What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 11/29/2019

The Morning Dish – Thursday, November 28, 2019--Hoopville

Side Dishes
Tournament/showcase roundup:

In the Cancun Challenge, Northern Iowa got 26 points from A.J. Green to take third place with a 78072 win over South Carolina.

In the Fort Myers Tip-Off, Bradley pulled away from Kansas State 73-60 to take third place, then Pittsburgh did the same to Northwestern in the championship game for a 72-59 win.

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 27th--Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES
-Northern Iowa led West Virginia for most of the game down in the Cancun Challenge, but let it slip away in the final minutes. A flagrant foul late in the game didn’t help things. It was a missed opportunity for Northern Iowa to pick up a notable win away from home and go on to play a pretty good Wichita State team tonight, which would have helped them out even more. It was a big win for West Virginia, but they’ll have far more chances at wins like this than UNI will the rest of the way.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-KANSAS STATE VS BRADLEY (Fort Meyers Tip-Off). K State is looking to bounce back from a somewhat surprising loss to Pitt the other night. They shouldn’t have too much trouble with a Bradley team that’s good by UTR standards, but not good enough to were you’d think they’d be able to beat K State. -SOUTH CAROLINA VS NORTHERN IOWA (Cancun Challenge). Northern Iowa had West Virginia on the ropes, but could not hold on for the win in the final minutes. Still, they’re a good team that has a chance to land inside the bubble come March, but they need to pick up some wins away from home in games like this. South Carolina suffered their first loss yesterday to Wichita State, but the game wasn’t even close. They could use a win to bounce back as well.

A Night That Might Have Saved the Season--Valley Hoops Insider
Why mid-majors have the most to gain in Thanksgiving tournaments--ESPN

For mid-major teams such as Northern Iowa, those with aspirations of making major impressions come March, Thanksgiving can make or break a season. Those are the teams that need this week.
Northern Iowa will play five teams from power conferences this season. Two of those games come in the span of 24 hours this week against Alabama and Ohio State in Las Vegas. The other three are spread over six weeks. The Panthers are among the fortunate: They at least share a state with two power conference teams, Iowa and Iowa State, who are traditionally willing to play the Missouri Valley Conference foe in ongoing home-and-home series.

As Drake plays Auburn and possibly Arizona State near Fort Myers, Florida, as Ohio takes on Pitt in Daytona Beach, and as South Dakota faces Ohio State in Las Vegas, there is a strong case to be made that, no matter the headliners, these are the sort of games that matter most this week.Now on to the rankings.

1. Missouri State (6-1)
The Lady Bears are the rare mid-major that can afford to put their feet up at Thanksgiving, with their résumé work nearly complete. On top of earlier wins at Minnesota and Oklahoma, along with a competitive loss at Oregon State, Monday's win at South Dakota cements their No. 1 position. Alexa Willard always seemed to have an answer when the Coyotes started to rally. She led all scorers with 21 points, including five 3-pointers. No surprise there. The senior has yet to hit fewer than half her 3-pointers in a game and is shooting 61.5% from behind the arc. Last ranking: 3

4. Drake (4-1)
The Bulldogs responded well to the loss at South Dakota at the start of this ranking period, beating Creighton and Western Illinois. Limiting the Big East team to 29% shooting and protecting an early lead just three days after letting one slip away in South Dakota stands out. But perhaps the best development was seeing shots fall for Becca Hittner against Western Illinois. Drawing every opponent's defensive focus, the reigning MVC player of the year hit just three of 22 3-point attempts in the first four games. She matched that with three more against Western Illinois and got to the free throw line eight times. That's what she does at her best. Last ranking: 1

6. Northern Iowa (5-0)
Ohio wasn't the only team turning the normal in-state order on its ear. Beating Iowa for the first time in 13 years in the annual series is one thing, but winning by 22 points is eye-catching (though, oddly, Northern Iowa's only two other wins in the series were by 44 and 21 points). The Panthers did it to the Hawkeyes without a point from leading scorer and all-conference guard Karli Rucker and modest numbers from Megan Maahs, the former all-MVC pick who otherwise looks stellar in her comeback from an injury and redshirt season. Last ranking: Not ranked

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thanksgiving Edition--Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES
-Bradley handed Kansas State their second loss of the season in the Fort Myers Tip-Off. A nice win for Bradley, but a rather underwhelming showing in this event for K State.

Kansas State flames out in Florida--Bring On The Cats
Braves bounce back with huge 73-60 win over Kansas State--Peoria Journal Star
Braves Defeat Kansas State, 73-60, in Fort Myers Tip-Off--bradleybraves.com

Brackmann Buzzer-Beater Gives Braves 61-59 Win Over George Mason--bradleybraves.com

Drake's D.J. Wilkins scores 18 to lead Bulldogs over Murray St.--Des Moines Register
Men’s Basketball Uses Second-Half Defense To Shut Down Murray State--godrakebulldogs.com

UE men’s basketball ready for IUPUI on Saturday--gopurpleaces.com

Zach Copeland believes Illinois State 'got away from ourselves' and tries to get back on track against UIS--The Pantagraph
ISU Returns to Redbird Arena Against Prairie Stars--goredbirds.com

Illinois State's 4-1 women's basketball team shoots for another victory--The Pantagraph
Redbirds Clash with Skyhawks at Redbird Arena on Saturday--goredbirds.com

ISU glad to be back at Hulman Center--Terre Haute Tribune Star
Sycamores Open At Home On Saturday Against UMSL--gosycamores.com

ISU women ready for Tiger Turkey Tipoff this weekend--Terre Haute Tribune Star
Indiana State Ready for Tiger Turkey Tipoff Tournament this Weekend--gosycamores.com

Krutwig, Hall Lead Loyola Past Old Dominion, 68-61--loyolaramblers.com

The Morning Dish – Friday, November 29, 2019--Hoopville

Tonight’s Menu
After a day full of tournament action, a number of games outside of tournaments also come into play on a busier day of games.

Games outside of tournaments and showcases to watch include DePaul at Minnesota (3 p.m.), Louisville at Western Kentucky (5 p.m.), Winthrop at Duke (7 p.m.), Missouri State at LSU (8 p.m.), and the best one of all is the next-to-last one on the entire slate, Utah State at Saint Mary’s (11:30 p.m.)

Friday’s SEC Basketball Schedule: Times, TV schedule, online streaming--Team Speed Kills

Missouri State Bears vs. LSU Tigers (8 p.m. ET, SEC Network+): LSU has been a little skittish to start the season. But the Tigers are aiming to correct themselves, and they’ll look to do so Friday night against Missouri State. The Tigers have lost to the two best teams they’ve faced this year, those teams being the Virginia Commonwealth Rams and the Utah State Aggies. To their credit, they’ve yet to lose at the PMAC, and chances are they won’t do so on Friday night either. The Bears are 3-4 and have lost three of their last four games heading into play on Friday night