Four Valley Teams in the NIT

All Four Play Tonight

(St. Louis, MO) – There are four Valley teams in the NIT, so the opportunity for postseason success begins tonight for the Missouri Valley Conference. Bradley, Illinois Chicago, Illinois State and Murray State all tip tonight in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

The NIT contains four, eight-team brackets named for the universities that are seeded first in each bracket. Bradley  and Illinois State are each in the Wake Forest bracket. Murray State is in the Auburn bracket and UIC in the New Mexico region.

Illinois State and Bradley could potentially meet in their bracket’s championship game.

The First of Four Valley Teams

Illinois State hosts Kent State at 7 pm on ESPN+. The Redbirds are a 6.5 favorite and the over/under is set at 153.5. While the Redbirds (20-12) play at a pedestrian offensive pace the Golden Flashes (24-9) run their offense in high gear.

Kent State averages over 85 points per game and ILS just 75. The Redbirds are in the final 80 in the nation in average length of offensive possession and the Golden Flashes are in the top fifty.

Watch for the matchup between the teams’ two best players. Illinois State’s Chase Walker and KSU’s Delrecco Gillespie are the go-to players for their teams. The 6’8 Gillespie averages a double-double (18.1 and 11.2) and the 6’9 Walker averages 13.5 points and 5.3 rebounds.

Kent State went 14-4 in KenPom.com’s seventeenth ranked conference, finishing third in the MAC race to Miami of Ohio and Akron. Illinois State finished third in the ninth ranked MVC.

Five other Golden Flashes average at least nine points per game. Cian Medley (10.8 ppg) is their lead distributor handing out 6.4 assists per game. Four other Redbirds average over nine points per contest. What the Birds lack in overall height, they make up for with team rebounding. Both Boden Skunberg and Ty Pence average nearly 4.5 rebounds per game.

Illinois State will have to control the pace and minimize turnovers or the Golden Flashes will make the game a track meet that ILS cannot sustain.

Here is a full interview about this game with ILS head coach Ryan Pedon.

Game Two

Bradley (21-12) hosts Dayton (23-11) at 8 pm on ESPNU. The Braves are 1.5 point underdog and the over/under is set at 143.5. Bradley is 14-2 at Carver Arena and among the national leaders in steals per game. They have been a dynamic three-point shooting team.

While neither of these teams crash the offensive glass both play reliable defense. The Flyers are the more efficient of the two defensively.

The battle between the teams’ top players is the complete opposite of Illinois State’s game. Neither Bradley’s Jaquan Johnson nor Dayton’s Javon Bennett reach the 6-foot plateau, but they are the outstanding center-pieces of their teams’ attacks.

Bennett leads the Flyers in scoring (16.2), assists (3.0) and three-point baskets (84). Johnson leads the Braves in scoring (17.1), assists (3.6) and steals (2.6). These ‘Mighty Mouse’ type players are the energy in in their teams’ attacks.

The battle of European 7-footers will bare watching. France’s Amael L’etang is a double-digit scorer for Dayton and Serbia’s Ahmet Jonovic averages 8.4 points. Each big man grabs more than five rebounds per game.

How unsettling will it be that Bradley guard Montana Wheeler has signed with an agent to ‘explore the market’? We’ll see.

Valley NIT Game Number Three

Murray State (20-12) vists Nevada (22-12) at 9 pm on ESPN+. The Racers are an 8.5 point underdog and the over/under is set at 163.5. This game has the chance to be an offensively explosive contest.

Missouri Valley fans will recognize the names Tayshawn Comer and Chuck Bailey III as former Evansville Purple Aces. Comer is Nevada’s third leading scorer (11.4 ppg) and leads the Wolf Pack in assists (3.5). Guard Corey Camper Jr is a dangerous offensive performer (17.0 ppg) and forward Elijah Price is 6’9 and can spread the floor.

How Ryan Miller aligns his Racers’ defenders will be a key to this one. The Racers come in allowing 80 points per game and have been allowing too many easy baskets.

Murray State has lost nine of its last thirteen games, but the Racers were 8-4 in the non-conference portion of their schedule. Perhaps stepping out of that MVC grind will give them an edge and a chance to finish Miller’s first season on a high note.

The Night Cap

Illinois Chicago (19-15) visits California (21-11) at 10:00 pm on ESPN2. The Flames are a 5.5 point underdog and the over/under is set at 149.5. The Golden Bears are talented and diverse on offense and their size could give the Flames some problems on the defensive end.

Cal goes 6’8, 6’7 and 6’10 across the front and their top two scorers are guards Dai Dai Ames (17.2) and Justin Pippen (14.3). Like his legendary father (Scottie), Pippen is a stat-box-stuffer, averaging 3.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists and nearly two steals per game.

Forwards John Camden and Chris Bell are each 13-point-per game scorers.

UIC’s tenacious frontcourt players will have to be on their games.

Cal will yield points, allowing over 73 per game, so Rob Ehsan’s team will have to win this game on the defensive end an on the glass. Look for Andy Johnson to heat up in this one and for Ehsan to shuffle a lot of front court players in the lineup to find his best matchup against the taller Golden Bears.

These could be critical games for all four Valley teams. Last season’s CBI run sparked a huge return of the players for Illinois State. These games could mean more than just wins and losses.

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