Missouri Valley Basketball: Injury updates for Demarcus Sharp, Mark Freeman

Covid issues remains in Missouri Valley Basketball

Virtually every Valley team has had a covid pause or played short-handed while players quarantined and in some cases regained their health.

Recently, Indiana State has been down to seven players and played on. While MVC guide-lines say if a team has eight players and a bonafide coach, they must play, the Sycamores have soldiered on with as few as seven.

During recent games, the Trees were without three starters. Despite that, they played nine players against Midway and Micah Thomas’ 32 minutes were the most by any player. When they defeated Bradley at home (January 2), just seven Syacamores played with three playing the full 40 minutes and one logging 38.

Tuesday’s overtime loss at Northern Iowa saw the return of those three starters, the loss of two others, and again played with just seven. Point guard Julian Larry played all 45 minutes in the thriller in Cedar Falls. Two players fouled out and ISU finished the game with five eligible players.

Illinois State was on a roll, winning four straight before taking Wisconsin to the wire and losing a five-point game to the Badgers. Point guard Mark Freeman injured his ankle during that loss and without Freeman, the Redbirds lost an overtime game (January 2) at Valparaiso.

Dan Muller’s team hasn’t played since that time.

Evansville pushed the covid pause between December 8 and January 2. Being poorly conditioned they lost an 18-point decision to Northern Iowa. After a couple of days of practice and reconditioning, the Purple Aces had Drake on the ropes on January 8. The Aces are getting healthier.