Today In The Valley (Feb. 4)
Southern Illinois (10-12; 5-6, t-6th) vs. Illinois State (18-4; 7-4, t-2nd)
7:00 p.m.
SIU Arena; Carbondale, Illinois
MVC TV
Tonight, Chris Lowery will get a chance to show why he gets paid the big bucks. The Salukis host in-state rival Illinois State. What makes C-Lo's job more difficult tonight than the last meeting when the Redbirds were victorious in Normal? Coaching without floor leader Bryan Mullins on the court.
Mr. Mullins. What more can this guy do? He has only missed two games his entire career. He recently joined Ryan Sears as the only two members in Valley history with 500 assists and 250 steals. After missing the 2008 post-season NIT because a stress fracture in his left leg, he now has the same injury in his right foot. Exit Mr. Mullins, enter Justin Bocot, who will be inserted into the starting lineup. Bocot, along with Kevin Dillard and Ryan Hare, will get even more of a chance now to show the rest of the Valley what is in store for the next couple of years in the SIU backcourt.
While many fans will be at Pub II in Normal or Buffalo Wild Wings in Bloomington for a viewing party, the Redbirds will be trying to maintain a tight hold on the second spot in the Valley. After the I-74 rivalry game over the weekend, a 69-65 win over Bradley, they will need to get up for another big in-state game against SIU in the Dawg Pound. They've lost four straight road games and will try to change their luck in this rematch from 11 days ago.
Picks
Creighton Otter: Southern Illinois
Panon: Southern Illinois
Dance Cam Guy: Illinois State
~ Panon
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Missouri State (9-13; 2-9, t-9th) vs. Evansville (14-7; 6-5, 5th)
7:00 p.m.
JQH Arena; Springfield, Missouri
Someone forgot to tell Vegas that the Missouri State Bears are 2-9 in the Valley and coming off a double-digit defeat in Omaha.
Someone better tell Shy Ely and the rest of the Aces that the Bears are giving 3 points as of Tuesday evening. Riding back to back wins and hoping to sweep the season series against MSU, Ely and his teammates look like they are hitting a stride. Plus, this trip to Missouri is the only thing standing between Marty Simmons’ team and a two-game home stand.
But someone should also clue them into the fact that they’ve only won two road games all season, and that MSU’s only two MVC wins were on the shiny new court in the JQH Arena.
Cuonzo Martin’s Bears play pretty solid defense, but they’ll have to pull out everything in their bag of tricks to stop Ely. They have precedent, however: in that overtime loss in Evansville a few weeks ago, MSU held the Valley’s leading scorer to just 9 points – his second lowest single-game scoring effort of the season thus far.
Conversely, the Aces will need to keep an eye on Chris Cooks, the Bears’ top offensive threat. They didn’t see much of Cooks in the last meeting, though: it was his first game back from a concussion injury that kept him out of the start of MVC play.
Which one of the role players for each of these two teams will step up and snatch a win for his squad? Ely’s supporting cast has been good as of late, so I’ll give the nod to the Aces.
Picks
Creighton Otter: Evansville
Panon: Missouri State
Dance Cam Guy: Evansville
~ Creighton Otter
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Indiana State (4-18; 2-9, t-9th) vs. Wichita State (10-12; 4-7, 8th)
7:00 p.m.
Hulman Center; Terre Haute, Indiana
Indiana State’s last game was a throwback to commemorate the success of the legendary 1979 team, which was able to make a magical run to the NCAA Finals. With the powder blue uniforms, some of the Sycamores resembled one legendary Larry Bird with the way the 3-pointers were falling in the first half against league leading UNI, shooting 64%. Unfortunately, the Sycamores came back to 2009 in the second half and played like a team in last place in the Valley. They shot 20% from behind the arc and were only able to put up 20 points in the second half. The poor closing stanza left the Sycamore faithful with another tough loss, this time to the tune of 61-57.
Wichita State ,on the other hand, was able to return to its winning ways after a bit of a hiccup against Bradley on the road. WSU showed the Valley faithful on Saturday afternoon that they are a force to be reckoned with this year (at least at home), as they embarrassed a sluggish Drake Bulldog squad 63-47 on FSN Midwest. This win made it four out of their last five Valley games for a Shocker squad trying to make something out of what a lot of fans thought was a season going nowhere.
Both of these teams are playing to stay out of the Thursday round of the MVC, although that seems pretty unlikely right now for the Sycs. After looking at the current standings, the Shockers definitely need this one more than the Sycamores, as they at least have a slim chance of avoiding the dreaded play-in round. I like the Sycamores to take a bit of frustration out on Gregggggg and the gang.
Picks
Creighton Otter: Indiana State
Panon: Wichita State
Dance Cam Guy: Indiana State
~ Dance Cam Guy
7:00 p.m.
