Indiana State Sycamores Advances To Missouri Valley Title Game
By Jake Weaver
Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
The Indiana State Sycamores advance to the Missouri Valley Conference Title game versus the Wichita State Shockers who are ranked second in the nation. The path to this all important title game was not easy for the Sycamores.
It was filled with good times and bad. Indiana State handed Mike Brey and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish their first loss at home in November ever. They also lost the final three games of their regular season. This did not carry over into the MVC Tournament though with a win over the Loyola Ramblers and Southern Illinois Salukis.
ISU beat Loyola on Friday with relative ease and played a tough Southern Illinois team down to the wire on Saturday. The last few years the Salukis have had the Sycamores number and even when ISU was heavily favored, SIU will surprise. But the Sycamores were still able to come away with a 62-59 victory.
Sycamore Khristian Smith had a tip in with just 14 seconds left to put ISU up by three. After an SIU timeout, the Salukis gave the ball to Desmar Jackson who took the potential game tying three. The shot didn’t fall thus clinching a spot in the MVC tournament title game for ISU.
At this point in the college basketball season everyone has heard of the Wichita State Shockers. The Sycamores are looking to hand them their first loss of the season in the most important game for them this season. One could also say this is the most important game for the Shockers.
Not only because this will mean they would be going into the NCAA Tournament as the only undefeated team, but because the Shockers have never won the MVC Tournament. They have won regular season titles before, but always let the title game slip out of their hands.
With a win on Sunday the Sycamores would punch a ticket to the big dance and possibly ruin the Shockers chances at having a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Wichita State won previous two match-ups with the Sycamores this season, beating them handily at home. The second in Terre Haute went down to the wire.
I like Indiana State’s chances Sunday versus the Shockers, they have a lot of momentum going into this nationally televised game airing on CBS at 2:05pm Sunday in St. Louis.
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