Holiday Tourney Time
This week, the MVC schedule features six different Thanksgiving week tournaments. Belmont will play in a tough field at the Gulf Coast Showcase, Drake will have two games at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic, Missouri State will play two at the Las Vegas Invitational, UNI has two games at the Cancun Challenge, Illinois State has three scheduled at the UNLV Thanksgiving Tournament and UIC has three games at the Hoops Community Classic.
AP Polling
Drake continues to receive votes in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll after knocking off #22 Nebraska over the weekend. The Bulldogs are 30th in the poll with eight votes.
BEL: Tough Schedule Continues
Belmont heads to the Sunshine State for the Gulf Coast Showcase this week. The three-day Thanksgiving event is considered one of the premier in-season tournaments in college basketball and features three nationally ranked programs in Baylor, Michigan and Villanova. The Bruins take on 23rd ranked Villanova Friday in the quarterfinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase as four of Belmont’s first five opponents this season won over 20 games last year and earned at least one victory in a national postseason tournament.
BU: Feels Like the 1st Time
Bradley Women’s Basketball defeated McNeese State, 77-58, on Saturday afternoon, marking the first win for Kate Popovec-Goss as the Braves’ head coach. Caroline Waite just missed a career high with 22 points (6 three-pointers), Isis Fitch scored a career-high 17, and Daija Powell had a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) to power Bradley to its biggest offensive output of the season.
DU: Top 25 Win
Drake picked up a monumental victory last weekend with an 80-62 drubbing of No. 22 Nebraska (11/19). In their second-straight matchup with a ranked opponent, Drake picked up the first win over a Top 25 team since upsetting No. 12 South Carolina in overtime at the 2018 Vancouver Showcase. It was also the Bulldogs’ first win over a power conference team since downing Missouri on the road in the 2022 WNIT. Drake will take their momentum to the tropics for their next outing as they open the FIU Thanksgiving Classic on Friday, Nov. 25 against UMass in Miami, Fla.
UE: Tough Slate
Through four games this season, Evansville has challenged itself with a pair of tough opponents. The Aces schedule so far is the tied for the second-toughest in the MVC, ranked 116th in the nation and only behind Drake in The Valley.
UIC: 3-0 Start
UIC was 3-0 for the first time since 2014-15. They have ended two long losing streaks already this year – an 11-game skid against IUPUI, and a 15-game stretch against Milwaukee. The Flames have pulled out two close wins this season, beating IUPUI by two and Milwaukee by one. UIC is 7-1 in games decided by five points or less dating back to the 2018-19 season.
ILS: Heading West
ISU’s win over Wisconsin on Sunday marked the first home win for the Redbirds over the Badgers since 1985 and the first home win over a current Big Ten program since 2012 when ISU defeated Northwestern.
ISU heads to Las Vegas this week to compete in the UNLV Thanksgiving Classic alongside a bevy of NCAA Tournament teams (UNLV, ETSU, Stetson, UC San Diego, Albany, Louisiana Tech, George Washington). The first game in Vegas for ISU will be against the UC San Diego Tritons on Friday, Nov. 25, at 8:30 pm CT.
INS: Creating Havoc
Indiana State continues to be among the best in the MVC when it comes to generating turnovers. The Sycamores’ 20.7 turnovers forced per game are tops in the conference, while their turnover margin of plus-5.7 per game is second in the MVC. Indiana State is averaging 13.7 steals per game, a mark that also leads the MVC, with the Sycamores recording at least 12 steals in all three games this season. The steals and turnovers forced have also translated on the other end, with Indiana State scoring 20-plus points off turnovers in both games last week (20 vs. Central Michigan, 23 at Purdue).
MOST: Bounce Back
Missouri State has not lost back-to-back games in a season since 2018-19. The last time MSU suffered consecutive losses in a season was when the Lady Bears lost five in a row from Nov. 24-Dec. 16, 2018. Following a loss in their last outing to Oklahoma State, MSU will look to follow it up with a win and keep the trend alive.
MUR: Gritty Comeback
Murray State trailed for over 30 minutes in its win over Chattanooga, but never let the Mocs expand their lead to double-digits. However, when the Racers took the lead with just over five minutes to play on a 3-pointer by Macey Turley, they never let go and held on for the three-point win.
UNI: Mexico Moves
This week the Panthers travel to Cancun, Mexico to participate in the Cancun Challenge holiday tournament. This is UNI’s second time in the tournament since its inception in 2005. The Panthers were last in the Cancun Challenge in 2015 where they went 1-1 with a win against Georgia Tech and a loss to Seton Hall.
SIU: Week Ahead
Southern Illinois will look to snap its three-game losing streak to start the season when it welcomes Memphis into the Banterra Center on Tuesday night. The Salukis and Tigers tip at 6 p.m. as the Salukis are coming off of a short break after falling to Northwestern on Saturday in Evanston.
VU: Hitting the Boards
Junior Leah Earnest has had a strong start to the season scoring the basketball, but more notably, hitting the glass and rebounding. Earnest, who had reached double figures in rebounding twice in her first two seasons, has already done so twice this year - 10 at Central Michigan and 14 last time out versus Eastern Illinois. The 14 rebounds last time out were the most by a Valpo player since Dani Franklin grabbed 16 against Indiana State on Jan. 28, 2018. Through three games, Earnest’s average of 10.7 rebounds/game is tops in the MVC and ranks among the top-30 nationally.
HerHoopStats Stat of the Week
Illinois State’s Paige Robinson became the first player in NCAA Division I since 2018 to score 37+ points and go perfect 7-7 from behind the arc in the Redbirds win over Wisconsin. She is also only the third player to do so since at least 2009-10 season.
