Old Rivalries and Positioning

Saturday’s MVC Games

(St. Louis, MO) – Old rivalries and positioning in the Missouri Valley Conference are on Saturday’s basketball menu. The Valley’s top two teams square off and two, long-standing rivalry games spice up the action.

First place Belmont (19-3, 9-2) hosts second place Murray State (16-6, 8-3) while revisiting their rivalry dating back to their Ohio Valley Conference days. Bradley travels to Drake, where the streaking Bulldogs host their longest standing rival Braves.

The top five teams in the standings will receive an Arch Madness first round bye. Those five teams currently would be Belmont, Murray State, Bradley, Illinois Chicago and Illinois State. Drake is one game behind the Braves, Flames and Redbirds.

Old Rivalries and Positioning

Murray State at Belmont – 7:00 pm – CBS Sports Network

Belmont and Murray State were the dominant powers of the OVC between 2012 and 2022. During those ten years, they were the only teams to win a regular season title and they combined to win six of the ten OVC postseason tournaments.

They met in the final five times with Belmont winning three of those epic clashes.

Now they face one another with first place on the line. Murray has lost three straight and the Bruins have won six-in-a-row. They are the Valley’s top two scoring teams and shot blocking squads. This is a Quad One game for Murray State.

Murray State has been held below eighty points just four times all season, including the last two games. Belmont is one win away from securing its twentieth straight season of at least 20 victories. The Bruins lead the all-time series 17-12.

Belmont has been playing without point guard Nic McClain and forward Sam Orme left their previous game with an undisclosed injury/situation just seven minutes into their last game.

Bradley (14-8, 7-4) @ Drake (12-10, 6-5) – 5:00 pm – CBS Sports Network

While Bradley’s rivalry with Illinois State is more celebrated, these two teams have actually played one another more often. The Braves and Bulldogs have played 170 times with Bradley wining 95 of those contests.

Prior to their earlier meeting won by Bradley, the Bulldogs had won six of the past seven meetings.

Drake is one game out of that coveted top five spot in the standings and have won three straight games. Bulldog Guard Jalen Quinn (18.9 ppg) leads the Valley in scoring and Bradley’s Jaquan Johnson is the league leader in steals. He’s also third in assists and sixth in scoring.

Desperate for Wins

Valparaiso (10-11, 4-6) @ Indiana State (9-13, 2-9) – 12:00 – ESPN+

Both these teams have given first place Belmont fits, but here they sit with sub .500 records. Valpo’s two losses to the Bruins came by one and by four points. Indiana State defeated the Bruins in overtime. The Sycamores also lost to Bradley in overtime and dropped four other league games by fewer than five points.

They’ve both been dangerously close to much better records.

Valpo’s Owen Dease (17.9) is the league’s second leading scorer and Indiana State’s Ian Scott is fifth (16.3) and tied for fifth in rebounds (6.4).

The State of Indiana neighbors have met 98 times with the Sycamores winning five of the last six meetings and 60 overall.

Evansville (5-16, 1-9) @ Northern Iowa (13-9, 5-6) – 3:00 pm – ESPN+

UE has lost three straight games and eleven of its last twelve and UNI has lost six of its last seven. These two are DESPERATE for a victory. They are the Valley’s two lowest scoring teams and rank among the bottom three in turnover margin and rebounding margin.

Each has suffered some key injuries. The Purple Aces have seen star center Connor Turnbull in and out of the lineup for weeks (he played Wednesday night) and UNI has been scuffling since the injury to Tristan Smith. UNI defeated Evansville in their first meeting.

Key Point of the Season

Illinois Chicago (12-10, 7-4) @ Southern Illinois (9-12, 3-7) – 6:00 pm – ESPN+

UIC has thrown themselves into the league race by winning seven consecutive games. Wednesday, SIU snapped a four-game losing streak. During this pivotal mid-conference season stretch, grabbing (or holding on to) momentum is enormously important.

Guard Elijah Crawford’s return to the lineup has sparked the seven-game UIC run and SIU’s Rolyns Aligbe’s double-double ignited the SIU home victory against UNI. The Flames’ win over the Salukis (January 7) was the first game of their current winning streak.

Illinois State (15-7, 7-4) is off until Tuesday.

Old rivalries and positioning will be the order of the day for the rest of the season.

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