This week's (Nov. 14-20) MVC players of the week include Tucker DeVries of Drake and JaCobi Wood of Murray State.

Weekly MVC MBB Notebook (PDF)

MVC Player of the Week
Tucker DeVries, Drake
6-7, 210, So., G/F, Waukee Iowa (Waukee High)
Prior to Monday’s Championship Game in the Paradise Jam, DeVries averaged 21.7 points and 5.3 rebounds during the past three games against Wofford, Buffalo and Wyoming. DeVries was 13-of-15 at the free throw line during that three game stretch. He scored a career-high 29 points in Drake’s 61-56 victory over Wyoming in the Paradise Jam semifinal. During a 16-3 Drake run at the end of the first half, DeVries provided 14 of 16 points. DeVries has scored at least 22 points in three of his first four games. 

MVC Newcomer of the Week
JaCobi Wood, Murray State
6-2, 185, So., G, Cleveland, Tenn. (Cleveland High [Belmont])
The sophomore from Cleveland, Tenn., earned Myrtle Beach Invitational All-Tournament Team honors after leading the Racers to a third-place finish.  In Sunday’s third place win over Tulsa, he nearly pulled off a triple-double 12 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists. In the Racers win over No. 24 Texas A&M, their first over a ranked team in 10 years, Wood scored 23 points with four assists and added 24 points in the middle game against UMass. He ended up setting his career high scoring game twice. He played 111 minutes where he averaged 19.7 points per game on 42 percent (13-of-31) shooting from the field, 38 percent (8-of-21) from the 3-point line and 96 percent (25-of-26) from the free throw line. He added five rebounds per game with 19 assists and only seven turnovers. His 11 assists were an MBI single game record in the game against Tulsa.      

MTE Play Continues
By the end of today (Monday, Nov. 21), three MVC schools will have wrapped up play in their 2022 MTE (Multi-Team Event).  Murray State took third place in the Myrtle Beach Invitational, which included a top-25 win against then-ranked Texas A&M.  Belmont and Drake wrap up play in the Paradise Jam today.  The Bulldogs reached the title game with wins over Buffalo and Wyoming. Last year, MVC teams combined for a cumulative 10-21 mark in MTEs.  Through Sunday, Nov. 20, the league had combined for a 7-3 mark in MTEs.

Against the Top 25
Murray State knocked off No. 24 Texas A&M in the opening round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational for the league’s first win against a Top 25 team this year.  In 2021-22, the MVC recorded a 1-6 record against non-conference Top 25 programs. Bradley faces No. 13 Auburn in the Cancun Classic on Tuesday.

BRAD .. Wounded Braves
Connor Hickman and Ja’shon Henry joined a growing list of inactive Braves due to injury. Hickman was scratched from availability due to an injury and was held out of Saturday’s win against SEMO, and Henry did not join the team in Cancun as a part of Bradley’s medical staff’s recommendation.

ILS .. Approaching 1,000
With 980 points between San Jose State, BYU, and Illinois State, the Redbirds’ 5th year senior Seneca Knight stands just 20 points away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau for his career prior to Monday’s game against LSU.

SIU .. Defensive Performance
The Salukis held Tennessee State to just 17 second-half points -- good enough to tie for 8th fewest points allowed in the second half in program history. The complete defensive effort by the Salukis led to TSU shooting just 28.1 percent (15-53) from the floor -- which is the best mark under head coach Bryan Mullins in four seasons. SIU held the Tigers without a field goal for over 10 minutes in the second half of action.

UIC .. Charity Tosses
Tre Anderson has been one of the most prolific players in the country when it comes to converting at the free throw line. Through UIC’s first four games, Anderson has made 28 free throw attempts, tops in the MVC and 13th nationally. This comes on Anderson’s 37 total trips to the line, also most among MVC players and ninth-most in DI.  Anderson had over half of his attempts and makes come in one game, as the graduate student went 15-for-20 from the line in a win over Jacksonville State.

