ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference has selected the Drake at Wichita State men’s basketball game on Saturday, February 25, to complete the league’s Wildcard Weekend on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and the ESPN family of networks.

The defending 2011 NIT champion Shockers -- 19-4 overall, winners of nine of their last 10 games and currently in second place in the league standings with a 10-2 record --
will play host to Drake -- 13-10 overall and 6-6 in The Valley -- at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas, at 12:30 p.m. Central.  

The game will air live on FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and ESPN3 outside the league’s six-state footprint, but will be shown on FOX Sports Midwest Plus on alternate channels in Missouri (St. Louis-Columbia-Jefferson City-Springfield), Illinois (Normal-Peoria-Carbondale) and Iowa (Cedar Falls-Des Moines-Waterloo).

The contest will be a rematch of the teams following a thrilling, three-overtime contest in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, January 28.  Powered by a career-high 29 points from Ben Simons and a near triple-double from Rayvonte Rice (19 points,14 rebounds and eight assists), the Bulldogs outlasted the Shockers, 93-86, at the Knapp Center.  

“We started utilizing the Wildcard selection process in men’s basketball during the 2004-05 season,” said MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin.  “The Wildcard Weekend concept enables us to feature our teams positioning for a run at postseason play.”

Using the Wildcard Weekend model, the league — through its television partners ESPN, FOX Sports Midwest, FOX College Sports and Comcast SportsNet Chicago — reserves clearance windows for February dates in the fall of each academic year and waits until the midpoint of both the men’s and women’s basketball seasons to determine its final regular-season telecasts for both genders.

The Wildcard Weekend schedule of games begins on Friday, February 24, when the Creighton women travel to the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa, to meet UNI in an 8:30 p.m. tilt that will air live on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and ESPN3 outside the league’s six-state footprint.

On February 25, the 12th-ranked Creighton men -- 21-2 overall and 11-1 in the league -- visit Indiana State -- 14-9 overall and 5-7 -- at the Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Indiana, in an ESPN or ESPN2 telecast at 3 p.m. Central.

The Wildcard Weekend concludes with the league-leading Wichita State women visiting Indiana State on Sunday, February 26, at 2 p.m. Central.  The game will air live on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and ESPN3 outside the league’s six-state footprint.