And We’re Off
The league’s 120-game conference slate begins on Thursday, Dec. 29, with two games on the calendar. Four more games take place on December 30, with two more on December 31 and four on January 1. 

Quick Starts Crucial
Since 1982-83, just three teams (Missouri State, champions in 1998-99, 1994-95 and 1990-91; Drake, champions in 1996-97 and co-champions in 1987-88; and Evansville, a 2007-08 co-champion) have won at least a share of the regular-season title without winning its regular-season opener. In fact, 17 of the last 22 regular-season champs (or co-champs) have opened 2-0 or better in MVC play, with Evansville in 2007-08, Missouri State in 2004-05, UNI in 2010-11, Missouri State in 2011-12 and UNI in 2015-16 serving as the only five exceptions.
 
Title Town
The league has had nine different regular-season champions in the past 16 seasons (SIU-2007, DU/UE/ILS-2008, ILS-2009, ILS-2010, UNI-2011; MSU-2012; WSU/CU-2013; INS/WSU-2014; WSU2015; UNI-2016; DU-2017; DU-2018; DU-2019; MSU-2020; MSU-2021; SIU-2022). Bradley and Valparaiso, along with new members Belmont, UIC and Murray State, are the only league teams not to have won a regular-season MVC championship.

For Starters
The 20-game conference schedule begins with a full league schedule Dec. 29-Jan. 1. Southern Illinois has the current longest winning streak in MVC openers, having won its last nine conference debuts.  SIU’s last league opening loss was on Jan. 3, 2013, vs. Creighton. 

Closed Out Non-Con
The Valley finished the non-conference portion of the schedule 58-54 (.518) this season. 

The MVC secured five wins over Power Five programs during the non-conference schedule. The Valley registered a 5-20 record vs. Power Five teams. The Valley went 2-3 vs. the SEC, 2-12 vs. the Big Ten, 1-2 vs. the Big 12 and 0-3 vs. the ACC. Five different Valley teams registered a Power Five win as Drake beat Nebraska, Illinois State beat Wisconsin, Missouri State won at TCU, UNI beat Vanderbilt and Murray State won at Kentucky.

NET Update
The NCAA NET Report (Dec. 24) has four Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including seven of the 12 sitting in the top 150.  Drake leads the way at No. 47 with UNI (72), Belmont (87) and Murray State (92), rounding out the schools in the Top 100.  The Valley ranks 12th as a league.

BEL: Onward to League Play
The preseason favorites without ever playing an MVC game, Belmont has won a conference regular season crown five of the last six years.  Over the last 10 seasons, the Bruins have compiled a remarkable 140-29 (.828) record in league play and won 11 combined championships, including regular season and tournament. Head coach Bart Brooks is an astounding 80-9 (.899) in conference play over his first five seasons guiding the Bruins.

BU: Braves Wrap Up Non-Con
Bradley finished non-conference play at the FIU Hoops Showdown.  The Braves fell to the hosts 65-57. Alex Rouse tied her career-high for points, scoring 17 in the loss. Rouse also grabbed three rebounds and three steals, not to mention dishing out two assists. Bradley will open Valley play on Friday against Northern Iowa.

 DU: Poised and Prepared
The Drake Bulldogs are ready to begin the 2022-23 MVC schedule after their difficult non-conference slate. The Bulldogs faced off against three ranked opponents in No. 4 Iowa, No. 18 Creighton, and No. 22 Nebraska. Drake picked up their first win over a ranked team since 2018 with a blowout of the Cornhuskers at home and lost to both Iowa and Creighton by a combined 10 points. The Bulldogs will start league play on the road at Illinois State on Dec. 30 and Bradley on Jan. 1. 

UE: Clark Reaches 1,000
Against SEMO on Dec. 18, fifth-year guard Myia Clark scored five points to reach the 1,000 point mark on her career. Clark becomes the second Ace on the roster to reach the milestone, joining Abby Feit, who accomplished the feat last season. Clark has split her 1,000 collegiate points between her three seasons at Saint Louis (548 points) and her season and a half at UE (452).

UIC: Bench Remains Hot
Finishing non-conference play at 8-3, what had remained consistent is the work of UIC’s bench. Led by the work of Ky Dempsey-Toney (10.9 PPG) the Flames bench have outscored their opponents in nine games, less in just one and tied SEMO last week with both benches scoring 21 a piece. Showing time and time again how much the Flames benchplay can change the course of a game.    

