By Jonathan Lidskin
1 Indiana State vs 9 Missouri State
75-59 Indiana State
Missouri State’s high effort level carried over in their second game in two days. The Bears held Indiana State to 5-12 on the layups in the first half and only trailed by three at the break.
Out of halftime though, Missouri State started NJ Benson, Donovan Clay and Cesare Edwards together committing to making the game physical and winning with size. The matchup then became size vs. speed as Josh Schertz said in his postgame press conference. Speed ended up winning out with the Trees scoring over 1.2 points per possession in the second half and outscoring Missouri State 41-28 to punch their ticket to the semifinal.
The Indiana State backcourt was virtually un-guardable in the second half. Julian Larry in my opinion was the best player on the floor finishing with 9 points and 9 assists. Josh Schertz also gave him a ton of credit in the presser for his defense on Alston Mason. Elsewhere, the trees got great contributions from Ryan Conwell scoring the ball and Jayson Kent on the glass.
Isaiah Swope and Robbie Avila didn’t have their best games, but the other starters picked up the slack to get their Arch Madness campaign off to a good start. Indiana State now gets Northern Iowa in the semifinals. A team that they played once and beat 77-66 on the road.
4 Northern Iowa vs 5 Belmont
67-62 Northern Iowa
I was very surprised by this result. The Bruins had been on fire over the last month of the season and then came out and laid an egg against a Northern Iowa team that I think they’re more talented than.
A lot of credit should be given to Ben Jacobson and this Panther squad though who came ready to play. Northern Iowa controlled the game, the glass and the pace as it was clear who the older team was.
Tytan Anderson was phenomenal, going for 19 points and 19 rebounds. His 19 rebounds were a UNI program record at Arch Madness, passing program great Seth Tuttle who is on Jacobson’s staff.
Belmont had their chances to get back in the game, but Cade Tyson picked up a flagrant foul and Malik Dia picked up a technical as the Bruins were making their comeback. That spelled doom as a big Trey Campbell three late was the dagger to send the Panthers through to the semis for a date with Indiana State.
2 Drake vs 10 Evansville
79-58 Drake
David Ragland’s team has nothing to be ashamed of. They had a great season and winning that game yesterday was a monumental step for that program. They just ran into a freight train today.
The Bulldogs looked every bit the part of a team that is defending a tournament championship. They played ridiculously hard, got solid contributions from guys outside of Tucker DeVries. Conor Enright brought a ton of energy on both ends of the floor and the Bulldogs got 4+ points from eight different players. Kevin Overton was the only rotation player that had a bad night, but there’s no worry with him at all with how consistent he’s been this season.
If Drake can defend tomorrow like they did today, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind they will beat Bradley. However, the phrase “it’s tough to beat a team three times” has proven true once this week already when Missouri State took out Murray State. Drake swept Bradley in the regular season and also knocked them off last year in the MVC Championship.
3 Bradley vs 11 UIC
74-47 Bradley
It was a tale of two halves in the final quarterfinal. Brian Wardle, Connor Hickman, Malevy Leons and Darius Hannah were all not pleased with their performance in the first half. “Not executing” and “too many turnovers” were both phrases that were used by Hickman to describe the first half. The Braves, who are sometimes okay playing low scoring games, led the 11 seed 27-25 going into the locker room.
In the second half however, UIC started looking like a team that had played a double overtime game the night before. Shots weren’t falling, they were turning it over and the Flames went without a field goal for the first 12 minutes of the second half. Bradley opened the second half on a 25-4 run and pretty much ended the game right there.
For the Braves, a familiar opponent in Drake awaits them in the semifinals. The Bulldogs swept the Braves this season including a 74-66 win in Des Moines six days ago. Yesterday, I asked Hickman, Leons and Hannah if there was any extra motivation going into the game with what happened in the MVC final last season. Hickman’s answer stood out the most.
“It wasn't a good feeling being out on the floor last year... not a good feeling reminiscing about it now," Hickman said.
Bradley has won the MVC Tournament twice in the last five seasons (although one of them the tournament was canceled), but for this group of players, it feels like Drake has been keeping them from getting over the hump.
Semifinal Matchups:
1 Indiana State vs 4 Northern Iowa
2 Drake vs 3 Bradley