The following “Starting Five” points offer a quick look inside GLVC men’s basketball action this week:
GLVC SPORTS NETWORK (GLVCSN): All GLVC home games are available for free on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.
[1 // conference season set to begin]
We are nearing the end of November, which means it's time to get a jump on the Conference season! Eight GLVC men's basketball teams will take to the hardwood on Thursday, while seven league contests are slated for Saturday. Maryville and Missouri-St. Louis will host Illinois Springfield and McKendree over the three-day span, while Quincy and Truman State are set to welcome Rockhurst and William Jewell. Also in action on Saturday will be Missouri S&T at Drury, Indianapolis at Lewis, and Bellarmine at Southern Indiana. Prior to league action on Thursday, GLVC teams will take part in non-conference play over the first three days of the week. On Monday, Missouri Western pushed past William Jewell with a late run in the second half, 78-75, in Liberty, Missouri. Byron Harp continued to lead Jewell in scoring with 27 points, while Keith Hayes added 19 points and Eysan Wiley notched a double-double with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Missouri S&T hits the road for an exhibition at Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday, while Southern Indiana hosts Oakland City. Just one game is on the docket for Wednesday, as top-ranked Bellarmine welcomes Lindenwood, which will join the GLVC as a full-time member next season. For a complete look at this week’s action,
click here.
[2 // points rating system returns to qualify teams for glvc tournament]
With league play set to begin on Thursday, the GLVC
will continue to utilize its Point Rating System (PRS) to determine the top eight men’s and women’s teams that will advance to the 2019 GLVC Basketball Championship Tournaments. At the request of its basketball coaches, the GLVC implemented the new qualifying procedure for the 2017-18 campaign as the league no longer had balanced eight-team East and West Divisions. In past years, the winner of the East and West Divisions secured the top two seeds in the 12-team tournament, which was made up of four teams from each division along with four wildcards. The 2018 tournament field was reduced to eight teams, featuring no automatic qualifying bids for divisional champions, nor was there a number of tournament bids allocated for each of the three five-team divisions. Now with 14 member institutions, the Conference is set to embark on an 18-game schedule without divisions, where each team will play a single round-robin slate with an additional five GLVC contests. The GLVC Point Rating System is designed to provide a team more points for a win on the road or at home against top competition based on conference winning percentage, while distributing fewer points for a win against weaker competition. Points are also distributed for losses, with more points awarded for a loss against stronger competition versus if the team lost at home or on the road to a struggling team. The eight teams with the highest ratings at the end of the regular season will qualify for the postseason tournament, which returns to the Vadalabene Center on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, March 7-10, 2019.
[3 // bellarmine remains unanimous number one, uindy surges to 19th in nabc top 25 poll]
For the second consecutive week, Bellarmine was unanimously selected as the top-ranked team in the NABC/Division II poll as the top five spots from the first poll remained unchanged,
it was announced Tuesday by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Bellarmine, which won its only game of the week by knocking off Wayne State (Mich.), picked up all 16 first place votes to retain the top position. The Knights (4-0) are not the GLVC squad in this week’s poll as Indianapolis (6-0) surged into the top 25 at No. 19 for the first time since the Greyhounds were 20th on Jan. 12, 2016. UIndy, which received votes outside the top 25 last week, is coming off a 2-0 weekend at its Greyhound Classic, where it beat Lake Superior State 91-90 in overtime before handling Wilberforce, 95-79. Bellarmine resumes action on Wednesday with a non-conference home game against future GLVC member Lindenwood, while UIndy sits idle until Saturday when it opens league play at Lewis.
[4 // usi’s stein shines in single game to earn weekly honors]
Southern Indiana senior guard Alex Stein
was named GLVC Player of the Week on Monday, after posting 48 points on 15-of-19 shooting (.789) in the Screaming Eagles’ 110-88 win against Lake Superior State at UIndy last week. Stein, who earned his third career weekly honor, hit 6-of-8 from the perimeter and all 12 of his free-throw attempts, while adding six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Of note, his 48 points tied Truman’s Mike Carlson for sixth all-time on the GLVC single-game charts, and made him just the third USI standout in school history to score 45 or more points in a game.
[5 // among the nation’s best]
In the recent statistical report published by the NCAA, several GLVC teams and individuals rank among the nation’s top 10 in select categories. Drury is first in total assists (166) and fifth in assists per game (20.8). Bellarmine is third in field-goal percentage (55.0), while Drury is 10th in field-goal percentage defense (36.5). William Jewell (245) and Drury (207) are fourth and sixth, respectively, in three-point field goal attempts. The Panthers are also fifth in total steals (67) and ninth in total rebounds (321), while Missouri S&T is fifth in rebounding margin (11.2), eighth in turnover margin (6.5), and ninth in rebounds per game (44.00). In free-throw percentage, William Jewell (82.6) and McKendree (81.5) are fifth and ninth. Southern Indiana is eighth in three-point field-goal percentage (44.8). Individually, William Jewell’s Keith Hayes is first in the country in field goals made (64) and third in attempts (145) and total points (169), while Byron Harp follows closely behind in seventh (151). Harp is also second in free throws made (47) and seventh in free throw attempts (52). UIndy’s Jordache Mavunga and William Jewell’s Eysan Wiley are eighth with three double-doubles each, while Wiley is sixth overall in total blocks (17) and rebounds (71). McKendree’s Giovanni Offard is fourth in assist turnover ratio (6.00), UIndy’s Jimmy King is ninth in assists per game (7.0).
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE GLVC
Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level. A number of men’s basketball programs have already been recognized and are featured below. For a complete list of the GLVC’s 40th anniversary campaign,
click here.