Busting Brackets
Fansided

Missouri Valley Basketball: Grades for each team 1st week of 2022-23 season

By Harry Schroeder

DES MOINES, IA - FEBRUARY 10: Roman Penn #12 of the Drake Bulldogs passes the ball in the second half of play at Knapp Center on February 10, 2021 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Drake Bulldogs won 80-59 over the Northern Iowa Panthers. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images)
DES MOINES, IA - FEBRUARY 10: Roman Penn #12 of the Drake Bulldogs passes the ball in the second half of play at Knapp Center on February 10, 2021 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Drake Bulldogs won 80-59 over the Northern Iowa Panthers. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images) /
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Kendall Lewis #22 of the Illinois State Redbirds (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
Kendall Lewis #22 of the Illinois State Redbirds (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) /

Teams that earned a “B” grade

Two of the three teams with new coaches and one newcomer to the league land here.

After a season-opening loss to Western Illinois, Illinois State has bounced back with two, very solid wins. Narrow road victories at Eastern Illinois and Northwestern State are bigger achievements than one might think.

Monday night the Demons of Northwestern State defeated No. 15 TCU. Three former Missouri State Bears are a part of Corey Gipson’s first team in Louisiana.

While the Redbirds have a remade roster, hold-over Kendall Lewis has elevated his game. The 6’7 senior has always been a good defender, but has scored 50 points in the team’s first three games and has hauled in 41 rebounds! Three double-digit rebounding games have given his teammates something to build on.

Illinois State isn’t scoring at a high rate, but they’re allowing just 62.3 points per game. Ryan Pedon’s team is ruling the glass and they don’t miss extra points. Virginia transfer Malachi Poindexter (11.0 ppg) is nine for nine from the charity stripe and seven different Redbirds average at least 4.7 points per contest.

Illinois State – Grade – B

Illinois Chicago has signed head coach Luke Yaklich to a one-year extension on his contract, locking up the third-year coach until the 2025-26 season. That was good timing. After a narrow loss to in-town rival Loyola Chicago, the Flames collected a solid win against Jacksonville State.

The 2-1 Flames are led by sophomore Jace Carter. The 6’5 guard is averaging 17.3 points and seven rebounds and hounding the opposition’s best players on the defensive end. Freshman Jalen Jackson leads the Valley in steals and Duquesne transfer Tobi Okani is eighth in rebounding. Idaho transfer Tre Anderson is the team’s other double-digit scorer (16.0).

Yaklich has his defenders on point. The Flames are allowing just 59.3 points per game and opponents are connecting on just over 20% of their shots from deep.

Illinois Chicago – Grade – B

This one may surprise you, but Evansville has been impressive early. They defeated Miami (Ohio) on opening night and then lost at Saint Louis and stand at 1-1. We’re grading the Purple Aces on what we’ve seen and heard.

A tenacious road win at Miami caught our attention. UE is virtually an entirely new team and winning on the road in David Ragland’s first D1 coaching contest impressed us.

The Purple Aces went to St. Louis to play an outstanding Atlantic Ten team in Saint Louis U and lost by a deceptively large 18-point margin (83-65). With roughly ten minutes left in the game the Aces were up and giving the highly regarded Billikens all they could handle.

They opened the game trailing 12-2 only to battle back and lead (39-37) at the half. The toughness and fight coming from this Evansville team will make up for some of its lack of size and talent. UE specializes in ‘junk-yard-dog’ mentality and has impressed this writer in the early going.

Evansville – Grade – B-