Malik Dia and Belmont need to get a large margin of victory against Evansville Sunday.  Photo by Landen Secrest

Coming off a convincing 83-61 thumping of Murray State, Belmont knows it can still finish fourth in the MVC and get a bye into the league tournament semifinal.

It’s not just as simple as beating Evansville Sunday afternoon at the Curb Center although that’s a necessary component.

Belmont, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa are tied for fourth at 11-8. SIU and UNI play each other Sunday afternoon. Obviously, one will have nine losses and drop to a 5 or 6 seed.

If Belmont wins, and the Bruins will be heavily favored to beat Evansville at home, the league’s tiebreaker system will come into effect since they split two games with both SIU and UNI.

Earlier this week, nashvillehoops.blog was incorrect about the tiebreaking system. Head-to-head is first but the second tiebreaker is NET ranking. After last night’s results, the NET rankings are Southern Illinois 107, Northern Illinois 121 and Belmont 123.

Belmont should be rooting for a narrow Northern Iowa victory and then pile it on for a large margin of victory over Evansville that will propel them past the Panthers in the NET. The NET rankings often reward large margins of victory. Northern Iowa beat Southern Illinois 61-57 in Cedar Falls, Iowa earlier this season.

If Belmont plays like it did against Murray State, they may very well win by a large margin.

Malik Dia (25 points) and Cade Tyson (19) were nearly unstoppable as Dia made 10 of 16 shots and Tyson 7 of 10. Tyson was lethal on three-pointers, making five of seven.

Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois tip off at 1 p.m. so Belmont will know the result when it takes the court at 4 p.m.