Missouri Valley Conference Tournament – Day Two
ST. LOUIS – The quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament have come and gone. All of the top four seeds have advanced to the semifinals, the first time that has happened since 2003. There was also some news that came after the third game of the day.
Quarterfinals Honor Roll
Matt Shaw, Southern Illinois: 19 points, 6 rebounds
Jamaal Tatum, Southern Illinois: 19 points on 8-12 shooting, 6 assists
Grant Stout, Northern Iowa: 19 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots
Deven Mitchell, Missouri State: 16 points, 8 rebounds
Nathan Bilyeu, Missouri State: 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists
Matt Braeuer, Wichita State: 18 points, 5-7 on three-pointers
P.J. Couisnard, Wichita State: 17 points on 7-11 shooting
Waltman Out at Indiana State
After his team lost to Creighton on Friday, Royce Waltman confirmed a report in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star that his contract will not be renewed at Indiana State. The Sycamores finished the season at 13-18 and had to play in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Tournament for the fifth straight year.
Waltman said that he was informed of the decision a week ago and noted that the decision was made at a Board of Trustees meeting, hence it leaked out. He said that the word spread around to the point where he had to gather his players to talk about it so that they don’t have to deal with it. That was why he took issue with how it was handled.
“It just got to be such knowledge, I had to talk to them about it and tell them it had nothing to do with how I felt about coming down to this tournament,” said Waltman, who went on to say later that he’s not ready to retire.
In 10 seasons, Waltman posted a 134-164 record at the school. There was plenty of success early in his tenure, as the Sycamores had four straight winning seasons with the last two ending in the NCAA Tournament. His first season was the program’s first winning season in 18 years, as they posted a 16-11 record, and they won 22 games each of the two years they were in the NCAA Tournament.
But the program didn’t build any further from that point. After the first four years, the program went downhill quickly, as the next three seasons all saw single-digit wins.
“We were in a position to really build upon that, and we didn’t, and there’s no one to blame for that except myself,” Waltman reflected. “We had some great teams, and then we made some recruiting errors and some mistakes and we found ourselves in a position where we didn’t build as we should have, and I’m embarrassed by that.”
His opposite number in his final game, Creighton head coach Dana Altman, had words of respect for Waltman.
“All I know is Royce has been in the league with me for a long time, and there’s not a coach in our league that I have more respect for and I think does a better job than Royce,” said Altman, the dean of coaches in the conference. “Whatever they choose to do is their decision, but they’ll have a hard time finding a better coach and a better man than Royce Waltman.”
Salukis’ Concern: The Bench
Although they didn’t finish the game as well as they started or played for most of it, Southern Illinois looked like a team that won the regular season title in their 71-59 quarterfinal win over Drake. Their defense was a constant, although the Bulldogs broke through at times, and they got a big game from key players like seniors Jamaal Tatum and Tony Young as well as junior forward Matt Shaw. But there is one area where they did not excel: the bench.
“Our bench has got to be much better than it was from an efficiency standpoint and from an execution standpoint, and that’s where we struggled – when we had the bench guys in there,” said Southern Illinois head coach Chris Lowery.
The Salukis hang their hat on their defense, and that was clear as Drake got nothing easy. They help very well and forced the Bulldogs to start the offense well away from the basket all game long. For most of the game, they looked to be in control, but every time they had more reserves than starters in the game, there was a noticeable difference.
Davis Takes Bulldogs to New Heights
Drake’s season is likely finished with a 17-15 mark. The NIT could come calling, but it seems unlikely. Nonetheless, the Bulldogs had a season in 2006-07 that is one of the best in quite a while.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Bulldogs struggled to reach double-digit wins, including 2-26 and 3-24 seasons in the mid-1990s. The 17-15 mark is the program’s first winning season in 20 years, when they posted an almost identical mark of 17-14. It could have been even better, as the Bulldogs have been the kings of hard luck this season and in recent years, losing a number of games that could have gone either way. This season, they were 6-6 in games decided by five points or less, including splitting two overtime games.
