaesha Macklin’s all-time Saluki record of 1,779. Silvey is currently third in the MVC in scoring with 16.1 points per game, tied for fourth in assists with 3.6 per game, and leads the Valley in minutes per game, averaging 35.2. The Salukis will host Illinois State on Thursday and Bradley on Saturday.
VU: Another First
One weekend after defeating Drake for the first time in program history, Valpo recorded another first on Saturday, as the Beacons earned their first ever road win over Bradley. The Braves had won all six previous meetings between the two programs in Peoria.