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Belmont Surging into Arch Madness

Jonathan Lidskin

By Jonathan Lidskin

Casey Alexander talks with his team (NashvilleHoops.blog)

Every college basketball team has their highs and lows in a season. Those highs and lows can look very different depending on the team. For Belmont, their season low came in January in a stretch where the team wasn’t healthy and went 3-5. However, a college basketball season is long and sometimes, all it takes is one change no matter how big or small to turn the tide. On Feb. 7, the turning point for Belmont was health.

“Ja’Kobi Gillespie missed eight games and when he came back we got a lot better,” Casey Alexander, Belmont head men’s basketball coach said.

Gillespie was eased back into action in a Feb. 3 loss to Missouri State where he came off the bench and played 26 minutes, but from that point on, Gillespie and Belmont turned on the gas.

The Bruins won seven of their final eight games to end the regular season with six of those wins coming by double digits. Gillespie himself averaged around 20 points and 4 assists in those eight games and was also the KenPom MVP in three of them.

The hot stretch to end the regular season catapulted Belmont to a 12-8 league record where they just missed out on getting a bye in the Missouri Valley Tournament due to a lower NET rating than Northern Iowa.

“We earned what we have,” said Alexander. “We’ll be ready to go and we’ll do everything we can to win four in four days.”

This Belmont team does have some experience playing in a conference tournament-type format. Back in late November, the Bruins finished 2-1 at the Cathedral Classic in Philadelphia, falling in their opener to Monmouth, but then bouncing back to knock off Penn on their home floor and then Lafayette.

One of the other advantages Belmont has in a no rest day tournament format is that the Bruins have solid depth compared to some of the other top seeds in the MVC. Out of the top four seeds, only Northern Iowa, who the Bruins would see in the quarterfinals, play their bench more minutes than Belmont. Additionally, Belmont has a trio of stars that might be as good as any team that will play at Enterprise Center this weekend.

Gillespie (second team), Cade Tyson (second team) and Malik Dia (third team) were all recognized on Wednesday as All-Missouri Valley Conference players in addition to some other awards. All three of those players are sophomores on a team that is the third youngest in the MVC.

Despite being led by underclassmen, Alexander talked about how Tyson and Gillespie were leaders.

“We’re consistently talking about staying committed to who we are,” said Alexander. “When you have guys like Cade and Ja’Kobi who are your best players and they are owning that message as well and leading with that message in mind it makes those turnarounds a little bit better.”

Belmont will start their quest for a Missouri Valley tournament title at 2:30 P.M. CST on Thursday as they take on 12th-seeded Valparaiso. The Bruins knocked off the Beacons twice this season with the most recent of the two being the second win in Belmont’s late-season surge.

Since the start of February, Torvik ranks Belmont as the top team in the Missouri Valley and the second-best defense in the league.

Alexander said Belmont will win the Missouri Valley Tournament if they defend.

“The games where we’ve been good defensively, we’ve won,” said Alexander. “In my opinion, it comes down to that end of the floor.”

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