NOTEBOOK (PDF)

League Leaders
Drake’s 6-0 league start matches nine others who have started with six-straight league wins in 2017-18. Only 39 NCAA teams are still unbeaten in their respective leagues (through Jan. 15).

NCAA Teams With Perfect League Marks
7-0    Marquette, Quinnipiac
6-0    Abilene Christian, American, Belmont, Central Arkansas, Drake, Gonzaga, Little Rock, Oregon
5-0     Baylor, UConn, Dayton, Fordham, James Madison, Louisville, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Robert Morris, Stephen F. Austin
4-0    Bethune-Cookman, Duquesne, High Point, Liberty, South Dakota, South Dakota State
3-0    UAB, UC-Davis, East Tennessee State, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Mercer, New Mexico State, NC A&T, Princeton
2-0    Hampton, Norfolk State
1-0    Dartmouth, Yale

Points-A-Plenty
Drake scored 107 points in a win over Evansville on Sunday afternoon. The 107 points scored were the most in a Valley contest since Bradley scored 109 points against Wichita State on Feb. 13, 1992 and is tied for fourth most in league history.

Most Points in MVC/Gateway Games 
112 - Drake vs. UNI (Jan. 23, 1993)
110 - Creighton vs. Indiana State (Mar. 5, 1995)
109 - Bradley vs. Wichita State (Feb. 13, 1992)
107 - Bradley vs. Creighton (Dec. 2, 1989)
107 - Drake vs. Evansville (Jan. 14, 2018)
107 - Indiana State at Missouri State (Jan. 28, 1989)

1,500 Points for Franklin
Valpo’s Dani Franklin usurped Sarrah Stricklett (1,498) to move into second in program history in career scoring, behind only the legendary Debbie Bolen.  Franklin finished the win over Loyola Friday with 14 points, giving her 1,502 in her career. Currently, three players in the MVC have achieved  at least 1,000 career points. 

Rank        Player, School            Points
1.        Dani Franklin, Valparaiso    1,502
2.        Liza Fruendt, Missouri State    1,407
3.        Kylie Giebelhausen, Southern Illinois    1,134

Chasing History
Currently, Drake is averaging 83.3 points per game, ranking 16th nationally.  The all-time Valley record for scoring was set in 1995 as Drake averaged 83.5 ppg.   

Top 5 in Valley History (Scoring)
    1.    Drake (1995)    83.5
    2.    Drake (2007-18)    83.3
    3.    Missouri State (2001)    82.8
    4.     Bradley (1983)    82.7
    5.    Drake (2017)    82.2
    
Valley Streak Continues
Drake has the longest win streak in the MVC era for regular season MVC contests.  With the road win at Missouri State, Drake set the new all-time mark at 25, surpassing the Lady Bears record of 24-straight wins set in 2000. The impressive streak started Feb. 26, 2016 with a win over Loyola.  The Bulldogs are currently nine wins shy of tying SIU’s 37 game streak from 1985-1987 during the Gateway era.

Consecutive MVC Wins (MVC History)
28 - Drake (Feb. 26, 2016-present)
24 – Missouri State (Jan.9, 1999-Feb.. 5, 2000)

Gateway
37 - Southern Illinois (Mar. 6, 1985-Dec. 30, 1987)

Valley Home Streak
Drake has the longest current home win streak for MVC contests, winning its last 17 at the Knapp Center. The streak began with an 81-59 win over Wichita State on Feb. 5, 2016.  The last MVC loss at home for the Bulldogs was a 79-73 setback to UNI on Jan. 24, 2016.

Elite Defense
Illinois State is ranked 8th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 54.6 points per game, and sits 7th nationally in field-goal percentage defense (34.2%). The Redbirds join five other teams that appear in the Top 10 nationally in both categories (Baylor, UConn, Campbell, Duke, Green Bay). 

Knocking Down Freebies
Evansville continues to lead the nation in free-throw shooting percentage, shooting 83.9% from the charity stripe this season. Evansville is one of just four teams in the nation shooting better than 80% this season. The Aces are on pace to set the MVC record set by Illinois State during the 2010 season (80.5%).  

Sharing the Rock
Over the past four seasons, Drake has ranked in the top 10 every season in the NCAA in assists per game. The Bulldogs are once again sharing the basketball as they enter the week No. 2 in the country averaging 22.8 assists per contest, while leading the nation in total assists (410). 

Assists Per Game
    1.    UConn    22.9
    2.    Drake    22.8
    3.    Iowa    22.5
    4.     Baylor    21.9
    5.     DePaul    21.3

RPI Update
The latest installment of the NCAA RPI Report (Jan. 15) has five Valley teams that rank in the top-200, led by Missouri State at No. 117, Drake at No. 125, Southern Illinois at 168, Bradley at 173 and UNI at No. 191.

Scheduled Tough
Missouri State leads the league with a non-conference strength of schedule of 16.  Two other league schools, including Drake (No. 19) and UNI (No. 30), also have schedules that rank in the top-30.  The MVC is one of only four leagues to have at least three teams ranking in the top 30 of non-conference schedule strength, joining the Big Ten, Big East and Pac 12.