2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season
2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	CBS, CBSSN, FOX, FS1, FSN
Regular Season
Season champions	Loyola–Chicago
Tournament
Champions	Loyola–Chicago
Basketball seasons
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 17 Loyola Chicago †	16	–	2	.889	26	–	5	.839
Drake	15	–	3	.833	26	–	5	.839
Missouri State	12	–	6	.667	17	–	7	.708
Indiana State	11	–	7	.611	15	–	10	.600
Evansville	7	–	11	.389	9	–	16	.360
Valparaiso	7	–	11	.389	10	–	18	.357
Northern Iowa	7	–	11	.389	10	–	15	.400
Bradley	6	–	12	.333	12	–	16	.429
Southern Illinois	5	–	13	.278	12	–	14	.462
Illinois State	4	–	14	.222	7	–	18	.280

† 2021 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in January 2021.

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason awards and coaches' poll was released by the league office on October 14, 2020.^[1]

Rank	Team
1.	Northern Iowa (30) 426
2.	Loyola–Chicago (13) 405
3.	Bradley (1) 341
4.	Indiana State 282
5.	Southern Illinois 235
6.	Missouri State 210
7.	Drake 207
8.	Valparaiso 148
9.	Illinois State 112
10.	Evansville 54
(first place votes)

Preseason All-Missouri Valley teams

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	A. J. Green, Northern Iowa
Preseason All-MVC First Team	Elijah Childs, Bradley
	A. J. Green, Northern Iowa
	Tyreke Key, Indiana State
	Cameron Krutwig, Loyola–Chicago
	Austin Phyfe, Northern Iowa
Preseason All-MVC Second Team	Donovan Clay, Valparaiso
	Marcus Domask, Southern Illinois
	Jake LaRavia, Indiana State
	Roman Penn, Drake
	Gaige Prim, Missouri State
Preseason All-MVC Third Team	Trae Berhow, Northern Iowa
	Keith Fisher III, Illinois State
	Tate Hall, Loyola–Chicago
	Marquise Kennedy, Loyola–Chicago
	Tremell Murphy, Drake

Regular season

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	Bradley	Drake	Evansville	Illinois State	Indiana State	Loyola– Chicago	Missouri State	Northern Iowa	Southern Illinois	Valparaiso
vs BU	–	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs DU	1–1	–	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1
vs UE	2–0	2–0	–	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2
vs IlSU	0–2	2–0	1–1	–	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0
vs InSU	0–2	2–0	0–2	0–2	–	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1
vs LU	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	–	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2
vs MSU	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	–	1–1	0–2	0–2
vs UNI	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	–	1–1	1–1
vs SIU	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	–	1–1
vs VU	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	–
Total	6–12	15–3	7–11	4–14	11–7	16–2	12–6	7–11	5–13	7–11

Player of the week

Throughout the season, the Missouri Valley Conference named a player of the week and a newcomer of the week each Monday.

Week	Player of the week	Newcomer of the week
1	Elijah Childs, Bradley	Josiah Strong, Illinois State
2	Marcus Domask, Southern Illinois	Ben Harvey, Southern Illinois
3	Cameron Krutwig, Loyola-Chicago	ShanQuan Hemphill, Drake
4	Marcus Domask, Southern Illinois Gaige Prim, Missouri State	ShanQuan Hemphill, Drake
5	Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State	Samari Curtis, Evansville
6	Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State	Rienk Mast, Bradley
7	Tate Hall, Loyola-Chicago	Terry Nolan Jr., Bradley
8	Ben Krikke, Valparaiso	Kyler Filewich, Southern Illinois
9	Cameron Krutwig, Loyola-Chicago	Darnell Brodie, Drake
10	Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State	Sheldon Edwards, Valparaiso
11	Tyreke Key, Indiana State	Darnell Brodie, Drake
12	Gaige Prim, Missouri State Joseph Yesufu, Drake	Emon Washington, Illinois State
13	Shamar Givance, Evansville	Bowen Born, Northern Iowa

Postseason

Coaches

Source^[2]

Honor	Recipient
Coach of the Year	Darian DeVries, Drake

Source^[2]

All-Conference Teams

Source^[3]

Honor	Recipient
Larry Bird Player of the Year	Cameron Krutwig, Loyola–Chicago
Defensive MVP	Lucas Williamson, Loyola–Chicago
Sixth-Man of the Year	Joseph Yesufu, Drake
Newcomer of the Year	ShanQuan Hemphill, Drake
Freshman of the Year	Bowen Born, Northern Iowa
First Team
	Tyreke Key, Indiana State
	Cameron Krutwig, Loyola–Chicago
	Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State
	Roman Penn, Drake
	Gaige Prim, Missouri State
Second Team
	Elijah Childs, Bradley
	Shamar Givance, Evansville
	ShanQuan Hemphill, Drake
	Jake LaRavia, Indiana State
	Lucas Williamson, Loyola–Chicago
Third Team
	D J Horne, Illinois State
	Lance Jones, Southern Illinois
	Ben Krikke, Valparaiso
	Austin Phyfe, Northern Iowa
	Aher Uguak, Loyola–Chicago

Source^[3]

Conference Tournament

References

^ "UNI Favored in MVC Men's Basketball". Missouri Valley Conference. October 14, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "DRAKE'S DEVRIES NAMED MVC'S TOP MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH". mvc-sports.com. March 3, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "2021 MVC MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM" (PDF). mvc-sports.com. March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.

[1] "UNI Favored in MVC Men's Basketball". Missouri Valley Conference. October 14, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.

[:2-2] "DRAKE'S DEVRIES NAMED MVC'S TOP MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH". mvc-sports.com. March 3, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.

[:3-3] "2021 MVC MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM" (PDF). mvc-sports.com. March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball
Teams	Belmont Bruins Bradley Braves Drake Bulldogs Evansville Purple Aces Illinois State Redbirds Indiana State Sycamores Missouri State Bears Murray State Racers Northern Iowa Panthers Southern Illinois Salukis Valparaiso Beacons UIC Flames
Tournament & awards	MVC Basketball Tournament MVC Coach of the Year Larry Bird Player of the Year
Seasons	1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23