# 2018–19 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season

The 2018–19 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 6, 2018. Conference play began in late December 2018 and concluded in March with the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Defending regular season and tournament champion Loyola shared the regular season title with Drake at 12-6.
Bradley defeated Northern Iowa in the championship game to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and thereby received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Bradley received the conference's only bid to the NCAA Tournament and lost to Michigan State in the first round, 76-65. Loyola-Chicago received a bid to the NIT and lost in the first round at Creighton, 70-61.
Drake was the only other conference school that received a bid to a postseason tournament, receiving a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they lost in the first round at Southern Utah, 80-73.

## Head coaches
### Coaching changes

On March 3, 2018, Missouri State announced that head coach Paul Lusk had been fired. He finished with a seven-year record of 106–121. The school announced that former Tennessee State head coach Dana Ford had been named head coach of the Bears on March 21.
On March 13, 2018, Evansville fired head coach Marty Simmons. He finished at Evansville with an 11-year record of 184–175. On March 22, the school hired Boston Celtics assistant coach, former Kentucky player and Evansville native Walter McCarty as head coach.
On March 22, 2018, Drake announced that head coach Niko Medved had accepted the head coaching position at Colorado State, where he had previously served as an assistant. A week after Medved's departure, Drake hired Creighton assistant and Iowa native Darian DeVries for the head coaching job.

### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | MVC record | MVC titles | NCAA Tournaments |
| Bradley | Brian Wardle | Green Bay | 3 | 38–60 | 19–35 | 0 | 0 |
| Drake | Darian DeVries | Creighton (Asst.) | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 |
| Evansville | Walter McCarty | Boston Celtics (Asst.) | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 |
| Illinois State | Dan Muller | Vanderbilt (Asst.) | 6 | 122–80 | 75–48 | 1 | 0 |
| Indiana State | Greg Lansing | Indiana State (Asst.) | 8 | 133–126 | 73–71 | 0 | 1 |
| Loyola | Porter Moser | Saint Louis (Asst.) | 7 | 121–111 | 42–58 | 1 | 1 |
| Missouri State | Dana Ford | Tennessee State | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Iowa | Ben Jacobson | Northern Iowa (Asst.) | 12 | 250–150 | 130–86 | 2 | 4 |
| Southern Illinois | Barry Hinson | Kansas (Adm.) | 6 | 99–96 | 47–55 | 0 | 0 |
| Valparaiso | Matt Lottich | Valparaiso (Asst.) | 2 | 39–26 | 6–12 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Overall and MVC records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the season.
* Ford, Lottich, and Moser's conference records only includes MVC play, not other conference records.

## Preseason
### Preseason poll

Source
| Rank | Team |
| 1. | Loyola (29) |
| 2. | Illinois State (10) |
| 3. | Southern Illinois (4) |
| 4. | Bradley |
| 5. | Northern Iowa |
| 6. | Indiana State |
| 7. | Valparaiso |
| 8. | Missouri State |
| 9. | Drake |
| 10. | Evansville |
| (first place votes) ||

### Preseason All-MVC teams

| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Player of the Year | Clayton Custer, Loyola |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Jordan Barnes, Indiana State |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Clayton Custer, Loyola |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Phil Fayne, Illinois State |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Armon Fletcher, Southern Illinois |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Darrell Brown, Bradley |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Keyshawn Evans, Illinois State |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Cameron Krutwig, Loyola |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Marques Townes, Loyola |
Source

## Regular season
### Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 18 conference games, playing each team twice.
| | Bradley | Drake | Evansville | Illinois State | Indiana State | Loyola | Missouri State | Northern Iowa | Southern Illinois | Valparaiso |
| vs. Bradley | – | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Drake | 0–2 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 |
| vs. Evansville | 2–0 | 1–1 | – | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 |
| vs. Illinois State | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | – | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Indiana State | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 |
| vs. Loyola | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | – | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| vs. Missouri State | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | – | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Northern Iowa | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | – | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| vs. Southern Illinois | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | – | 2–0 |
| vs. Valparaiso | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | – |
| Total | 9–9 | 12–6 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 7–11 |