ILS: It’s Valley Time!
Illinois State has won three straight home contests against Drake, with their last series loss in Normal coming in January 2020 (69-67 OT). Under Kristen Gillespie, Illinois State is 3-8 against Drake overall. 

On Jan. 1, the Redbirds host UNI in the rematch of last year’s Hoops in the Heartlands Tournament Championship. Under Kristen Gillespie, ISU is 5-7 against UNI since 2017-18, including four straight wins in 2019 and 2020. The win in last year’s Hoops in the Heartlands broke a four-game losing streak for the Redbirds against the Panthers.  

INS: Home Sweet Home
Indiana State opens Valley play at home for the first time since the 2017-18 season when the Sycamores play host to Missouri State and Southern Illinois. The two games close out a five-game homestand for the Sycamores, also their longest since the 2017-18 season which saw Indiana State have a six-game homestand including its first two MVC games of that season against Missouri State and Southern Illinois. Indiana State is 5-2 at home this season, already surpassing last season’s home win total of four.

MOST: On the Road
Missouri State will kick off its conference slate with a road trip to Indiana State and Evansville. MSU is 55-12 in its last 67 MVC road games, dating back to Feb. 20, 2015. Additionally, the Lady Bears have won at least six MVC road games for eight straight seasons and 12 or more total MVC games in seven consecutive years. 

MUR: Quality Non-Con
The win over Bellarmine Tuesday ended the non-conference portion of Murray State’s 2022-23 schedule at 7-2. It is the best non-conference finish (.778) for a Murray State team since the 1987-88 season, when the Racers went 11-2 (.846).

UNI: Starting on the Road
For the second season in a row, the Panthers end the non-conference portion of the season at .500 or better. This year UNI went 5-4 for a .556 winning percentage. The Panthers have also finished the non-conference season at .500 or higher in four out of the last five seasons. 

This will be the first time in three years that UNI has began the MVC season on the road. The last time the Panthers began conference play away from the McLeod Center, they went 1-2 in 2019 after 3 games on the road.    

SIU: Turning Page to League Play
Southern Illinois fell to Saint Louis University 82-54 to finish non-conference play at 3-5. Ashley Jones and Aja Holmes each finished with 13 points for the Salukis. SIU starts Missouri Valley Conference play Dec. 29 at Evansville before a New Year’s Eve matchup with the Sycamores of Indiana State. 

VU: It’s Been Awhile
With the postponement of Valpo’s scheduled game at Wisconsin Dec. 22, the Beacons will go 21 days between games, as they last played at Western Illinois Dec. 9 and will next take the court Dec. 30 to open MVC play at Belmont. It is the program’s longest break between games since the 1989-90 team went 23 days between a Dec. 12 game against Ball State and a Jan. 4 game at Loyola Marymount.

HerHoopStats Stat of the Week
Belmont’s Sydni Harvey was one shy of MVC record for threes in a game with 10 in the Bruins’ win over Troy. Harvey was the first player in NCAA DI this year to make 10 threes in a single game.  She was also the first to do it on 12 or fewer attempts since Taylor Porter of Marshall went 10-12 on March 7, 2019 vs FIU.



MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER & NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Sydni Harvey, Gr., G, Belmont
Graduate guard Sydni Harvey turned in the first 30-point performance by a Bruin since March 6, 2021, as she scored a career-best 33 points in Belmont’s thrilling 97-87 overtime win over visiting Troy Tuesday afternoon. She hit a career-high 10 three-pointers for the second-most ever by a MVC player in a game, going a blistering 10-for-12 from beyond the arc. The only NCAA Division I women’s basketball player to nail 10 threes in an outing this season, Harvey’s 10th trey 78 seconds into overtime put the Bruins up 87-82. Harvey’s 10 made threes also tied the Curb Event Center record. Going 3-for-4 at the free-throw line and adding a pair of rebounds, Harvey became the first Valley player to make 10 triples in a game since Drake’s Kyndal Clark did so versus Loyola Chicago on Jan. 24, 2014. Harvey also became the first Division I women’s player to make 10 threes on 12 or fewer attempts since Taylor Porter of Marshall also went 10-for-12 from outside on March 7, 2019 versus Florida International University.