(St. Louis, MO) – With eight games left on the Missouri Valley Conference regular season schedule, tonight is ‘do or die’ for Evansville and Southern Illinois as far as the regular season championship goes.
The Aces and Salukis were once fighting for first place with Wichita State, but are now three games behind the two-time defending champion Shockers. Without wins tonight that race is over (if it isn’t already).
Evansville plays at Northern Iowa where the Panthers rarely lose, and the Salukis visit Wichita where the Shockers NEVER lose. If these two could do the unthinkable and win those games tonight, their desire for a title would remain on life support. Without victories tonight, you can pull the plug.
Northern Iowa owns a .795 winning percentage in the 10-year-old McLeod Center. Wichita State owns the longest home winning streak in the nation at 42 straight victories.
If they both lose, and Illinois State (12-11, 6-4) wins at Loyola, four Valley teams would be tied for second in the standings at 7 and 4. There would be no race for the top spot, but a quite different race would be developing. Missouri State is one game behind those teams at 6-5 and UNI would be lurking in the shadows with a record of 5-6. The race for the spots to avoid seventh place and the Thursday night play in game, and for the second place bye at Arch Madness 2016 would be intense.
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ICYMI: Semifinal # 2 today at #ArchMadness will feature a contrast of styles as # 5 @UIC_MBB faces # 4 @RacersHoops in the 2:30 game.
It's final: @UNImbb 68 @UEAthletics_MBB 59. The Panthers get @Redbird_MBB on Friday night. Campbell finishes with 23 points. Smith with a double-double. AJ Casey was great with 23 & 10. Panthers with 16 assists.
4:05 left: @UNImbb 57 @UEAthletics_MBB 54. Aces' ball. UNI upside? Campbell with 21 points. Down side - Bond 0/6 from deep. UE upside? Casey with 20 & 9. Down Side? 2/11 from deep in the second half. Anybody's game at #ArchMadness
7:25 left: @UNImbb 55 @UEAthletics_MBB 52. Trey Campbell with 21 points for the Panthers and AJ Casey with 18 for the Aces. Tristan Smith is such a game changer. He has 8 pts & 9 rebounds, but that doesn't tell the story. #ArchMadness
