Valley Men’s Basketball Schedule Finalized

PDF Schedule

ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference announced its 2024-25 men’s basketball conference schedules Thursday morning (Sept. 19) with each of the league’s 12 member schools slated to play 20 league games for the third straight season.
 
All league schools will play 10 home games and 10 road games in conference play this year. Even though each school plays every other school at least once, the current format is not a true double round-robin format.
 
In Missouri State’s case, the Bears will not play Bradley at home, nor will they play at Murray State this season. Geographically, Murray State is the second-closest MVC school, next to Southern Illinois, which did not visit Springfield last season.
 
Conference play will begin with a pair of games in December with the Bears will opening the Valley campaign on Saturday, Dec. 7 at home against defending champion Indiana State at Great Southern Bank Arena before traveling to Evansville on Sunday, Dec. 29.
 
Valley play resumes in January with nine conference games in store for the Bears, including four home contests. The hectic slate will feature visits from Valparaiso (Jan. 1), UIC (Jan. 7), Southern Illinois (Jan. 15) and Drake (Jan. 25) to Great Southern Bank Arena. The rest of the month will include road games against Bradley (Jan. 4), Southern Illinois (Jan. 11), Illinois State (Jan. 18), Northern Iowa (Jan. 21) and Indiana State (Jan. 29). The back-to-back games against SIU is the first such case of playing Valley foes in consecutive games since the COVID season of 2020-21.
 
February will feature five Valley games at home, including: Murray State (Feb. 1), UNI (Feb. 5), Evansville (Feb. 12), Illinois State (Feb. 22) and Belmont (Feb. 26). The month also includes road trips to Belmont (Feb. 8), UIC (Feb. 16) and Valpo (Feb. 19).
 
The regular season concludes on Sunday, March 2 with a road trip to Drake. The 2025 State Farm MVC Tournament runs March 6-9 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
 
All game times and television designations will be announced at a later date.
 
Head coach Cuonzo Martin rejoined the Missouri State program on March 27 as its new head coach and boasts a remarkable coaching resume that includes 264 career wins in 14 seasons at the Division I level. His coaching tenure features nine postseason appearances in that span, including four trips to the NCAA Tournament, four appearances in the NIT, and a CIT title in his first run with
the Bears in 2010. 
 
Bears 2024-25 season tickets are on sale now by calling (417) 836-8899 or visiting MissouriStateBears.com.
 
2024-25 Missouri Valley Conference Schedule
Sat., Dec. 7         vs. Indiana State*
Sun., Dec. 29      at Evansville
Wed., Jan. 1       vs. Valparaiso*
Sat., Jan. 4          at Bradley*
Tue., Jan. 7         vs. UIC*
Sat., Jan. 11        at Southern Illinois*
Wed., Jan. 15     vs. Southern Illinois*
Sat., Jan. 18        at Illinois State*
Tue., Jan. 21       at Northern Iowa*
Sat., Jan. 25        vs. Drake*
Wed., Jan. 29     at Indiana State*
Sat., Feb. 1          vs. Murray State*
Wed., Feb. 5       vs. Northern Iowa*
Sat., Feb. 8          at Belmont*
Wed., Feb. 12    vs. Evansville*
Sun., Feb. 16      at UIC*
Wed., Feb. 19    at Valparaiso*
Sat., Feb. 22       vs. Illinois State*
Wed., Feb. 26    vs. Belmont*
Sun., March 2    at Drake*