Missouri Valley Basketball Monday: Road wins and midseason awards

CHARLESTON, SC - NOVEMBER 21: Gaige Prim #44 of the Missouri State Bears takes a shot during a first round Charleston Classic basketball game against the Miami (Fl) Hurricanes at the TD Arena on November 21, 2019 in Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

2 of 4

Missouri State Bears forward Isiaih Mosley Tbears Siu00479 /

Road teams victorious

While Loyola Chicago (14-3, 5-1) joined the national rankings last Monday, that ranking is now on shaky ground after a home loss Saturday. The Ramblers’ 30-game, home winning streak was snapped by a red-hot Missouri State team and star Isiaih Mosley. Missouri State’s junior guard shredded the LUC defense for 40 points as the Bears came up with a 79-69 win at LUC’s Gentile Arena.

Mosely is averaging 34.4 points per game during his last five games and is turning heads nationally. The Bears (15-6, 6-2) were the aggressors in this game and once again the Ramblers found themselves trying to dig out of a second-half deficit. This time they couldn’t climb all the way back to win.

That win was probably the most important win in coach Dana Ford’s career to date. Over the past few years, talented Bears teams struggled against the upper-level Valley teams. For MSU to break through against the Ramblers was huge. The Bears are 2-1 against the other members of the league’s Big Four.

Those other two teams (Drake and Northern Iowa) connected at UNI and the two Iowa neighbors played into overtime with Drake prevailing and moving into a virtual tie with Missouri State.

Drake (14-6, 5-2) continues to amaze this writer. While the Bulldogs are a veteran team with great experience, they are playing this season shorthanded. Darian DeVries’ team routinely plays games with five players playing over 80% of the game. Against Northern Iowa, 190 of the 225 minutes were played by five players. Four of those players finished the contest with four fouls. All five starters scored double-digits during the 82-74 overtime game.

Drake’s defense dominated the game, allowing just 29 points in the second half and overtime. UNI made just one field goal in the overtime period.

UNI (9-9, 5-3) has dropped two-in-a-row and both in overtime. They now trail Loyola by two games and MSU and Drake by one. The Big Four have the bulk of the head-to-head matchups in front of them. The home losses for Northern Iowa and Loyola are big disadvantages as they play out the schedule.