Paul Suellentrop’s Missouri Valley Conference report

The effort to keep defenders from grabbing and pushing offensive players is producing more possessions, more scoring and a faster pace, according to NCAA statistics.

Coaches and players, however, are still adjusting to the changes, which can vary from one officiating crew to the next. It can also be influenced by other factors, as evidenced by Saturday’s Illinois State at Indiana State game. NCAA coordinator of officials J.D. Collins sat with MVC coordinator Eddie Jackson at Hulman Center.

Predictably, the crew of Randy Heimerman, Brad Ferrie and Brad Gaston stayed busy.

They called three fouls in the first 63 seconds, two on Sycamores center Brandon Murphy, and 41 fouls total, resulting in 50 free throws. Indiana State’s 33 foul shots are its second-most this season and the third-most allowed by Illinois State. Illinois State’s 23 fouls were its most since a Nov. 30 loss to Kentucky (32).

The referees are doing their job. It is up to coaches and players to adjust. Over the long run, the coaches and administrators who asked for the change think it will benefit the game. Sycamores coach Greg Lansing said he expected a tightly called game with the big bosses in the house. Lansing’s practices are also more tightly called — he wears a whistle for the first time in his career.

“The officials have a tough job,” he said. “I get it. They’re good guys that work hard. They’re trying to follow directives. Talking to J.D. before the game, they got the word out of what the directives were and what we were looking for. I think the coaches in this league have done a great job preparing their teams for how it’s going to be called.”

Before Saturday, Illinois State’s opponents shot more than 20 foul shots once in the previous eight games. The Redbirds lost backup forward Quintin Brewer to fouls after he played 16 minutes.

“We had done a great job of not fouling … we were holding teams to under 15 free throws most of the time,” coach Dan Muller said. “I think (Brewer) got a couple really tough calls against him the other night trying to play way you're supposed to play. Indiana State gets to the foul line a lot, and we didn’t do a good enough job keeping them off it.”

Fast breaks

▪  Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet is one of three active players with 1,000 career points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds. He joined Hofstra’s Juan’ya Green (1,978/440/634) and BYU’s Kyle Collingsworth (1,394/879/555) last week. VanVleet has 1,189 points, 521 assists and 407 rebounds after grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds at SIU on Saturday.

▪  Southern Illinois remains one of the nation’s five most-improved teams even after Saturday’s loss to WSU. That list is filled with connections to WSU. SIU, 81-78 winners over Illinois State on Tuesday, is 15-3, three more wins than its total in 2014-15.

Tennessee State, coached by former WSU assistant Dana Ford is, 12-4 after going 5-26 last season. Former WSU assistant Earl Grant coaches the College of Charleston, which is 10-5 after going 9-24 last season. Southern Cal, which defeated WSU in November, is 14-3, following a 12-20 record last season.

▪  Wichita State’s 83-58 win over the Salukis produced extra study time for coach Barry Hinson’s team on Sunday.

“We took three-and-a-half hours and went through the film,” Hinson said. “I personally broke down every possession offensively and defensively. We’ve just got to get over this shell-shock and try to find a way to get back to what we do.”

▪  Drake guard C.J. Rivers is likely out for the season with a broken left hand. He started 11 of 16 games and averaged 3.8 points. Bradley guard Ka’Darryl Bell is sidelined for a month with a fractured right wrist. He is Bradley’s lone senior.

Trending up

Indiana State has won three in a row and six of seven games. In four conference games, guard Devonte Brown averages 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and is 6 of 13 from three-point range. He is 26 of 30 from the foul line.

Trending down

Loyola is 0-4 in the MVC and faces 0-4 Bradley at home on Wednesday. They are a combined 35 of 136 (25.7 percent) from three-point range.

Get to know an MVC neighbor

Q: Missouri State freshman Ryan Kreklow’s father played at which MVC school?

A: Wayne Kreklow earned All-MVC and honorable mention All-America honors in 1979 at Drake, where he scored 1,471 points. He played in 1980-81 for the Boston Celtics. Kreklow is women’s volleyball coach at Missouri.

One to watch

Evansville at Illinois State, 8 p.m. Friday (ESPN2) — Illinois State defeated the Aces three times last season, including 69-67 in overtime in the regular-season finale and 71-67 in the MVC Tournament opener. Contrasting styles pit Illinois State’s athletic ability, length and zone defense against Evansville’s shooting and multitude of plays and picks on offense. The Redbirds, 3-2 in the MVC, can’t afford an 0-2 week.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Paul Suellentrop’s Missouri Valley Conference report."