GAME NOTES: The 39th annual Missouri Valley Conference carries on Friday night, as the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and the Indiana State Sycamores meet in the quarterfinal round at the Scottrade Center.

As the third seed in the event, Indiana State was just .500 on the season overall, splitting 30 games. But when it came to conference play, the Sycamores won 11 of 18 decisions, matching the efforts of Illinois State, but winning the tiebreaker in order to finish higher in the standings. Unfortunately, ISU has been rather inconsistent the last several weeks, alternating wins and losses over the course of 12 outings.

Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Loyola-Chicago is one of the newest additions to the conference, coming over the from the Horizon League. The squad won back-to- back games in conference play only twice, but on the positive side the team was able to make it happen in the last two games of the regular season with victories over Drake and Missouri State, moving them to 8-10 versus the rest of the MVC.

The Sycamores, who are 24-31 all-time in this event, with a trio of championships, won both regular-season meetings between the schools, the first being a 72-61 triumph at home on Jan. 24 and the other a 79-65 final on the road a few weeks later. As a result of the regular-season sweep, Indiana State now leads the all-time series by a 13-7 margin.

The winner of this contest will be back in action on Saturday in the semifinals versus the survivor of the Bradley/Northern Iowa battle for the right to compete for the crown on Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Ramblers, their offense struggled in a big way against the other members of the Missouri Valley this season, scoring just 57.9 ppg, partly due to the fact that Loyola converted only 63.6 percent at the free- throw line. Christian Thomas was the lone double-digit scorer for the program with 10.6 ppg, not to mention the leader on the glass with 4.6 rpg, but it was his 62.5 percent accuracy at the charity stripe that contributed to the unit's troubles at the line. Luckily, the Ramblers have been rather stingy on defense, allowing just 60.9 ppg.

Unlike the Ramblers, Indiana State had three players scoring in double figures when sizing up Missouri Valley opposition, led by Devonte Brown and his 12.1 ppg. A 41.3 percent shooter behind the 3-point line, Brown also dished out a team-best 65 assists in those 18 games and was one of the better rebounders with 4.2 boards per contest. Brenton Scott pitched in with 11.7 ppg and was considered one of the premier perimeter shooters in the MVC with an impressive 39-of-78 (.500) accuracy on the outside. As a team, the Sycamores connected on 40.4 percent beyond the arc. Justin Gant (10.2 ppg) has also shown an ability to connect from 3-point range, but he seems to be more comfortable in the paint where he clears 4.4 rpg.

Forget the fact that the Ramblers have a better overall record than Indiana State and focus on the balanced scoring that the Sycamores bring to the table and their previous success against Loyola.