Southern Illinois (12-16, 5-11) vs. Missouri St. (21-7, 13-3)
SIU Arena; Carbondale, IL
7:05 PM CST
The Bears were one of the many Valley teams that came away from Saturday without a win. All is not lost for them. Two more wins this week and they take home the regular season Valley title. The Bears allowed BracketBuster opponent Valpo to go on a run 26-8 run to end the half. Deep in the season, the Bears could be showing some signs of fatigue. With a short bench, Cuonzo Martin has to keep his team rested for their stretch run.
The Salukis on the other hand, were one of the few Valley teams to win over the weekend. Against Green Bay, the Salukis pulled out a 1-point win thanks to a layup by Mamadou Seck with 1 second left. SIU is on pace to play on Thursday night in St. Louis. They can play the roll of spoiler tonight as the Bears attempt to win a Valley championship.
Drake (12-16, 6-10) vs. Evansville (14-13, 8-8)
Knapp Center; Des Moines, IA
7:05 PM CST
The Purple Aces have dropped four of their last five games. Over the weekend, they faced Ohio Valley Conference leader Murray State and lost 72-47. With a win, Evansville can avoid a Thursday night play-in game in St. Louis. They’ll look for the season sweep against Drake, and can end the season strong with a win tonight and Saturday against Illinois St.
Two games back from sixth place, the Bulldogs appear to be headed to play on Thursday. With Southern Illinois a game back, there a few possibilities as to what seed they may end up with. Over the weekend, they defeated Ray McCallum and Detroit 84-76. The 84 points were the most they scored since December 23, before the conference season started. Rayvonte Rice scored 22 to lead the Bulldogs. He was one of five Drake players in double figures.