Davis isn’t sure if his work there is done and it’s time to hand the program over to his son Keno. That will be decided after the season. Still, there’s more to do, as the progress the program has made has yet to include postseason play.
“We made some strides, but there’s still a lot of work to do at Drake, so I appreciate their support and everybody involved,” said Davis.
Braves Had Them All the Way
Although it took a late three-pointer by Will Franklin to decide, Bradley’s win over Northern Iowa came a lot earlier. The Braves started by scoring the game’s first six points and ran out to an 18-4 lead by the 11:12 mark of the first half. They led all the way until there was 2:15 left in the game.
While games aren’t won or lost on just one play or even series, the early minutes definitely set a tone for the game.
“I thought the game was decided in the first six or seven minutes, and that’s to Bradley’s credit,” said Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobson. “They deserve a lot of credit for the way they started that basketball game.”
Northern Iowa scored nine unanswered after falling behind by 14, but that was how they would seemingly spend the entire game. Every time they started to make a little run to try to come back, Bradley had an answer. That looked to be the case even more when, down 38-29, the Panthers scored seven unanswered points to get within two. The Panthers would later get within one twice, then they broke through for the lead the third time they were that close.
Part of the tone that was set was trouble for Northern Iowa’s Eric Coleman. The junior forward, who led the conference in rebounding, was in early foul trouble and only got going in spurts in the second half. He finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Bluejays Take A While to Get Going
Although Creighton won its quarterfinal game by 21 points with a dominating defensive effort, the Bluejays weren’t in command from the outset. Indiana State had a 15-10 lead just past the halfway point of the first half and still led by one nearly three minutes later, before a Nate Funk three-pointer started a 15-2 run to end the first half and put them in control.
The Bluejays put the game away in the second half by scoring 10 of the first 12 points to go up 42-22, then another 9-0 run gave them their largest lead at 53-28. It was a record-setting defensive effort as the 38 points allowed was a tournament record low. No Sycamore player scored in double figures, and the Bluejays had a 37-26 edge on the glass.
Helping out in the run late in the first half were two three-pointers by freshman Isacc Miles, who finished with nine points, five rebounds and three assists. He is the only freshman in their starting lineup and has functioned well as a role player alongside senior stars Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver.
Last Game Hardly a Quarterfinal Atmosphere
The final game of the day had a big-time atmosphere, as Missouri State and Wichita State battled right to the end. Every time one team looked like it was about to go on a run, the other team came right back with a big play of its own, be it a big three-pointer or an offensive rebound and score. Neither team ever led by more than eight points.
The game was scoreless until nearly three minutes in, when the Shockers scored the first of seven straight points. The Bears came right back, and thus began the game-long back-and-forth battle between the two.
“You saw two teams tonight that just refused to get out there and lose, and the Wichita State that I think you saw tonight is the Wichita State that played earlier in the season,” said Missouri State head coach Barry Hinson. “We played about as good as we can play, and we squeaked out a three-point win.”
The Bears looked like they might have been ready to wrap it up when Nathan Bilyeu hit two three-pointers as part of a 10-3 run to go up 58-50 with over seven minutes left, but the Shockers didn’t go away. They scored the next seven points, then tied it at 60 before the Bears scored the next four to regain the lead for good.
The Shockers came in billed as a team that could surprise everyone and win the conference tournament. Evidence of that was their success early in the season, which they never really duplicated once Valley play began. They sure tried hard to do it on Friday.
Other Notes
- Southern Illinois senior guard Tony Young tied the school record for career wins, winning his 103rd game. Young, who scored 17 points, tied the mark held by Darren Brooks.
- Northern Iowa’s duo of Grant Stout and Brooks McKowen became the all-time leaders in career games played on Friday as each played in their 127th game. They haven’t just played, as they made three NCAA Tournament appearances and should see the NIT this time around. Over their career, the Panthers are 83-43, by far the best four-year run in the program’s history (the next-best is 70 wins from 1960-61 through 1963-64).
- The attendance for the evening session was 16,651, a record for a quarterfinal game in the tournament. The semifinal session could be a sellout, which would be a first. According to a source, about 3,000 tickets remained as of late Friday evening.
