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MVC Player of the Week:  Drew Scharnowski, Belmont
MVC Newcomer of the Week:  Abdul Momoh, UIC
MVC Freshman of the Week:  Roman Domon, Murray State

Weekly Notebook (PDF)

 

Tuesday, Jan 13	Network	Time (CT)
*UIC at UNI	MVC TV/ESPN+	6:00 PM
*Valparaiso at Belmont	ESPN+	6:30 PM
*Bradley at Evansville	ESPN+	7:00 PM
Wednesday, Jan 14	Network	Time (CT)
*Illinois State at Indiana State	ESPN+	6:00 PM
*Drake at Southern Illinois	ESPN+	7:00 PM
Saturday, Jan 17	Network	Time (CT)
*Bradley at Illinois State	ESPN2 or ESPNU	1:00 PM
*Drake at UIC	ESPN+	2:00 PM
*UNI at Valparaiso	ESPN+	2:00 PM
*Indiana State at Murray State	ESPN+	3:00 PM
*Belmont at Southern Illinois	ESPN+	6:00 PM
*denotes MVC contest; MVC TV = cleared on Gray Media affiliates, non-affiliate stations, and ESPN+

 

• Nothing But NET: MVC at 9 -- The Missouri Valley Conference is ranked No. 9 as a conference in the NCAA NET ratings (Jan. 12). Murray State (60) headlines four MVC programs that rank in the Top 100. The Racers are joined by Belmont (61), Illinois State (84) and UNI (92).  Bradley (107) and Southern Illinois (125) also represent among the national leaders.  Last year on this date (Jan. 12, 2025), the MVC had three Top 100 teams.  Murray State’s 57 WAB (wins above bubble) also tops the Conference.
• Murray State (7-0) is the lone unbeaten team in league play.  The 7-0 MVC start is the best for MSU since joining the league.
• Four teams rank among the Top 100 for WAB (wins above bubble) — led by Murray State (57).
• There have been 35 league games (through games of Jan. 10).  Of those 35, 26 games have been decided by 10 points or less (including three overtime contests).  Average margin of victory: 8.69

NET Ratings, By Conference (Leaders)
1. SEC
2. Big 12
3. Big Ten
4. ACC
5. Big East
6. Mountain West
7. West Coast
8. Atlantic 10
9. Missouri Valley
10. American
 

Metrics, MVC Leaders
Team	NET	KP	BPI	KPI	T-Rank	WAB
MUR	60	81	94	61	87	57
BEL	61	65	101	44	73	79
ILS	84	93	91	131	80	94
UNI	92	98	95	89	89	87
BRAD	107	115	109	94	118	160
SIU	125	124	121	129	145	221

Comeback Kids -- Belmont rallied from a 25-point second-half deficit on Saturday, Jan. 10, to defeat Drake in Des Moines, 78-76.  Belmont’s victory at Drake was the largest come-from-behind victory of the NCAA Division I era for the Bruins (25 points with 17:19 left).  It is tied for the largest comeback in the NCAA this year (New Hampshire beat Boston U on 12/6/25 after trailing by 25).  And the 25-point comeback ranks second-best in MVC history.  New Mexico State rallied to beat Bradley on Jan. 27, 1977, after trailing by 28 points to the Braves.

Biggest Comebacks, MVC History
Date -- (Deficit), Winning Team, Score
1/27/77 -- (28 pts at BRAD) NMSU, 117-109
1/01/26 -- (25 pts at DU), Belmont, 78-76
3/6/05 -- (23 vs SIU), Missouri State, 65-61
1/27/01 -- (23 vs BRAD), Evansville, 70-67 (ot)
1/17/24 -- (23 vs. SIU), Bradley, 70-69

Racers Off to 7-0 MVC Start -- Murray State has won 11-straight games and has started league play with a 7-0 record.  The last MVC team to win its first seven MVC games was Drake in 2020-21.   The Bulldogs were 9-0 that year in Conference play before falling at Valpo.  Only 22 teams in MVC history have won their first 10 league games.

Best MVC Starts, Last 10 Seasons
11-0 -- Illinois State (2016-17) -- Lost at Wichita St. in 12th game
9-0 -- Drake (2020-21) -- Lost at Valpo in 10th game

Best MVC Starts, All Time
18-0 -- Oklahoma (1927-28)
18-0 -- Wichita St. (2013-14)
17-0 -- Southern Illinois (2003-04) -- Lost at UNI in 18th game
17-0 -- Missouri (1919-20) -- Lost at K-State in 18th game

Racing -- Murray State won its 11th-straight game with its victory against Valparaiso on Saturday.  That’s the eighth-longest active win streak in the nation.  MSU has won 11-straight games at home - tied for the 22nd-best active streak in the nation.  MSU now has 23 winning streaks of 10 or more in its 101 seasons of collegiate basketball.

NCAA Leaders, Active Win Streaks MBB
20 -- Nebraska
17 -- Miami (Ohio)
16 -- Arizona
16 -- Iowa State
16 -- Vanderbilt
12 -- UConn
12 -- BYU
11 -- Murray State
10 -- Gonzaga

Roster Rebuilds -- Only three MVC teams returned more than half of their playing roster from last season -- of the league’s total 166 roster spots in 2025-26, 61.4 percent of the players are new to their programs. ESPN research indicates Murray State is one of just nine DI programs with no players returning from last year’s roster.

