What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 11/25/2019

The Morning Dish – Monday, November 25, 2019--Hoopville

Side Dishes

Tournament/showcase roundup:
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In other action in the Charleston Classic, UConn handled Miami 80-55 to take third place, Buffalo edged Missouri State 75-74 for fifth place, and Towson salvaged the weekend by taking seventh place with a 76-64 win over Saint Joseph’s.
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Semifinal action in the Paradise Jam saw Nevada hammer Valparaiso 84-59 and Dylan Frye score 28 points to lead Bowling Green past Cincinnati 91-84 in overtime.
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Other notable games: It took three overtimes, but Evansville outlasted Morgan State 115-112 in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase, with K.J. Riley scoring 36 points to lead Evansville and Troy Baxter Jr. scoring 30 points and hauling down 10 rebounds for Morgan State; and in the same event, Liberty, one of last season’s big mid-major stories, moved to 8-0 with a 62-49 win over UMKC.

Tonight’s Menu

The tournaments really pick up this week, with one of the best getting underway.

The Cayman Islands Classic gets going with Colorado State taking on New Mexico State (11 a.m.), then Loyola-Chicago takes on South Florida (1:30 p.m.), old CAA rivals clash as George Mason battles Old Dominion (5 p.m.) and Washington State takes on Nebraska to close the day (7:30 p.m.)
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The final day of action in the Paradise Jam starts with Grand Canyon and Illinois State playing for seventh place (1 p.m.), then Fordham and Western Kentucky play in the fifth place game (3:15 p.m.), Cincinnati takes on Valparaiso for third place (5:45 p.m.) and Nevada plays Bowling Green for the championship (8 p.m.)
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In the Fort Myers Tip-Off, Pittsburgh takes on Kansas State (6 p.m.) and two Illinois schools meet as Bradley plays Northwestern (8:30 p.m.)

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Nov 24th--Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES
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-Since beating Kentucky, Evansville has beaten a div2 team and lost three straight div1 games. Yesterday’s loss to George Washington may have been the worst one of all. I now think that Evansville is a sub-par team that had one unbelievable day. At the end of the season they’ll probably be somewhere below the middle of the MVC. But hey, for a few days they got to own college basketball!!

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
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-VALPARAISO VS NEVADA (Paradise Jam, Semifinal). Valpo has just one loss on the season and is coming off a nice win (at least we think) against Grand Canyon. Nevada has evened their record at 3-3 and is just trying to hang on through the rough adjustment period. Like so many exempt tournament games, it’s a chance at a notable neutral floor win for both teams.

This Week in Mid-Major: Meet Albany’s shooting guard/firefighter, Missouri State’s tough schedule and the updated top 10--The Athletic

Missouri State schedules tough, learns about itself

Dana Ford knew his Missouri State team had a chance to be special this season. So he scheduled aggressively, putting teams such as Xavier, LSU and VCU on the docket, along with an appearance in the Charleston Classic.

“We wanted to be battle-tested,” he says. “Hopefully this sets us up for what we feel like is going to be a grind of a conference season. There are going to be a lot of one-possession games.”

Ford just didn’t expect to get so much practice — and unfortunate results — in those types of situations. The Bears, who were picked as Missouri Valley Conference favorites in the preseason, lost their opener to Little Rock by one point. They dropped a three-point decision at Xavier in part because of a highly questionable flopping call in the final minute. They opened play in Charleston with a four-point loss to Miami, then nipped Saint Joesph’s by a bucket in their second game. Sunday brought a 75-74 loss to Buffalo in which Missouri State committed a turnover, missed the front end of a one-and-one and fouled a shooter in the final 27 seconds to kick away a one-point lead.

The team has given itself little margin for error thanks to turnover issues and some shaky shooting. Tulio da Silva, the Valley’s newcomer of the year last season, was shooting just 41 percent from the field going into Sunday, nearly 14 percentage points down from 2018-19. He made 7-of-10 shots against Buffalo for 15 points, perhaps showing signs of getting on track. Ford says the 6-8 Brazilian is still getting used to playing alongside Gaige Prim, a 250-pound junior college transfer who has been the team’s best scoring option early.

“He’s got to learn how to play double-post basketball,” Ford says. “But it’s all about energy and motor with him. He’s going to be fine.”