MOST .. From Beyond the Arc
The Bears are getting 40.7 percent of their scoring this year (90-of-221 total points) from 3-point range. MSU is coming off a home win over Middle Tennessee (Nov. 19) in which it knocked down a season-high 12 treys. MoState’s 40.0 team 3-point percentage and 10.0 threes per game rank 35th and 36th, respectively, among all Division I programs.

UE .. Double-Double Machine
Yacine Toumi has recorded a double-double in two of the last three games for the Purple Aces.  After recording 14 points and 10 boards at Saint Louis, Toumi finished with 11 tallies and 10 caroms at SMU.  He came close to another double-double against SEMO, finishing with 13 points and 6.7 rebounds.  For the season, he is second on the team with 13.3 points per game while leading the squad with 7.5 boards.

INS .. Century Mark
The Sycamores scored 107 points against Midway on Dec. 29, 2021, but Thursday night (against visiting North Dakota State) was the first time ISU scored 100 or more points against a Division I team in regulation since Feb. 2, 1985. ISU scored 102 in a double overtime win against Eastern Illinois Dec. 19, 1999.

VALPO .. Krikke Keeps Scoring
Ben Krikke is off to a strong start to his fourth season at Valpo, as the Edmonton native has scored 18 points or more in all four games including three straight with 20 or more points. Krikke is the first Valpo player with three straight 20-point outputs since program legend Alec Peters did so in December 2016 (at Missouri State, vs. Indiana State, vs. Santa Clara). 

UNI .. Anderson Doubles Up
Sophomore forward Tytan Anderson recorded his first career double-double in UNI’s last game against Richmond, notching 13 points and 10 rebounds against the Spiders.

DU .. Penn Returns to Lineup
After three games and two appearances off the bench, Drake’s Roman Penn was in the starting lineup against Wyoming at the Paradise Jam on Sunday.

BEL .. Up at the Half
Belmont has won 55 consecutive games when leading at halftime, dating back to Jan. 25, 2020 (at Austin Peay, L 78-86). Belmont has won 73 consecutive games when leading with under one minute remaining under Casey Alexander.

BRAD .. 7 Blocks for Hannah
Bradley forward Darius Hannah finished the game with seven blocks against SEMO. This is the highest total of blocks by a single player in the Brian Wardle era. Hannah now ranks T-2nd all-time in single game blocks at Bradley.  Patrick O’Bryant ranks first all-time with nine blocks against Tennessee Tech on 2/18/06.

ILS .. Board Certified
Prior to Monday’s game vs. LSU, Illinois State’s Kendall Lewis has three games this season with at least 13 rebounds, the highest total in the country, as just 14 players have two such games and 73 having done it once.

SIU .. Moving Up the List
Marcus Domask and Lance Jones continue to climb their way up the SIU all-time scoring list. Domask dropped in 18 points against TSU to push his career total to 1,126 moving into 32nd place while Jones added nine points to move into sole possession of 35th place with 1,114 career points.

INS  .. 3-0 Start for Sycamores
ISU is 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 2011-12 when the Trees opened 5-0. The Sycamores have scored 80 or more points in all three wins and are outscoring their opponent by more than 21 through the first three games.

MUR  .. First In a While
The Racers’ 88-79 win Thursday over Texas A&M was MSU’s first win over a top-25 team since 2012 when they beat Saint Mary’s.  The win was also first this season for The Valley. The Racers’ last win over a team from the SEC was in 2012 over Auburn (Charleston Classic).

UNI  .. Jacobson Climbs Chart
UNI’s Ben Jacobson is six wins away from passing Dana Altman as the third winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history. Jacobson has recorded 322 career wins at UNI, while Altman notched 327 victories at Creighton from 1994 to 2010.

BEL .. Centurion
Belmont senior Ben Sheppard went over 1,000 career points with his 24-point performance in victory over George Mason Nov. 19. Sheppard ranks among league leaders in scoring, assists per game and field goal percentage.

VALPO .. On Verge of 100 
Valpo head coach Matt Lottich earned his 99th career win on Nov. 19 vs. Incarnate Word. He needs just one more victory to become the fourth head coach in program history to reach 100 career victories, joining Homer Drew, Bryce Drew and J.M Christiansen. 

