MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 69
Elmhurst 67

Jalen Boyd: 17 pts
Michael Osborne: 15 pts, 9 rebs, 4:0 a:to
Izaiah Sanders: 11 pts
Jordan Boyd: 10 pts, 12 rebs

Jake Rhode: 21 pts, 3:0 a:to
Dominic Genco: 12 pts (8-8 FT), 3:0 a:to
Ocean Johnson: 11 pts
Jonathan Zapinski: 6 rebs
Wesley Hooker: 6 rebs

NPU gutted out a defensive struggle, winning what had been a 66-66 deadlock for several minutes with clutch defense and a timely Osborne layup, despite their continuing inability to hit free throws with any consistency.

This is a signature win for the Vikings, and a nice way to head into finals week.

NPU is a little tougher than some people thought ... and a lot tougher than many others thought.


NPU: 5-2, 2-0
EC 8-2, 2-1

[Gregory Sager]

UW-Oshkosh 91
North Central 67

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 92
Carthage 82

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 67
Illinois Wesleyan 62

[Gregory Sager]

Two great defensive battles in the CCIW today, the first on the North Side and the second in the western suburbs.

North Park held Elmhurst to 24 points on 7-27 shooting from the field in the second half of today's game. Almost as impressive is the fact that NPU's best perimeter defender, Izaiah Sanders, fouled out of the game with 4:50 to go and the score tied at 60 -- and yet the Vikings found a way to get past it and win, as the All-American point guard that Sanders had been trying to keep in check went 0-4 from the field over that remaining 4:50.

The game in Wheaton was such a defensive struggle that by the end it looked like the final few rounds of a Rocky movie prizefight, with the two teams practically hanging on each other in exhaustion. Wesleyan was short-rimming everything down the stretch, indicative of how much the Wheaton defense was wearing down the Titans.

If John Madden was a CCIW fan he'd call those two games "slobberknocker basketball." 

[GoPerry]

Thunder over the Titans 67-62

Nyameye Adom  24 pts
Cade Alioth  15 pts, 18 rebs
Tyson Cruickshank  13 pts

Matt Leritz   21 pts, 14 rebs
Luke Yoder, Cory Noe   12 pts each

Yet another great game that seems to characterize this rivalry more often than not. 

The green defensive pressure really made it tough on Wheaton, especially in the first half when the Thunder really struggled and IWU went up by 11 early in the 2nd.  But the two consecutive huge treys from Cade Alioth seemed to get a little more wind in Wheaton's sails.  Adom made play after play.  I thought a pretty big factor was IWU getting their 7th team foul so early in the second half.  It put the Thunder in the bonus with 10 mins still to play in the game.

While it is nice to beat this undefeated team ranked higher, what is really critical was winning this one on your home court to hold serve.

Park taking down Elmhurst was a big one for sure. 

[WUPHF]

The Wheaton win over Illinois Wesleyan was an instant classic for sure and surely one of the best games we will see this season.

[iwu70]

Great game at King Arena tonight.  I very much enjoyed it, save the final score.  Both teams really playing tough defense.  IWU just couldn't find the tying shot in the last 2 or so minutes, to take the game to OT.  All credit to WC for fighting back after being down 10-11 in the first half. . .  this game a very worthy top-ten match up.  Can't wait for the re-match at The Shirk later.  Holding IWU to 26 second half points, a major achievement for the Thunder. 

A shout out to the Wheaton student section, as they really created a great atmosphere for D3 hoops. (Though it must be said that very few were wearing masks . . . so much for the CCIW, Wheaton and State of Illinois mandate for such indoor events -- a great concern!).    Perhaps they were the difference tonight, urging their team on just enough to get over the hump and win the game at home.  Yes, holding serve, protecting home court. 

Elmhurst going down is big, surprising.

A great game.

IWU'70

[kiko]

North Park:

2017-18 -- 5-20 / 1-15
2018-19 -- 4-21 / 2-14
2019-20 -- 4-21 / 3-13
2020-21 -- 3-11 / 3-10
--------------------------------
2021-22 -- 5-2 / 2-0 YTD

Even at this early stage, it is clear that the Vikings are a different animal relative to recent campaigns in the time since Jordan Robinson and Juwan Henry last suited up at the Crackerbox.

[Gregory Sager]

Back again for the Millikin mini-upset on the road against Carroll only to find one of the biggest upsets of the day.  North Park!  Wow!

I don't think that the game in Waukesha was even a mini-upset. I've watched both teams a couple of times this year, and Millikin had shown me that the Big Blue are clearly the better squad of the two. Carroll, which is now 3-6, 0-3, looks to be ticketed for the bottom of the league, while I see MU being more of a pack team; I'd hazard a guess that the Big Blue will finish somewhere in the vicinity of .500, and I see them going 6-10 or 5-11 in CCIW play.

Massey, which admittedly is not particularly reliable at this stage of the season, had Millikin 35 spots higher than Carroll prior to yesterday's game.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park:

2017-18 -- 5-20 / 1-15
2018-19 -- 4-21 / 2-14
2019-20 -- 4-21 / 3-13
2020-21 -- 3-11 / 3-10
--------------------------------
2021-22 -- 5-2 / 2-0 YTD

Even at this early stage, it is clear that the Vikings are a different animal relative to recent campaigns in the time since Jordan Robinson and Juwan Henry last suited up at the Crackerbox.

