MVC Basketball: Preview of Southern Illinois/Indiana State and other league games

Other opening MVC Basketball games to watch

Five more Missouri Valley Conference games happen this weekend. Two of those matchups are particularly juicy. High-flying Indiana State visits hard-nosed Bradley and tenacious Missouri State travels to Drake. Prior to conference play, these four teams have a combined three losses.

While Bradley is the defending regular season champion, Drake is the defending league tournament champion and Indiana State and Missouri State are biting at their heels.

Indiana State center Robbie Avila is one of the most unique of all Valley players. The 6’10 sophomore is averaging 18 points-per-game, grabbing nearly seven rebounds and the be-goggled center is burying the long-distance shot (.429). He’ll face Bradley’s outstanding defensive frontcourt of Leons, Darius Hannah and others. Bradley is seriously big. Those are two of the Braves five players that are 6’8 or taller and play with skill.

Missouri State guards Alston Mason and Matthew Lee are turning heads. Mason is the Bears’ leading scorer (15.8) and Lee leads the league in assists (5.67 per game). The Saint Peters’ transfer missed all of last season and has transformed the Missouri State offense.

Veteran Donovan Clay continues to shine. The 6’9 wing is averaging 14.3 points and is the Valley’s third leading rebounder (7.3).

Drake’s newcomers have supported DeVries well. Atin Wright (15.2 ppg) and Kevin Overton (14.7) give the Bulldogs three players among the Valley’s top-twenty scorers.

UNI travels to Evansville and the Panthers will get their first look at NAIA transfer Ben Humrichous. The 6’9 wing is the Valley’s third leading scorer (19.0) and he’s making 62% of his field goal attempts and .485 from deep. The Aces are playing outstanding defense.

It’s the same kind of story in Nashville when Valparaiso visits Belmont. The Beacons will get their first look at Vanderbilt transfer Malik Dia. The Bellmont big man is averaging 16.3 points per game and has topped the twenty-point mark three times in seven games.

His matchup with Valpo center Jerome Palm will be an interesting battle.

The Missouri Valley Conference teams are proving their reputation as on the top mid-major basketball conferences is true. Now those teams face each other in doubly important games.