Illinois State states its case with a rout of Southern Illinois

Illinois State lost at Murray State on Nov. 11 and spent four months digging out from the rubble of that three-point defeat.

That is the burden of the Missouri Valley Conference’s best teams. The Redbirds of Nov. 11 bear little resemblence to the team that handled Southern Illinois 63-50 on Saturday in the semifinals of the MVC Tournament at Scottrade Center.

Can they trust the NCAA selection committee to see it that way?

The Redbirds (27-5) will play for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday and try to secure their first spot in the field since 1998. Should they lose, their fate belongs to a selection committee which may use that loss the Racers, now ranked No. 230 in the RPI, as a disqualifier. Illinois State’s other non-conference losses — to TCU, Tulsa and San Francisco — are not nearly as harmful as the loss to Murray State.

“Our team grew from all the losses we had,” Redbirds forward MiKyle McIntosh said. “We learned we can’t do it without playing defense.”

Illinois State led three of those games late before turnovers and defense doomed them.

“The players made a commitment to the defensive end,” coach Dan Muller said.

Four months later, the Redbirds hold opponents to 37.8 percent shooting, tops in the MVC, and fourth nationally entering Saturday (WSU is fifth at 38.1).

Second-seeded Wichita State is in a similar situation.

The Shockers lost twice in late November and once in December, before its pieces clicked into place. So both teams are harmed by the weakness of the MVC, where January and February offered few chances to improve an NCAA resume. The only top-50 wins available came against each other. They split, with WSU claiming an edge with a 41-point win in their most recent meeting.

That leaves both teams with resumes short on quality wins and long on quantity. The Redbirds are 1-1 vs. the RPI’s top 50. The Shockers are 1-4.

On Saturday, the top-seeded Redbirds made a case for inclusion by rolling to a 43-20 halftime lead over the fourth-seeded Salukis. Illinois State made 9 of 15 threes in the first half and held SIU to 29-percent shooting.

McIntosh led the Redbirds with 15 points. Paris Lee added 12.

Illinois State made 13 of 29 threes and committed seven turnovers. It didn’t attempt a foul shot.

Panthers down — Third-seeded Northern Iowa ended an unpredictable season on Friday with a 70-64 loss to sixth-seeded Missouri State in the quarterfinals.

In a conference with two teams at the top and large gulf between the remainder, UNI came the closest to moving up.

It also spent the first two weeks of the MVC schedule in last place.

UNI started the season with wins over Arizona State and Oklahoma. Then it lost 11 of 13 games.

After an 0-5 MVC start, the Panthers won nine of 10 games to move into the upper division.

A four-game losing streak ended the season.

The 14-16 record is UNI’s first losing season in coach Ben Jacobson’s 11 seasons. It’s the first since UNI went 11-17 in 2003.

The drop comes after two MVC Tournament titles and two trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Senior Jeremy Morgan, who led the Panthers in scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks, is gone. Next season’s team rebuilds around center Bennett Koch and forward Klint Carlson, both of whom endured uneven junior seasons that contributed to UNI’s ups and downs.

“I think Klint and Bennett aren't anywhere close to where they're going to be next year,” Jacoboson said. “So I think up front with those two guys, we're going to see a lot of improvement, even though they're going to be seniors.”

Move on without Milton — Another team facing a future without its versatile leader is Loyola.

Senior guard Milton Doyle led the Ramblers in scoring, steals, assists and blocks and is second in rebounds.

His influence, coach Porter Moser hopes, continues as a representative of success recruiting players from Chicago. Loyola (18-14) had two winning seasons in Doyle’s four, including a 2015 College Basketball Invitational championship. In the previous 26 seasons, Loyola produced four winning records.

“Milt changed our program at Loyola, and we'll always thank him for that,” Moser said. “He's changed the expectations. He's changed people's eyes about possibly coming to Loyola as a recruit.”

If a tree falls — Indiana State is another team slumping in the wrong direction after Thursday’s play-in round loss to Evansville.

The Sycamores finished 11-20, their third straight losing season and worst record since the 2009 team went 11-21.

Todd Golden of the Terre Haute Tribune Star reports that the school, if it wanted to, lacks the money to buy out coach Greg Lansing. Lansing, in his seventh season, has at least four years left on his contract, which would require a $1 million buyout at $250,000 annually.

Lansing, who took the Sycamores to the NCAA Tournament in 2011 and the NIT in 2013 and 2014, has four winning seasons to his credit.

“We’ve got to make some changes,” Lansing said. “We have to keep recruiting. In the off-season, it’s got to be tougher. Maybe I don’t develop the leadership or that toughness that we need. That’s not going to happen again.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Illinois State states its case with a rout of Southern Illinois."