Will these close calls help or hurt Missouri State in the long run? There’s certainly no time to wallow. They play at LSU on Black Friday.

“My AAU coach used to tell me, ‘Y’all get me to the last two minutes, and I’ll bring it home,’ ” Ford says. “They’ve been getting there every game, so I’ve got to bring it home for them. We’ve got high-character kids. There’s no fold in us.”
Mid-bits

• Last week, TWMM wondered what Evansville might do for an encore after the stunning upset of then- No. 1 Kentucky. The answer: not much good. After beating NAIA program IU-Kokomo, the Purple Aces lost a close one at home to SMU, then fell to East Carolina by 17 points and George Washington by eight in the Bahamas Showcase. Walter McCarty’s team salvaged something out of the event by beating Morgan State in triple overtime on Sunday. Morgan State came in ranked 299th on KenPom.com. Insert shrug emoji.
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As for Northern Iowa, well, there could be something here. The Panthers got hot at the end of last year and made it to the Missouri Valley tournament title game. Ben Jacobsen brought in some talented freshmen and has a deep, balanced attack. Prove-it games are coming: West Virginia on Tuesday and at Colorado on Dec. 10.

Feast Week Viewing Guide: Monday, November 25, 2019--Blogging The Bracket

U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Finals

FloHoops.com ($) will stream all four games.

7th/8th Place: Grand Canyon Antelopes (2-5, WAC) vs. Illinois State Redbirds (2-3, MVC), 1 p.m.
4th/6th Place: Fordham Rams (4-1, A 10) vs. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (5-1, C-USA), approx. 3:30 p.m.
3rd/5th Place: Valparaiso Crusaders (4-2, MVC) vs. Cincinnati Bearcats (3-2, American), approx. 6 p.m.
Championship: Nevada Wolf Pack (4-3, MW) vs. Bowling Green Falcons (5-1, MAC), approx. 8:30 p.m.

As usual, the surprises continued on Sunday night in St. Thomas, as Bowling Green rallied to defeat Cincinnati after overtime, 91-84. So, the Falcons will meet Nevada, who survived their half of the bracket in an unexpected championship game. The other surprise here is the seventh-place game, as one of Grand Canyon or Illinois State will leave the Virgin Islands with three losses. Few expected that when this event tipped off on Friday.
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Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans Fort Myers Tip-Off Semifinals

FS1 will air both games.

Kansas State Wildcats (4-0, Big 12) vs. Pittsburgh Panthers (4-2, ACC), 6 p.m.
Bradley Braves (4-1, MVC) vs. Northwestern Wildcats (2-2, Big Ten), approx. 8:30 p.m.

K-State looks to be the favorite here, though I would rank Pitt second, so the winner of the evening’s first game looks to have the inside track at the title. Northwestern dropped a campus game to Radford, as the Wildcats continue to struggle since 2017’s NCAA trip.

Moore: Picks against the spread for Georgia-Dayton, Arkansas-Georgia Tech and other big games--The Athletic

Bradley (-1½) vs. Northwestern, 8:30 p.m., FS1: Not a great look for Northwestern as an underdog on a neutral floor against a Missouri Valley team. But it’s not a low point for the Wildcats! That’d be losing to something called a Merrimack.

Northwestern is a lousy shooting team (22.7 percent from 3), but the Wildcats at least do one thing well, and that’s getting to the free-throw line frequently. They have a 45.4 free-throw rate and make a solid 79.6 percent at the line. Bradley ranks 238th in defensive free-throw rate, which is typical of Brian Wardle defenses. But there’s a lot more to like about the Braves. They finished last season hot, going 9-4 after an 0-5 start in the Missouri Valley and then winning the conference tournament to earn an NCAA bid, where they pushed Michigan State. Bradley is also forcing a lot of turnovers (on 24.1 percent of its opponents’ possessions) and gets a lot of extra possessions with offensive rebounds, ranking fifth nationally in offensive rebounding rate (40.9 percent). Oh, Northwestern is also 1-3 against the spread. The pick: Bradley

What to look for when Bradley plays Northwestern--Peoria Journal Star
Experience edge to Bradley against Northwestern--Peoria Journal Star