Breaking down the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament schedule

The Missouri Valley Conference Championship stretches from March 4th to March 7th, with games taking place at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The tournament will include 10 teams, who will play single-elimination games with no reseeding.

The first two rounds of the tournament will be broadcast on MCV TV. Both semifinals games will air on CBS Sports, and the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament will air on CBS.

The Loyola Ramblers are the favorite, and enter with the nation’s No. 1 adjusted defense. They currently rank No. 11 in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings and No. 16 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Drake ranks No. 56 in the Pomeroy ratings and No. 42 in the NET rankings.

The building will be cleared and disinfected after each game, so expect some potentially later-than-scheduled tip times as well.

Thursday, March 4

Game 1: No. 9 Southern Illinois 73-63 over No. 8 Bradley
Game 2: No. 7 Northern Iowa 65-60 over No. 10 Illinois State

Friday, March 5

Quarterfinal 1: No. 1 Loyola 73-49 over No. 9 Southern Illinois
Quarterfinal 2: No. 4 Indiana State 53-43 over No. 5 Evansville
Quarterfinal 3: No. 2 Drake wins via forfeit over No. 7 Northern Iowa due to COVID-19
Quarterfinal 4: No. 3 Missouri State 66-55 over No. 6 Valparaiso, 9 p.m. ET

Saturday, March 6

Semifinal 1: No. 1 Loyola 65-49 over No. 4 Indiana State
Semifinal 2: No. 2 Drake 71-69 No. 3 Missouri State

Sunday, March 7

Championship: No. 1 Loyola 75-65 over No. 2 Drake

Loyola-Chicago advances to the NCAA Tournament via automatic bid.