MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[GusD]

North Central held off Augustana in an airplane hangar nailbiter, 76-69. Until Sean Molloy hit a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining, the entire game had been played within five points either way. Ethan Helwig, who was money down the stretch for NCC -- he went 6-6 from the FT line in the game's final 69 seconds -- was the pacesetter for the Cardinals with 23 points, with Tyler Swierczek adding 16. Tyler Knuth had another strong night for Augie with 22, while Chase Larsen, Staishaun Kelley, and Evan Ambrose each added 10, Larsen leading the Doggies with seven rebounds. NCC's 23-24 (.958) performance from the FT line was perhaps the key stat in the ballgame.

It also helped that NCC shot way better on the whole tonight. After going 8-30 on Wednesday, they shot 9-23 from beyond the arc tonight, so they didn't settle nearly as much.

Tight, physical game at the hangar tonight; they let teams play for the most part. Cardinals need to do a better job on the boards (34-26 in Augie's favor), but I'll take it.

Use of an old, tried and true term to describe last night's NCC/Augie tussle is entirely appropriate. The game was truly a barnburner-intense, and exciting throughout. The game featured 14 ties and 30 lead changes. The play of the game was an in-bounds play under the NCC basket with just 1 second remaining on the shot clock. Receiving the in-bounds pass in the corner, Tre Davis let fly as he spun around with the 3 point shot finding nothing but net.

* As mentioned above by Gregory Sager, North Central hit 23 of 24 attempts from the line (95.8%). This is the top all-time percentage in program history for the Cards in a game in which they had at least 20 FTs.

[mwunder]

Does anybody know why Antuan Nesbitt has been out thus far this season? Does anybody know when the Firebirds will get him back?

On the broadcast of the Knox game, the announcers mentioned multiple times that Antuan was out "indefinitely." I didn't like hearing it any of the 4 or 5 times they mentioned it early on in the game.

[Gotberg]

Long season remains ahead, but I just want to give a shoutout to Coach McGhee for the adjustments he's made since the first few games that appear to be paying off for NPU.

He seems to have found a preferred player rotation and I look forward to what's to come.

Also, I noticed Trevon Roots is no longer on the roster.  I don't think this was brought up on the chat, but he was seen as a player with potential.  I think he was injured at the beginning of the season.  Wherever he is, I wish him the best.

[Gregory Sager]

Also, I noticed Trevon Roots is no longer on the roster.  I don't think this was brought up on the chat, but he was seen as a player with potential.  I think he was injured at the beginning of the season.  Wherever he is, I wish him the best.

Trevon's still in school, and he's a regular presence at practice and games. I'm not sure if he's going to rejoin the team at semester break or sit out the entire season. Big Vic Ekman is definitely out for the year with a knee injury, though.

[lmitzel]

I only caught the last five minutes, but it was enough as in Dubuque this evening, after Alejandro Diaz split a pair of free throws to tie the game with Loras at 78, Ethan Helwig picked Myan Whitfield's pocket and took it the other way for a go ahead layup with just 7 seconds left. The Cardinals then forced another turnover, and Diaz iced the game at the line for an 82-78 Cardinal win over the Duhawks.

Diaz: 18 pts, 4 stl
Helwig: 17 pts, 4 reb
Terrance Moncrief: 15 pts, 4 reb
Drew Gaston: 14 pts

NCC won despite getting outrebounded 33-19. Loras outscored NCC 12-2 on second chance points, but the Cardinals turned 20 Loras turnovers into 30 points; Loras forced 8 for 10 points.

[GusD]

I only caught the last five minutes, but it was enough as in Dubuque this evening, after Alejandro Diaz split a pair of free throws to tie the game with Loras at 78, Ethan Helwig picked Myan Whitfield's pocket and took it the other way for a go ahead layup with just 7 seconds left. The Cardinals then forced another turnover, and Diaz iced the game at the line for an 82-78 Cardinal win over the Duhawks.

Diaz: 18 pts, 4 stl
Helwig: 17 pts, 4 reb
Terrance Moncrief: 15 pts, 4 reb
Drew Gaston: 14 pts

NCC won despite getting outrebounded 33-19. Loras outscored NCC 12-2 on second chance points, but the Cardinals turned 20 Loras turnovers into 30 points; Loras forced 8 for 10 points.

The primary decisive factor in yesterday's NCC matinee victory over host Loras was unquestionably their suffocating defensive performance. As lmitzel advised, they forced Loras into an unusually high 20 turnovers which resulted in a whopping plus 20 point differential in points scored off turnovers. The Cardinals stole the ball from the unsuspecting DuHawks 10 times. This is not entirely surprising in that NCC while NCC Head Coach Vince Kmiec was a much above average offensive player, he excelled on defense as evidenced by the fact he holds the all-time Steals record for the Cardinals. Sources advise defense is something that's stressed in Cardinal practices.

Of note is that with his 17 points yesterday, Ethan Helwig now stands 25th on the all time NCC scoring list with 1,100 points.

