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Wichita State - The Shocks cruised to two wins over Southern Illinois at home and Evansville on the road, and remain the only undefeated team in league play. More important, since their win at Loyola in which their bench was a non-factor, they’ve been working in their younger players and bench to take the pressure off VanVleet and Baker. Carter scored 25 against SIU and 18 against Evansville to lead WSU, and 15 different Shockers played in their blowout at Evansville. They’ll play at Missouri State and home against Drake this week.
Northern Iowa – With easy wins at Bradley and home against Missouri State, #23 UNI may climb a spot or two in the AP rankings. Four of the five teams ahead of the Panthers in the rankings each lost a game this week to an inferior opponent. At 16-2, the Panthers look poised to break into the top 20 next week if they can get past Indiana State at home and Illinois State on the road.
Indiana State - The charmed Sycamores had a golden opportunity to reach 6-0 this week with a nice home win (to complete a sweep against the Redbirds) and a visit to Drake. But the Bulldogs had other ideas, and broke through for their first conference win against the 5-0 Sycamores. Now the 5-1 Trees have to confront a tough stretch in their schedule with a trip to UNI before returning home against the Ramblers. Six of their next seven games are against the top half of the league.
Evansville - After narrowly pulling out a game at Missouri State, the Aces ran into the peaking Shockers at home. The results weren’t pretty, as Mockevicius was held to just two points before fouling out, and the Aces scored a season-low 41. Now at 3-3, UE will seek to make a move to secure the third place spot this week, seeking revenge in Chicago for their home loss to Loyola before hosting the Salukis.
Illinois State - The inconsistent Redbirds fumbled an opportunity for a season split with the Trees in Terre Haute, and then took care of Bradley at home. They look like they’re returning to health, but Reggie Lynch can’t stay on the court for long these days—he fouled out in the final minutes of a one-point loss at Indiana State, and collected five fouls in only 11 court minutes against Bradley. The 3-3 Redbirds visit Drake and host UNI this week.
Missouri State – As everyone knows by now, MSU lost their leading scorer to transfer after an altercation with their coach. Marcus Marshall accounted for 25% of MSU’s points this season before bailing. The Bears also dropped a close home game against Evansville and then got blown out at Northern Iowa this week, and seem ticketed for Thursday night in St. Louis. It doesn’t get any easier this week, as they’ll host Wichita State before visiting Bradley.
Bradley - The Braves played respectably this week in two losses, at home against UNI and at Illinois State. Early season leading scorer Warren Jones has returned to the lineup and they may finally be at full strength. If they can win in a visit to SIU and hosting Missouri State this week, they might very well climb back into the race to escape another Thursday night in St. Louis.
Drake - Things are looking up for Drake. Two excellent performances this week-- led by two 20-plus scoring games by Gary Ricks, Jr. yielded their first conference win against previously undefeated ISUb. But it’s a tough week for them to start putting things together, as they’ll host Illinois State before a visit to Wichita.
Southern Illinois - For the second year in a row, SIU struggled through a bad non-conference season and a rough start to conference play before getting their first MVC win against Loyola. This week they’ve got a chance to build on their first conference win by hosting Bradley and traveling to Evansville.
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