What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 1/20/2026

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

What's Up In The Missouri Valley 1/20/2026

Teams of the Week: Bearcats Bounce Back--Basket Under Review

HONORABLE MENTION: REMAINING CONFERENCE AWARDS
MISSOURI VALLEY: UIC - Flames were thirsty for more after being a national team of the week one week ago. An impressive win at Northern Iowa is quite a headliner. The Flames also corralled Drake as well. Since the Christmas Holiday, UIC is the top team in the Valley per Torvik. That is pretty amazing. The data shows that the Flames have been continuously dominant defensively. Now 9th in the country since that break in the season in Defensive eFG%.

Explosive Scoring Earns Weekly Awards--Valley Hoops Insider

Explosive Scoring ‘Players of the Week’
Illinois State’s Chase Walker is on a scoring tear and has nabbed two MVC ‘Player of the Week’ awards in the last three weeks. Walker scored 21 and 20 points during the Redbirds’ (13-6, 5-3) two-game split. His double-double (20 & 11) sparked ILS to a dominating victory in this season’s first half of the ‘War on 74’ with Bradley.
Repeat Newcomers
Valparaiso’s Owen Dease has claimed three MVC ‘Newcomer of the Week’ awards in the last six weeks. Last week, Dease scored 24 points against Belmont and 20 against Northern Iowa and continues to lead Valley players in conference-only games in scoring (19.8 ppg) and three-point percentage (.475).
Deniusas & Others
The only first-time winner is Belmont’s Eoin Dillon. The Bruins (17-3, 7-2) won both of their games and Dillon racked up 18-point and twelve-point games. This week’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ hit the key basket in a win against Valparaiso and added the game-winning-assist against the Beacons.