DU .. On Verge of 100, Part II
Drake coach Darian DeVries currently sits at 99 career coaching wins entering Monday’s Paradise Jam Championship.

UIC .. Carter’s Pills
Jace Carter had a career night in UIC’s victory over Jacksonville State, scoring a career-high 22 points while matching his career best with 10 rebounds to collect his first collegiate double-double. The sophomore is currently tied for the team lead in scoring, averaging 14 points per game through four contests.

MoST .. Ministers of Defense
With solid defensive performances in its first three games, Missouri State starts the week ranked 20th nationally in scoring defense (54.7) and 22nd in FG percentage defense (.352). The Bears are also averaging 7.0 steals per game.

BEL .. Strong Start
Freshmen Cade Tyson and Ja’Kobi Gillespie of Belmont scored in double figures in each of their first five games.

DU .. Strong Start, II
Sophomore Tucker DeVries is averaging 21.8 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game thru the first four contests. DeVries has scored at least 22 points in three of the first four games of the season.

MoST .. More from Moore
Missouri State’s Chance Moore (So., Brookhaven, Ga.) ranks 15th nationally (and tops in the MVC) in 3-point FG percentage (.600), while his overall FG percentage (.625) ranks 50th. He has scored at least 18 points in each of MSU’s first 3 games. The Arkansas transfer starts the week ranked 27th in KenPom’s effective FG percentage rankings (77.3).

22 Starters Return
Notably, the league’s 12 schools have a combined 22 starters returning (of 60 possible), giving the MVC its lowest percentage of returning starters in at least 20 seasons at 36.7 percent.  Only three previous times since 2003-04 has the league returned fewer than 50 percent of its starting lineups from the previous season (44 percent in 2013-14; 46 percent in 2008-09; and 48 percent in 2007-08).

MVC at a Dozen
For the first time, the MVC has 12 members as Belmont, UIC, and Murray State officially joined the Conference on July 1, 2022.  It marks the first time the Conference has admitted three schools for the same season.  Notably, MVC membership will also stand at a league-high 12 members for the first time. 

20 Games in MVC Play
MVC teams will play 20 league games for the first time, with two Conference games taking place the week after Thanksgiving.  Teams will play nine opponents twice, and the other two league teams once each (one home, one away).

What Else is New?
In addition to the league’s three newest institutions, the MVC has adopted a new 11-game tournament format.  The league’s championship -- The State Farm MVC Tournament, affectionately known as Arch Madness, will be played Thursday-Sunday, March 2-5, in St. Louis at Enterprise Center.  The tournament will celebrate its 47th anniversary overall in 2023, and it will be the 33rd-straight season the event has been held in St. Louis.  Only the Big East Conference (in New York City) has had a longer continuous run at a single site.

20-Win Teams From 2021-22
Five of the league’s 12 teams won 20 or more games last year, and each of those five teams finished tied for second or better in their respective leagues.  Bradley (17-14, 11-7 MVC) and Southern Illinois (16-15, 9-9 MVC) joins that group as each had a winning record and finished .500 or better in the MVC last season.

Welcome to the MVC
Five league coaches are head coaches in the MVC for the first time in 2022-23 (Belmont’s Casey Alexander; Evansville’s David Ragland; UIC’s Luke Yaklich; Illinois State’s Ryan Pedon; and Murray State’s Steve Prohm).

Drake Tabbed as MVC Favorite
For the second-straight year, Drake has been picked as the preseason favorite in the MVC men’s basketball race.  The Bulldogs finished tied for second in the MVC race last year and reached the State Farm MVC Tournament title game for the second-straight season. 

Drake No. 4 in Mid-Major Poll
Drake is the highest-rated MVC team in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major poll (released Monday, Nov. 14).  The Bulldogs are fourth, behind Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and Furman.  Southern Illinois clocked in at No. 20 in that poll; Belmont was ranked No. 22, while five other MVC schools (Bradley, Indiana State, Missouri State, Murray State, and UNI) received votes.