MVSU’s been on a devilish road trip

Mississippi Valley State visits Carver Arena for its 7th straight road game

PEORIA, Illinois — Eighteen days after the nation’s No. 3-ranked men’s basketball team, Michigan, arrived at Carver Arena to play Bradley, the nation’s No. 1-ranked team — in RPI schedule strength at least — is coming to town.

Mississippi Valley State has played a murderers’ row in its first six games — at Mississippi, at Cincinnati, at Northwestern, at LSU, at Virginia and at Virginia Tech.

The Delta Devils, who return just one rostered player, sophomore forward Blake Ralling, from last year’s NCAA tournament qualifier as SWAC champion, have lost all their games this season convincingly. The closest was an 81-68 defeat at Northwestern.

Next for them is a Wednesday date with Bradley (7:05 p.m., Carver Arena), part of the four-game Las Vegas Classic that will resume this weekend in Nevada.

“If we played that schedule, I don’t know how many of the six we would have won,” said BU coach Geno Ford. “This is a team coming in here with nine days off that’s played nothing but high-end competition. So they’re not going to come in here scared or intimidated. They won’t be in awe of our team.

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