MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Augustana 81
Illinois Wesleyan 73

* Hunter Hill: 28 pts, 5-7 3-point
* Dan Jurgutis: 11 pts
* Nic Hoepfner: 8 pts, 6 reb

* Andrew Ziemnik: 23 pts, 7 reb
* Mike Mayberger: 14 pts, 6 reb
* Victor Davis: 12 pts, 4 reb


Just too much Hunter Hill for the Titans.  The 5-9 PG scored 28 points, including a personal 15-0 run in the 1st that gave the Vikings control of the game.

These are two really good (Top 5-caliber) Division III teams...and Augustana may be the better team by a small margin.  We'll see how it plays out - it's close.  Hunter Hill's perimeter presence gives Augie something they didn't have last year.

[nescac1]

Interesting, Veinteuno, in light of how much almost every other top ten team is losing, I imagine Augustana may well be the pre-season favorite next year. 

From a totally neutral perspective, I was impressed by both teams but despite Augustana's win I think IWU is the better team overall for this year, and would win 4 out of 5 times these teams played.  Hunter Hill just absolutely went OFF for Augustana, the kind of streak that rarely happens for any player, en fuego, and Augustana hit a lot of very tough, low-percentage shots -- many long twos and and-ones where the ball was sort of flung up.  IWU generally had better looks at the basket (especially in the second half), lots of open threes (most of which did not fall, not a great day for IWU's guards) and a ton of points in the paint.  They missed several bunnies and seemed to be a bit off from distance for such a good-shooting team.  But IWU was able to go inside at will with Ziemenick, Mayberger, Dortsch, and Davis, who collectively overpowered Augustana in the second half (especially Ziemenick).  Hats off to Augustana for a great win, they are clearly a top-10 team, but I think that IWU will finish with a stronger record when all is said and done, at least based on watching one game from a perspective which is not all that knowledgeable about these teams, and I'd still rank IWU as one of the teams to beat this year. 

[Titan Q]

Final from Naperville:

Millikin 63
North Central 58

[joehakes]

Q, that score from Naperville has a really nice sound to it.

[Titan Q]

Q, that score from Naperville has a really nice sound to it.

I think Millikin led the whole way...at least from following Twitter it seemed like that.

[bopol]

Carthage 76, North Park 72

North Park had a nice first half and led by 6 at the break.  In the second half, Carthage stormed out taking a 68-56 lead with 8 minutes left and then proceeded to stall out on offense and let North Park creep back into it.

Marlon Senior (20 pts, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists) had an excellent 2nd half.
Malcom Kelly (15 pts, 4 rebounds, 3 assists) gave good veteran leadership.
Kevin Sykes Jr (19 pts, 4 assists) had a very nice game shooting.

Juwan Henry (20 pts) looked CCIW ready - very good performance for the freshman.
Aaron Weaver (16 pts, 9 rebounds) had a very nice game.
Joe Biko (18 pts, 4 rebounds) had a very nice game, but it seemed a little fluke-y.

Carthage was the better team, but played near the level of their competition (as they seem to always do).  I think Carthage is the most likely to win a game they shouldn't and lose a game they shouldn't this year. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yeah, either Carthage or Millikin seem to be the most Jekyll and Hyde this year.  (Millikin has the win over NCC, among others, but also gave Principia their only win.)

Well, IWU fought back strongly from a 16-point deficit, but could never quite get over the hump (and Augie refused to miss FTs down the stretch).  That was the conference game I most feared.  I still think the Titans will win 11 or 12 CCIW games, and will hope for 13.

[augie77]

Obviously there is a LOT of CCIW play yet to go, and I wouldn't discount Wheaton, North Central,Carthage, or even Millikin, but just for kicks...what is the conference tiebreaker if both IWU and Augustana go 13-1?

[AppletonRocks]

Isn't it up to Sager to decide?

[iwu70]

Good game at Carver.  Augie too good, Hunter Hill too good on the night.  Congrats to them.  There will be other days.

The Titans played pretty well, esp. the interior game of Davis, Dortch and Zman.  There was no adequate defensive answer to the energizer bunny that is Hunter Hill.  For sure.  Need a better answer next time.  The REB and TO battle was about even, but the problem was the Titans got very very little from the perimeter, and whenever this Titan team shoots about 20% from treyville, it's going to be a tough night, likely a loss.  A bit of "living by the 3, dying by the 3 " -- and tonight they were not much falling. So it was tonight @Carver.  Augie did a good job defending the Titan three point shooters, so not much from Sodemann, Nelson, or Dolan, not much at all.  Tough loss, but the Titans will rebound, bounce back, be ready for the re-match later in the season @The Shirk.


IWU women won tonight -- 78-68 -- over Augie at Home.  A hard-fought game -- Baltes 21, McMahon 19, Jackson 15.

Good win for MU tonight, for sure.

IWU70

[USee]

Wheaton 93
Elmhurst 68

Peters w 33 pts.  Thunder led 20-4 after 5 minutes and 56-29 at half.  They shot 64% from the arc including 7-8 in the opening half.  Game was never in question.

[AndOne]

Shoot 38%, including 12.5% on threes, defend the opposition's 3 point shooters like they were infected with plague, and commit twice as many TOs as the other team and you're likely to lose even if you win the battle on the boards 43-29. Such was the performance of North Central tonight in a home loss to Millikin. TJ Griffin, Tives Gardner, and Tommy Palakas basically did in the Cardinals by themselves. Griffin and Gardner were on fire from deep, and Palakas seemed to make most of his points each time the hosts threatened to overcome their visitors advantage. Very distasteful outcome for the Cardinals. Congrats to Millikin. The Cardinals need to get it together, hit their shots, and play more fundamentally sound basketball with a sense of urgency.

[veterancciwfan]

Hunter Hill played like Michael Jordan tonight. I thought it odd that after scoring 15 consecutive points (4/4 3s and a conventional 3-point play) he was removed from the game with about 5 minutes left in the half and did not reenter until about the 1:30 mark.
A lot of very good D3 guards play at least 38 minutes. IWU went from down 40-24 at the 5:20 mark to down only 44-34 while Hill was on the bench. The half ended 46-34. Augie deserved to win. Too many TOs for IWU, a lot of IWU shots that rimmed out and Augie won the hustle and rebounding battle (I think). In the next IWU/Augie game, I imagine Rose will devise a different defense for Hill. I thought Hill was quick but not super quick. I was amazed that he drove and made so many uncontested layups from the right side.  Augie was the better defensive team tonight, as they usually are.

[Greek Tragedy]

The debate has finally been settled.

It's obvious, now, that Stevens Point would have no problem with IWU as the Titans just lost to Augustana, who lost to Platteville, who lost to St. Olaf, who lost to Stevens Point by 22. 

[Greek Tragedy]

"My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious."

Classic! Tell me you actually don't have that memorized...if you do, that's awesomer!