It was a crazy opening night in the Missouri Valley Conference on Wednesday.
Northern Iowa, lugging the league’s worst non-conference record into Carver Arena at 5-8 and missing one of its best players from last year, forward Tywhon Pickford, departed with an 18-point victory over Bradley and a newfound confidence heading into league play.
Drake and Indiana State, the two unlikely teams who carried the Valley’s tattered banner during the first two months with 11-2 and 8-4 records, respectively, crashed unceremoniously to earth.
The Sycamores, who host Bradley on Saturday, suffered their worst loss in the league in 21 years, 79-44 at Loyola.