MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Congrats to Brady Rose on CCIW Player of the Week honors.  Well-deserved after two great performances this last week in the wins over #2 Augie and EC.

Keep it rolling, TITANS.

'70

D3hoops.com Team of the Week, too.

[iwu70]

Team of the Week, too.  Wowza.  Double happiness, double congrats to Brady Rose.

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

It's nice to be playing significant games that really matter and they don't get more significant than this next stretch of 3 games for Wheaton @ #2 Augie, @ NCC, @ Carthage.  The first huge challenge tonight vs the Vikes who are undefeated at Carver. They'll be ready but the Thunder should be confident having already played well on the road and won.  Tonight will be a lot different than Whitworth with a bigger, and likely rowdier, student crowd no doubt. 

Can they go 2-1 over this stretch?  Even as well as they're playing lately that would be a very big ask.  They probably have to win at least 1 of these to stay within reach of the virtual top of the conference.  0-3 puts a conference tourney berth in jeopardy. 

[Gregory Sager]

Tonight's games (all 7 pm):
Wheaton (10-3, 4-1) @ Augustana (11-2, 3-1)
Carroll (4-9, 0-4) @ Carthage (7-6, 2-2)
Elmhurst (9-4, 2-2) @ North Park (4-8, 1-3)
North Central (9-4, 3-2) @ Millikin (8-6, 1-4)

Massey sez:

Augustana 82, Wheaton 72	AC 84%, WC 16%
Carthage 73, Carroll 62	CC 85%, CU 15%
Elmhurst 75, North Park 73	EC 55%, NPU 45%
North Central 76, Millikin 66	NCC 82%, MU 18%

[USee]

My crystal ball tells me it will be a rare night indeed as all the road teams will win!

[iwu70]

I'm hoping for a Wheaton win tonight too. 

I think EC, NC and CC all win.

IWU gets some rest.

'70

[iwu70]

Halftime:  WC 39, AC 33.  Francis with 17 first half points, after a slow start.

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst 91
North Park 76

Colin Lake: 24 pts
Billy Kirby: 18 pts
Jason Hines: 11 pts
Toby Marek: 3:1 a:to
Josh Washburn: 3 stls

Jake Rhode: 24 pts, 6 rebs, 8:5 a:to
Jeremy Ireland: 18 pts, 7 rebs
Lance Gardner: 14 pts, 7 rebs
Ryan Patton: 13 pts, 4:1 a:to
Derek Dotlich: 4:2 a:to

[iwu70]

Augie goes down at Carver, WC 86 AC 81. 

Maybe Augie isn't as good as we all thought.

'70

[duckfan41]

Augie goes down at Carver, WC 86 AC 81. 

Maybe Augie isn't as good as we all thought.

'70

Enormous win for my Thunder. Aston with 40 on 25 (!) shots. Eichelberger key off of the bench again with 15 points and 5 boards. Samuelson found space to put up 14. Wheaton lost the rebounding battle, but made 3 more FT's than the Vikes. 12 deep balls from the Thunder compared to 4 (out of 16) from the Vikings look to be an obvious difference in a game that I was not able to watch for long stretches due to the video feed cutting out or getting stuck into a continuous loop. Big storyline is Orange and Ebel both fouled out, and many players had more than 2 fouls indicating the officials were whistle happy tonight. And to respond to your Augie comment, I know I am biased, but I feel it could also be a case of Wheaton being a lot better than we all thought they were going to be. Winning in Rock Island is no easy feat, now the Thunder prepare to go on the road again in Naperville for a team that will be hungry to beat them, as we will be hungry to beat them.

[iwu70]

I think many of us thought that WC was a wild card -- and with Francis on the floor, many surprising wins are possible.  His surrounding cast is getting better now too.  NCC vs. WC should be a great game, very important to NC especially, with their earlier losses in conference play.   That's a great win for Wheaton at Carver.  Not easy.  Congrats to them. 

IWU'70

[all blues]

North Central 71, Millikin 54.  Didn't get to see much of the game; video feed's propensity to lock up exceeded my age-reduced patience quotient.     NC leaped out to a 26-2 start, but MU closed to within 10 at the half, and got to within 4 early in the second before I had to leave for patience-abuse rehab...the Big Blue outrebounded the Cardinals, but, alas, also out-turnovered them, 2-1.  Millkin's big men shot only 33%    Zach Fisher was 3-5 on 3s, but only 1-6 INSIDE the arc.  Both teams had ordinary shooting %, except that Millikin's 54% FT had local farmers breathing a sigh of relief that their barns' broad sides were not threatened...

[duckfan41]

IWU'70

That's fair and definitely makes sense. Eager to see what momentum (if any) follows the Thunder to Naperville from Rock Island 😉

[Yogao]

Gave up trying to watch the streaming video due to the issues, but Augie was in foul trouble all night.  Orange fouled out with 7:30 left in the game with an offensive foul, and then Ebel did the same thing with 3:30 left in the game.  The 2nd foul out from an offensive foul included a "bench" technical.  Sortillo had 4 fouls with just under 10 minutes left as well. Was wondering if the whole starting 5 was going to foul out in regulation.

[iwu70]

Both NCC and WC playing very well now -- so should be a great game upcoming in Naperville.  Perhaps more important for NCC as they have earlier losses.  Augie will need to re-group.

Hard to know at this point which four teams make the CCIW tournament.  My guess would be Augie, IWU, NCC, and WC. 

'70