First Five Game Day

Most Full Conference Slate

(St. Louis, MO) – Monday brings our first five game day of the Missouri Valley Conference season. While five teams are undefeated in the early going, none of those teams are facing one another on Monday.

Twenty-eight of the last 34 regular season champions started the season with at least two league wins. Four teams, Belmont, Illinois State, Murray State and Bradley are 2-and-0. Northern Iowa won its only Valley contest.

Five teams are yet to win a conference game as only Drake is 1-1.

Three of the five are at home and Belmont and Illinois State are on the road.

Traveling Undefeated Teams

Belmont (12-1, 2-0) visits Indiana State (7-6, 0-2) in a game that boasts of the league’s top two three-point shooter and its top two distributors. Bruin guard Tyler Lundblade is the conference leader in triples per game (3.62) followed by Indiana State’s Camp Wagner (2.92). Belmont point guard Nic McClain leads in assists (6.46), followed by Sycamore quarterback Xavier Hall (5.15).

The matchup of combo forwards Ian Scott of Indiana State and Sam Orme of Belmont should be great theatre. Scott is seventh in the Valley scoring race (13.9) and second in rebounding (7.3). Orme is tenth (13.6) and fourth (6.8).

Illinois State (10-3, 2-0) travels to Des Moines to face the league’s defending champion Drake (7-6, 1-1). The Redbirds were the league’s preseason favorite and have won nine of their last ten games.

While Drake’s Jalen Quinn (17.9 ppg) is second in the league, three Redbirds are averaging over twelve points per contest. Ty Pence, (12.4), Chase Walker (12.3) and Johnny Kinziger (12.2) create defensive nightmares for their opponents.

Neither of these teams are big offensive rebounding threats, but they are the league’s best two squads at grabbing rebounds off the defensive window. Bulldog forward Okku Federiko (12.7 & 6.3) is Drake’s most dangerous inside presence.

Hosting to Stay Undefeated

Murray State, Bradley and UNI will attempt to keep their league marks unblemished as they host conference opponents.

Murray (10-3, 2-0) hosts Southern Illinois (6-7, 0-2). The Racers’ high-impact offense (89.3 ppg) is predicated on threes (they take a league most with 370 triple attempts) and getting to rim, where they lead in free throws made (333).

Both the Racers and Salukis are making over 48 percent of their shots, so offense won’t be the determining factor in this one. SIU’s smaller frontcourt will have its hands full with Murray State center Fred King. The league’s leading rebounder (8.2) is also scoring at a high level (13.0 ppg). UIC transfer Javon Jackson (16.2) is Murray’s leading scorer. Quel’Ron House (14.7 & 2.9 assists) leads the Saluki offense and the Aligbe brothers anchor the frontcourt. Royns (6.6) and Prince (5.7) are amongst the Valley leaders in rebounds.

Winless Evansville (4-9, 0-2) heads to Bradley (9-4, 2-0). The Braves have won six consecutive games and the Purple Aces have dropped four straight.

While sophomore guard Jaquan Johnson (18.5) leads the league in scoring, he also leads the conference in steals (3.6). Johnson’s steals numbers are second best nationally. Bradley leads the MVC in steals and turnover margin.

Evansville’s Connor Turnbull is having another banner year. Turnbull is sixth in both scoring (14.5) and rebounds (6.5) and leads the MVC, rejecting three shots per game.

Both Northern Iowa (9-3, 1-0) and Valparaiso have lost their share of close games.  Three of the Beacons’ (6-6, 0-1) last four losses have been by six or fewer points. All three of UNI’s losses have been by five or less.

Both teams could have much better records.

UNI is outstanding defensively. The Panthers lead the Valley (and are second nationally in scoring defense 58.1 ppg) and in three-point-percentage defense. They are also second in the MVC in field goal percentage defense (.369).

The young Beacons have not defeated a Division 1 team in the month of December. Rookies Rakim Chaney and J.T. Pettigrew seem to be the key foundation stones to this year’s team.

Outsider to the First Five Game Day

Illinois Chicago (4-8, 0-2) is playing the league’s lone non-Division 1 game when they host Illinois Tech. UIC has lost six straight games and looks to shift the momentum with this non-D1 game.

Ahmad Henderson (13.8) and freshman Andy Johnson (13.7) are the Flames top scorers. Johnson leads the conference in free throw percentage (.925) and the Flames lead the Valley in blocked shots (4.33) and in offensive rebounding percentage (.390).

Thursday will be another five game day with the headlining game being Bradley’s visit to Belmont.

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