No. 6 seed Valparaiso (10-17, 7-11) vs. No. 3 seed Missouri State (16-6, 12-6)
Missouri Valley Conference Tourney Quarterfinals, Enterprise Center, St. Louis; Friday, 9:08 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Valparaiso and Missouri State are prepared to match up in the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament. In the regular season, Missouri State won both of the head-to-head matchups. The teams last went at it on Jan. 10, when the Bears shot 54 percent from the field while holding Valparaiso to just 35.4 percent en route to the 10-point victory.
STEPPING UP: The Brown and Gold have been led by sophomores Ben Krikke and Donovan Clay. Krikke is averaging 12.3 points and 4.2 rebounds while Clay is putting up 10.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. The Bears have been led by Isiaih Mosley and Gaige Prim, who are scoring 20 and 16.8 per game, respectively.MIGHTY MOSLEY: Mosley has connected on 38.8 percent of the 80 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 8 of 14 over his last five games. He’s also made 84.7 percent of his free throws this season.
WINLESS WHEN: Valparaiso is 0-12 when scoring fewer than 64 points and 10-5 when scoring at least 64.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Brown and Gold have recently converted baskets via assists more often than the Bears. Missouri State has an assist on 38 of 89 field goals (42.7 percent) over its previous three games while Valparaiso has assists on 36 of 68 field goals (52.9 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Missouri State is rated second among MVC teams with an average of 74 points per game.
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