Missouri Valley Conference Tournament – Opening Round Notes
ST. LOUIS – The first day of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament is in the books. The lower seed took both games on the night, a rarity but not a shocker. We have notes regarding the two first round games played, as well as other happenings.
Opening Round Scores
No. 9 Drake (17-14) 101, No. 8 Evansville (14-17) 96 (OT)
No. 10 Indiana State (13-17) 68, No. 7 Illinois State (15-16) 65
Panthers Enter In Good Shape
Northern Iowa is one of a few teams that had some ups and downs this season. The Panthers started out 13-2 and were still 15-4 just past mid-January. With a coaching change and key guards lost from last season’s team, they were one of the bigger surprises to that point and first year head coach Ben Jacobson was off to a great start in his career.
Then things went downhill quickly, as they lost eight of nine, capped by a 79-64 loss at Nevada in BracketBusters that wasn’t even that close. That dropped them to 16-12, and they were 7-9 in Missouri Valley play at that point.
But the Panthers rebounded last week by winning their final two games, one of which came at Bradley, their quarterfinal opponent on Friday. With that, Jacobson thinks the team is in a good spot.
“Those two wins, I think, really helped our guys put a little bounce back in our step,” said Jacobson. “I think that’s why the guys have some confidence right now. They feel good about the way we’re playing, and mostly, I feel good because we’ve worked hard through that stretch.”
Entering the conference tournament with an RPI of 74, there seems to be no chance of the Panthers getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament even with a run to the championship game. That’s one more reason it bodes well that they enter in the place they’re in.
For the Bears, It’s All About the Shockers
Missouri State’s focus all week has been on Wichita State, whom the Bears play on Friday night in the quarterfinals. That’s to be expected, and it’s often said by players and coaches, but it’s very believable coming from them. It isn’t coach-speak that Barry Hinson said nothing about last year’s NCAA Tournament snub all week; rather, he thinks they have another extra motivation to win on Friday.
“They beat us eight times in a row. We’re a long ways behind catching up, so we know what we’re up against,” Hinson said of the Shockers, whom they beat twice in the regular season.
Hinson said it was the coaching staff’s way of taking pressure off the team. He remembers how they were said to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament before coming to St. Louis last year, only to be arguably the most notable snub from it. But that hasn’t entered into the conversation this week – only how dangerous Wichita State is and how much catching up the Bears have to do.
Both teams will come in with incentive to win aside from the simple desire to win. The Shockers are trying to make something of a season that started with a great deal of promise and a top ten ranking at one point, while the Bears also had a solid start but enter the conference tournament as a likely bubble team. The Bears also know that the Shockers’ start to the season alone proves that they’re a dangerous team.
Young Not a Freshman Anymore
Josh Young certainly had a coming-out party of sorts with his career-high 23 points in Drake’s win over Evansville. The freshman guard went 5-9 from behind the arc and scored 14 of those points in the second half – almost as many as he scored in the two regular season meetings against the Purple Aces (he had 15).
“Josh is fearless,” teammate Klayton Korver said of Young. “He’s older than he looks. He told me he was 17, but he’s 18. He’s fearless and not afraid to shoot it.”
Young was 6-11 from long range for the game, after going 4-17 from downtown in the two regular season meetings with Evansville. He entered the game shooting 31.5 percent from long range on the season, so clearly he chose a good time to have a breakout game.
The Bulldogs have earned a date with Southern Illinois on Friday in a game with a quick turnaround. After playing at 6 P.M. on Thursday, they take on the Salukis at noon on Friday.
Sycamores Finally Get Over the Edge
In the nightcap, Illinois State out-played Indiana State for the vast majority of the game. They were the aggressors, led by outgoing senior Greg Dilligard, who played with the energy and intensity of someone who knew it could be his final college game en route to 11 points and six rebounds. If there wasn’t a scoreboard, you would have thought the Redbirds were in clear control of the game even before they went on an 11-1 run to open up a 54-42 lead with 11:40 to go in the second half.
But the Sycamores stayed close, at times rallying but not quite getting all the way back as they couldn’t seem to sustain quite enough momentum. That was before they were still faced with a 60-54 deficit with 7:17 left.
Within the next minute and a half, the Sycamores made two three-pointers to tie, then scored four more in a row after a Redbird free throw to go up 64-61. The Redbirds would regain the lead at 65-64 before freshman Marico Stinson became the second first-year player on the day to make a big contribution, hitting a three-pointer with 16 seconds left that would prove to be the winner.
“Tonight we battled back,” said Indiana State head coach Royce Waltman. “We did a good job of fighting back, something we haven’t done.”
It capped off a second half where the Sycamores shot over 52 percent from the field, including making 7-of-10 three-pointers. Not helping for the Redbirds was their own struggles, including from the foul line as they were 10-17 in the latter frame.
“Once we started playing team defense, we got a couple of stops to help us get back in the game,” said junior guard Gabe Moore, who scored 10 points and had three steals.
The first reason the Sycamores stayed in the game was on the offensive boards. In the first half, they converted seven offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points. More than anything else, that kept the Redbirds from dominating on the scoreboard as much as they appeared to be. It gave them the chance to eventually make the big run they did en route to the win.
Other Notes
- Evansville’s Matt Webster missed two key free throws late in the first game, but hopefully that won’t be the lasting impression of the senior forward. He closed out his career with a stellar 29-point, eight-rebound effort, and finishes 11th on Evansville’s all-time scoring list.
- Creighton got out of Omaha just in time, as the area was hit with a major snowstorm Thursday morning. “I heard it was the worst storm in Omaha in ten years or something like that,” said Creighton center Anthony Tolliver.
- The first game featured two brothers of current or former Valley players. Drake’s Klayton Korver is the younger brother of former Creighton star Kyle, while Evansville freshman Jay Couisnard is the younger brother of Wichita State junior P.J. Couisnard.
- Speaking of the elder Couisnard, Wichita State head coach Mark Turgeon said he will be available. The bigger health concern for the Shockers is the ankle of guard Sean Ogirri, who Turgeon said will play but is a wild card in terms of how effective he will be. He said Ogirri re-injured the ankle on Monday and has struggled with it all week.
