The Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) kicked off its playoff tournament on March 2 in Saint Louis. The winner of the tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA national tournament, and teams that struggled in the regular season get one last chance to add a trophy to their cases.
The first game featured the University of Evansville and Indiana State University, the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, respectively. The Purple Aces came into the night 15-16, 6-12 in MVC play. The Sycamores were 11-19, 5-13 in MVC play. Evansville defeated Indiana State 83-72.
The Purple Aces caught the Sycamores off guard early, jumping to a 20-6 lead.