Drake (5-11, 0-4) @ Southern Illinois (9-4, 2-2)
SIU Arena
Carbondale, IL 6:35 CT
TV – Fox Sports Net
It doesn’t get any easier for the Bulldogs. After leaving Omaha with a close loss, they travel to another tough place to play in SIU Arena while trying to snap a six-game losing streak. Last season Drake won at Southern Illinois (while SIU returned the favor winning in Des Moines) when Craig Stanley scored 17. Stanley, who made his first start of the season in Omaha on Wednesday, had 15 points and 6 assists to lead Drake. He’ll need some help tonight to keep the Bulldogs close.
The Salukis have a lot to play for tonight. Besides hosting Drake, they’ll host Hall of Fame weekend in Carbondale. Current Missouri State assistant and former Creighton nemesis Kent Williams is one of six former Saluki student-athletes to get inducted. In front the new inductees, the Salukis will need a better performance than Wednesday when they lost to UNI. They allowed UNI to shoot 50% in the first half and jump out to 16-point lead. The young Drake squad will have a tough time tonight if SIU jumps on them early.
– Panon
Northern Iowa (13-1,4-0) @ Illinois State (12-3,3-1)
Redbird Arena
Normal, Ill. 3:00 CT
TV-ESPN2/ESPN360.com
Both of these squads will be coming of some impressive wins as they will be playing in one of the marquee games on the Valley slate this afternoon. Norther Iowa, the preseason favorite, has proved they can play in a hostile environment. With wins in Omaha and a whooping put on SIU in Carbondale, the Panthers will look to prove once again that they are ready to play up to their billing.
Illinois State, who has been very impressive durring the off non-conference season as well as the conference season so far, will have a lot of fans in the Valley today, as many will root for the Rebirds to give UNI their first conference loss. Yes, it is very early in the season, but this is one of those games that many will look back on as a possible turning point for one of these teams. Will the experience of UNI be able to carry them to another victory or will the athleticism of Illinois State be to much for them to handle. I like the Redbirds in this one, and I also like Elderige coming up big.
– Paul Liberty
Bradley (7-7,2-2) @ Missouri State (12-3,2-2)
JQH Arena
Springfield, MO 3:05 CT
TV-Fox Sports Net
The battle of the .500. That sort of has a ring to it. Weel, my guess that that will be the only nice thing about this mnatch-up. Here we have one team, Bradley, who is trying to figure out if they are good enough on a consistant basis to compete in the Valley. They will show up one game and play their tails off and the next game they get waxed and it looks like it is the first time they played the game.
The other team, Missouri State, was my “paper Champion” of the non-conference schedule, and showed why with a .500 Valley record. They are coming off a very competitive game with Wichita State, where they fell by three points ast JQH Arena. They will need this victory to bounce back and show that the non-conference was not a fluke, but that they can really compete. I like the Bears in this one, and I also like Coach Less spending about 30 minutes having a nice discussion with his club afterwords.
– Paul Liberty