SIU Arena; Carbondale, Illinois
MVC TV
Tonight, Chris Lowery will get a chance to show why he gets paid the big bucks. The Salukis host in-state rival Illinois State. What makes C-Lo's job more difficult tonight than the last meeting when the Redbirds were victorious in Normal? Coaching without floor leader Bryan Mullins on the court.
Mr. Mullins. What more can this guy do? He has only missed two games his entire career. He recently joined Ryan Sears as the only two members in Valley history with 500 assists and 250 steals. After missing the 2008 post-season NIT because a stress fracture in his left leg, he now has the same injury in his right foot. Exit Mr. Mullins, enter Justin Bocot, who will be inserted into the starting lineup. Bocot, along with Kevin Dillard and Ryan Hare, will get even more of a chance now to show the rest of the Valley what is in store for the next couple of years in the SIU backcourt.
While many fans will be at Pub II in Normal or Buffalo Wild Wings in Bloomington for a viewing party, the Redbirds will be trying to maintain a tight hold on the second spot in the Valley. After the I-74 rivalry game over the weekend, a 69-65 win over Bradley, they will need to get up for another big in-state game against SIU in the Dawg Pound. They've lost four straight road games and will try to change their luck in this rematch from 11 days ago.
Picks
Creighton Otter: Southern Illinois
Panon: Southern Illinois
Dance Cam Guy: Illinois State
~ Panon
---
Missouri State (9-13; 2-9, t-9th) vs. Evansville (14-7; 6-5, 5th)
7:00 p.m.
JQH Arena; Springfield, Missouri
Someone forgot to tell Vegas that the Missouri State Bears are 2-9 in the Valley and coming off a double-digit defeat in Omaha.
Someone better tell Shy Ely and the rest of the Aces that the Bears are giving 3 points as of Tuesday evening. Riding back to back wins and hoping to sweep the season series against MSU, Ely and his teammates look like they are hitting a stride. Plus, this trip to Missouri is the only thing standing between Marty Simmons’ team and a two-game home stand.
But someone should also clue them into the fact that they’ve only won two road games all season, and that MSU’s only two MVC wins were on the shiny new court in the JQH Arena.
Cuonzo Martin’s Bears play pretty solid defense, but they’ll have to pull out everything in their bag of tricks to stop Ely. They have precedent, however: in that overtime loss in Evansville a few weeks ago, MSU held the Valley’s leading scorer to just 9 points – his second lowest single-game scoring effort of the season thus far.
Conversely, the Aces will need to keep an eye on Chris Cooks, the Bears’ top offensive threat. They didn’t see much of Cooks in the last meeting, though: it was his first game back from a concussion injury that kept him out of the start of MVC play.
Which one of the role players for each of these two teams will step up and snatch a win for his squad? Ely’s supporting cast has been good as of late, so I’ll give the nod to the Aces.
Picks
Creighton Otter: Evansville
Panon: Missouri State
Dance Cam Guy: Evansville
~ Creighton Otter
---
Indiana State (4-18; 2-9, t-9th) vs. Wichita State (10-12; 4-7, 8th)
7:00 p.m.
Hulman Center; Terre Haute, Indiana
Indiana State’s last game was a throwback to commemorate the success of the legendary 1979 team, which was able to make a magical run to the NCAA Finals. With the powder blue uniforms, some of the Sycamores resembled one legendary Larry Bird with the way the 3-pointers were falling in the first half against league leading UNI, shooting 64%. Unfortunately, the Sycamores came back to 2009 in the second half and played like a team in last place in the Valley. They shot 20% from behind the arc and were only able to put up 20 points in the second half. The poor closing stanza left the Sycamore faithful with another tough loss, this time to the tune of 61-57.
Wichita State ,on the other hand, was able to return to its winning ways after a bit of a hiccup against Bradley on the road. WSU showed the Valley faithful on Saturday afternoon that they are a force to be reckoned with this year (at least at home), as they embarrassed a sluggish Drake Bulldog squad 63-47 on FSN Midwest. This win made it four out of their last five Valley games for a Shocker squad trying to make something out of what a lot of fans thought was a season going nowhere.
Both of these teams are playing to stay out of the Thursday round of the MVC, although that seems pretty unlikely right now for the Sycs. After looking at the current standings, the Shockers definitely need this one more than the Sycamores, as they at least have a slim chance of avoiding the dreaded play-in round. I like the Sycamores to take a bit of frustration out on Gregggggg and the gang.
Picks
Creighton Otter: Indiana State
Panon: Wichita State
Dance Cam Guy: Indiana State
~ Dance Cam Guy
posted by Creighton Otter at 12:45 AM
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