Yes and no. The cast is still largely the same, although transfers Gabe Johnson and Jonathan Johansson are obviously strong additions this season. The big differences are that Michael Osborne (16.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 5.7 apg) can now fairly be described as an emerging star; Jalen Boyd isn't struggling at the offensive end of the floor the way he did last mini-season; and the team as a whole has found an identity as a defense-and-rebounding outfit that will never out-pretty you on the floor but will likely outwork you. Whether that's enough to sustain their success or not come January and February remains to be seen, but NPU has definitely turned the page from the undermanned futility of the immediate post-championship era.

[Titan Q]

Wheaton 67
IWU 62

https://www.iwusports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2021-22/wheaton/boxscore/13656

-Nyameye Adom: 24 pts, 5 reb
-Cade Alioth: 15 pts, 18 reb
-Tyson Cruickshank: 13 pts, 4 reb

-Matt Leritz: 21 pts, 14 reb, 4 assists
-Cory Noe: 12 pts, 5 reb
-Luke Yoder: 12 pts, 6 reb
-Pete Lambesis: 10 pts, 6 reb


It was a great game, as expected.  A few things were key for me:

1) IWU was up 13 in the 1st half, and it felt like it could have/should have been 20.  I thought the Titans missed many opportunities on the offensive end to bury the Thunder.  When the 1st half buzzer sounded Wheaton had clawed back to within 8 and was very much in the game.

2) Foul trouble on Pete Lambesis. Pete is such an elite defender, and was doing such a tremendous job on Adom, but once he got his 3rd at 12:18 (up up 4), Ron Rose moved him off Adom for a good chunk of the rest of the game.  That was the right move, but it definitely hurt IWU's ability to disrupt Wheaton's offense.

3) Foul trouble on Matt Leritz.  Matt got his 3rd at 11:30, and 4th at 6:30.  In the final 11 minutes of the game, Matt was on the bench quite a bit, and when he was on the floor, obviously, he had to be very careful not to foul - which impacted his ability to guard Cade Alioth.


With the game being at King Arena, Wheaton needed to win this one...and did.  That said, IWU had a great chance here to steal a huge one. The Thunder did a great job grinding through a rough 1st half and turning the game around in the 2nd half.

[Titan Q]

North Park 69
Elmhurst 67

Jalen Boyd: 17 pts
Michael Osborne: 15 pts, 9 rebs, 4:0 a:to
Izaiah Sanders: 11 pts
Jordan Boyd: 10 pts, 12 rebs

Jake Rhode: 21 pts, 3:0 a:to
Dominic Genco: 12 pts (8-8 FT), 3:0 a:to
Ocean Johnson: 11 pts
Jonathan Zapinski: 6 rebs
Wesley Hooker: 6 rebs

NPU gutted out a defensive struggle, winning what had been a 66-66 deadlock for several minutes with clutch defense and a timely Osborne layup, despite their continuing inability to hit free throws with any consistency.

This is a signature win for the Vikings, and a nice way to head into finals week.

NPU is a little tougher than some people thought ... and a lot tougher than many others thought.


NPU: 5-2, 2-0
EC 8-2, 2-1

I had to pick my wife up from DFW airport yesterday upon her return from a girls' trip to Palm Springs.  Originally scheduled arrival time was 5:32pm...but thank God there was a delay to 5:46pm.  This allowed me to watch the final 4 minutes of the NPU/Elmhurst game on my phone from Baggage Claim #16, Terminal D.

Incredible finish.

[WUPHF]

Back again for the Millikin mini-upset on the road against Carroll only to find one of the biggest upsets of the day.  North Park!  Wow!

I don't think that the game in Waukesha was even a mini-upset. I've watched both teams a couple of times this year, and Millikin had shown me that the Big Blue are clearly the better squad of the two. Carroll, which is now 3-6, 0-3, looks to be ticketed for the bottom of the league, while I see MU being more of a pack team; I'd hazard a guess that the Big Blue will finish somewhere in the vicinity of .500, and I see them going 6-10 or 5-11 in CCIW play.

Massey, which admittedly is not particularly reliable at this stage of the season, had Millikin 35 spots higher than Carroll prior to yesterday's game.

I say mini-upset because Massey had the home team favored 60/40 or something like that, but point well taken.

[kiko]

North Park:

2017-18 -- 5-20 / 1-15
2018-19 -- 4-21 / 2-14
2019-20 -- 4-21 / 3-13
2020-21 -- 3-11 / 3-10
--------------------------------
2021-22 -- 5-2 / 2-0 YTD

Even at this early stage, it is clear that the Vikings are a different animal relative to recent campaigns in the time since Jordan Robinson and Juwan Henry last suited up at the Crackerbox.

Yes and no. The cast is still largely the same, although transfers Gabe Johnson and Jonathan Johansson are obviously strong additions this season. The big differences are that Michael Osborne (16.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 5.7 apg) can now fairly be described as an emerging star; Jalen Boyd isn't struggling at the offensive end of the floor the way he did last mini-season; and the team as a whole has found an identity as a defense-and-rebounding outfit that will never out-pretty you on the floor but will likely outwork you. Whether that's enough to sustain their success or not come January and February remains to be seen, but NPU has definitely turned the page from the undermanned futility of the immediate post-championship era.

To be clear, I am not suggesting this team should be making plans for March at this juncture.  But "turned the page" is pretty much what I meant by "a different animal".  Five wins before Christmas versus five wins over the course of a season is a notable improvement.