Photo: Courtesy of Belmont Athletics
The Bruins have entered the postseason winning seven of the last eight games, one of the hottest teams in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Their three stars (Malik Dia, Cade Tyson, and Ja’Kobi Gillespie) have proven to be top-tier talent, not only in the MVC, but also in the country.
Their efforts have landed Belmont the No. 5 seed in the MVC Tournament, facing last place Valparaiso on Thursday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. CT in St. Louis.
Belmont is hot but a lot needs to happen if they want the auto bid into the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Near perfect play is going to be demanded from them if they plan on beating teams like North Iowa, Indiana State, and Drake.
Tyson has played brilliantly throughout the season and is one of the deadliest three-point shooters the Bruins have ever had. He is currently averaging 16.7 ppg, 6 rpg, and is shooting 47.8% from the three-point line. Tyson is second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage.
He’s scored 16 points or more in six of the past seven games. He needs to be that guy during this tournament. A bad night from Tyson will likely mean an early exit from the MVC Tournament. But this is a similar story for both Mia and Gillespie.
Gillespie has proven to be indispensable this season after being sidelined for a month. His ball movement and athletic ability is unreal as he is averaging 17.5 ppg, 4.2 apg, and is shooting an asinine 57 percent from the field.
Most notably, he scored 23 points against Drake and 26 points against Southern Illinois. We didn’t get a chance to see him play Indiana State or Bradley due to his injury. But this could be to Belmont’s advantage as these teams didn’t have chance defend Gillespie either.
Pending fatigue, Gillespie is a player that has the ability and skill to be the tournament MVP.
The other guy that is key for Belmont is Malik Dia. Dia has been great for Belmont, when he isn’t on the bench. Dia has sort of been a work in progress for head coach Casey Alexander. He has had huge games for the Bruins while also having some duds.
Dia dropped 32 points against Drake in early January, going 5-8 from behind the arc. He also scored 22 points against Indiana State and 20 against Bradley. He’s averaging 16.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, and is shooting 48% from the field. He is 40th in the country in field goals made with 197.
Sadly, Dia has had some not-so-great performances including his final game of the regular season against Evansville where the sophomore only scored two points in 12 minutes played. In mid-February, he only scored nine points on Southern Illinois and only 12 points in the team’s second meetup against Drake.
His minutes per game are all over the place, from playing less than 20 to over 30 minutes at times. Dia averages 23.2 minutes per game and will most likely not be losing minutes in the tournament unless he’s in foul trouble.
A poor Dia performance may not kill the Bruins early in this tournament but, if they face Indiana State in the semifinals, a bad night from will hurt Belmont’s chances.
First, Belmont needs to beat Valparaiso. They face Beacons on Thursday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. CT. If they win, they will face UNI the following day at 2:30 p.m. CT. The first two rounds of the MVC Tournament can be watched on ESPN+.
