Missouri State (13-3, 3-2) @ Drake (6-11, 1-4)
Knapp Center
Des Moines, IA 7:05 PM CT
TV – Mediacom-Iowa
Ditch the dish and go with cable tonight. Those with Mediacom in Iowa will be able to tune in and watch the Bears and Bulldogs.
The Bears’ high-scoring offense rolls into Des Moines. They put up 88 in a win over Bradley on Saturday. Kyle Weems, showing the league he’s an all-Valley player, scored a career-high 30 points against the Braves. Jim Les will have a few nightmares of Weems as he scored 20 straight points for the Bears during the first half of that game.
Drake’s coming off their lone Valley win last Saturday at SIU. Was it surprising? To me it was. Did their close game in Omaha catapult them to the win? Possibly. Drake rebounding has improved the past two games. They outrebounded the Jays by 4 and SIU by 6. The Bulldogs went 14-15 from the free throw line in the second half at Carbondale.
– Panon
Bradley (7-8, 2-3) @ Northern Iowa (14-1, 5-0)
McLeod Center
Cedar Falls, IA 8:00 PM CT
TV – ESPNU
Thanks to Tennessee defeating Kansas, UNI now holds the third longest winning streak in the country. A win tonight and the Panthers ties the school record at 14. They are already off to their best conference start in school history. Remember last year they lost their first game to Indiana State before going on their 11-game win streak. With their balance, they should succeed tonight against Bradley. An off night by one or two players and another two or three are ready to step in. Coach Jacobson is pushing all the right buttons now.
It hasn’t been easy for the Braves. The will be playing their fourth road game in their first six games of the conference season. It could be worse. Students could be back from Christmas break making all those previous road games a little more difficult. Coach Les hopes his team can put forth a good effort with their alumni viewing parties throughout the country. After a tough 88-69 loss at Bradley, they can’t let teams score 89. Against UNI, like most teams, they’ll struggle to get to 69 points. If they do, they will have a good shot at winning.
– Panon