Doing it With Defense -- Belmont (38.2) and UNI (39.2) rank among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense.  The Bruins rank 7th nationally.  Belmont’s 38.2 figure ranks second all-time in the MVC (Wichita State, 37.7 in 2016-17).  Notably, UNI leads the nation in both scoring defense (59.5 ppg) and 3-point field goal percentage defense. Only 10 MVC teams since 1979 have held teams to 58.0 points per game for a season -- all 10 have played in the NCAA Tournament.

Road Warriors -- Belmont has an NCAA-best nine victories away from home this season.  Belmont’s seven true road wins are tied with Miami (Ohio) for the national best.  For teams that have played four or more true road games, Belmont’s 14.0 scoring margin ranks fourth-best nationally.

Average Margin of Victory, True Road*
19.0 -- Duke (4-0)
16.8 -- Utah State (4-1)
15.5 -- Vanderbilt (4-0)
14.0 -- Belmont (14.0)
12.8 -- UConn (4-0)
9.7 -- Miami (Ohio) (7-0)
*four or more true road games

Long-Range Bombers -- Against Valparaiso, Murray State drained 12 three-pointers.  MSU’s 12 3-pointers marks the 10th game this season of double-digits. Murray State (10.5) and Belmont (10.3) rank 1-2 in the MVC for three-pointers made per game.

It’s a Steal! -- The Braves lead the MVC in turnover margin and rank 8th in the NCAA (+5.5), while guard Jaquan Johnson leads the MVC and ranks third nationally in steals per game (3.17).

Beacon Gauntlet -- Valpo is in the midst of a challenging stretch with four consecutive games against teams in the top 100 in the KenPom – Illinois State, Murray State, Belmont and UNI. The last time Valpo played four straight top-100 KenPom opponents was the 2016 NIT, facing Florida State (48), Saint Mary’s (34), BYU (52) and George Washington (53).  Valpo has seen its NET rating rise more than 40 points since Christmas.

What’s the Point? -- Murray State (87.9) leads the MVC in scoring offense.  That’s the best in the Conference since 1988 (Bradley, 92.5).  MSU ranks 26th nationally in scoring offense and ranks 1st in the MVC and 20th nationally in bench scoring (35.1).

Nation’s Second Oldest -- Founded in 1907, the Missouri Valley Conference is the nation’s second-oldest Division I athletic conference (behind only the Big Ten).  The MVC is celebrating its 119th season in 2025-26.

Four Postseason Teams in 2025 -- The Missouri Valley Conference had four teams in postseason play in men’s basketball as Drake (NCAA), Bradley (NIT), UNI (NIT), and Illinois State (CBI) represented the MVC.  MVC schools have combined for 12 wins in post-season play the past two seasons.  The six postseason wins in 2024-25 matches the ninth-best total in league history.

13-4 in NCAA First Round -- Including Drake in 2025, MVC teams are 13-4 in their first game in the NCAA tourney dating back to 2012. The league has combined for 21 wins in the NCAA Tournament in the past 12 NCAA championships and has had multiple bids 16 times since 1994.




MVC Player of the Week
Drew Scharnowski, Belmont
F, 6-9, 230, R-So., Burlington, Ill. (Burlington Central)
Scharnowski nearly averaged a double-double as Belmont earned victories at Northern Iowa and at Drake this past week. The 6-9 forward averaged 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 steals per game on 13-for-14 shooting from the field. Scharnowski went 9-for-10 from the field in posting 18 points and nine rebounds at Northern Iowa. He had his third double-double of 10 points, 10 rebounds, and three steals at Drake where the Bruins rallied from 25 points down in the second half to win.

MVC Newcomer of the Week
Abdul Momoh, UIC
F, 6-8, 249, Gr., Carteret, N.J. (The Patrick School) | Central Connecticut State 
Momoh averaged 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game with an astronomical .786 field-goal percentage in helping UIC pick up its first two MVC wins of the season over Southern Illinois and on the road at No. 7 (Mid-Major) Illinois State. The highlight of Momoh’s week came in Saturday’s overtime win at Illinois State — matched up with MVC Preseason Player of the Year Chase Walker, Momoh finished with a game-high 15 points on a season-best 7-of-9 shooting and added six rebounds. During the Flames’ midweek win over SIU (their first in the regular season since 2009), Momoh contributed eight points (4-5 FG) and four rebounds while holding the Salukis to their lowest point total ever in the 18-game series with UIC.

MVC Freshman of the Week
Roman Domon, Murray State
F, 6-9, 225, Fr., Dreuil Les Amiens, France (BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque)
Domon was second for the Racers -- and fifth-best in the MVC -- by averaging 18.5 points per game, and he added 6.0 rebounds per game as Murray State posted two wins last week to push its winning streak to 11-straight games this year.  He was 12-of-18 from the floor, which included a 6-of-9 performance from three-point range.  He made seven of his eight free throw attempts.  He scored 10 points with 11 boards in the win at Evansville and then had 18 points in the home win against Valparaiso.