While there was no audio on the broadcast yesterday, the PA's mic picked up many of the various sounds emitted during the contest. While you couldn't really understand the words, the most prevalent sound bites seemed to be fairly regular grunts and groans voiced by Loras Head Coach Martin whose uttering appeared to indicate that he rarely agreed with the assessments made by the officiating crew. This despite the fact that the visitors were whistled for one more foul than his home team.

[GusD]

Anyone know if there's any particular reason this weekend's Elmhurst @ IWU game is being played on Sunday rather than on the normal Saturday?

[lmitzel]

Anyone know if there's any particular reason this weekend's Elmhurst @ IWU game is being played on Sunday rather than on the normal Saturday?

My understanding is that they wanted to accommodate a JV game? I'm not 100% sure.

[lmitzel]

NCC 68
Carroll 66

The Cardinals overcame a bad first half, missed 12 of their first 15 shots, and trailed by a dozen at halftime. But they slowly clawed their way back into this one, and turned it into a back and forth affair.

North Central had the ball tied at 66 with 12.5 seconds left. The play kind of broke as Ethan Helwig bobbled the ball a little bit, yet was able to get turned around for a look at the hoop, it bounced off the rim, and somehow* fell in.

*That "somehow" may or may not have had something to do with Tyler Swierczek probably touching the rim before the shot fell. It wasn't called, and the Pioneer staff was furious, but the officials just ran off the floor and that was that.

Helwig: 20 pts, 11 reb
Terrance Moncrief: 19 pts, 6 reb

Evan Bland: 12 pts
Eckahelo Simpson: 11 pts, 67 reb
Kobe Simpson: 10 pts
Jacob Naber: 9 pts, 9 reb

Pretty sure the Pios have to have coming to Naperville at this point.

[markerickson]

North Park beat Wheaton by three on the road for a fifth consecutive victory.  While all five Wheaton starters scored in double digits, its bench contributed only six.  By contrast, the Viking bench scored 32 with reserve Taijon Barry netting 17, a team high.  North Park should look to Mr. Barry to finish fast breaks.  He is fast and athletic and plays above the rim.  Powell to Nelson to Barry for the jam!

[WashingtonWiz99]

NCC 68
Carroll 66

The Cardinals overcame a bad first half, missed 12 of their first 15 shots, and trailed by a dozen at halftime. But they slowly clawed their way back into this one, and turned it into a back and forth affair.

North Central had the ball tied at 66 with 12.5 seconds left. The play kind of broke as Ethan Helwig bobbled the ball a little bit, yet was able to get turned around for a look at the hoop, it bounced off the rim, and somehow* fell in.

*That "somehow" may or may not have had something to do with Tyler Swierczek probably touching the rim before the shot fell. It wasn't called, and the Pioneer staff was furious, but the officials just ran off the floor and that was that.

Helwig: 20 pts, 11 reb
Terrance Moncrief: 19 pts, 6 reb

Evan Bland: 12 pts
Eckahelo Simpson: 11 pts, 67 reb
Kobe Simpson: 10 pts
Jacob Naber: 9 pts, 9 reb

Pretty sure the Pios have to have coming to Naperville at this point.

Big missed calls by the officials. Quite obvious.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 78
Wheaton 75

Taijon Barry: 17 pts, 7 rebs
Lance Nelson: 15 pts
Rico Powell: 12 pts
TJ Gardner: 10 pts

Soren Richardson: 22 pts
Noah Hedrick: 13 pts, 9 rebs
Kyle Neibch: 13 pts
Kyan VanderWoude: 11 pts
Devin Martin: 10 pts

In a game that saw 16 lead changes, nine ties, and no double-digit leads, NPU squeaked out a win on Saturday night at King by tightening the screws in crunch time and forcing the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance into taking some tough shots (one of which, a fallaway trey attempt from the corner opposite the Wheaton bench by Soren Richardson, actually went in). It helped make up for a stalled-out North Park attack in the second half in which it appeared as though the Vikings had never seen a 2-3 zone before and didn't have the foggiest idea of how to attack it. They're going to have to give working against a 2-3 a lot of attention in practice, because I'm sure that Lawrence and Cornell (NPU's two upcoming opponents) were taking notes. To be fair to Wheaton, the game was as close as it was in large part because the Schauerites played harder, as can be seen in their dominance on the boards despite really having nobody who could physically match DJ Wallace or Taijon Barry inside.

This was sort of a balancing-out game in that Wheaton played much better than it has been lately, and the Vikings were off the mark from the caliber of play they had displayed in their previous four straight wins. But in the end, for all of the sturm und drang of a game that was a lot tighter than you'd expect a game between a 5-3, 2-0 team and a 3-7, 0-1 team to be, the Vikings got the road win, and in the CCIW that's always big no matter how you get it.

[Gregory Sager]

With the 2024 section of the '24-'25 CCIW season now in the books, it's:

North Park	3-0
Carthage	2-0
Illinois Wesleyan	2-1
North Central	2-1
Millikin	1-1
Augustana	1-2
Elmhurst	1-2
Wheaton	0-2
Carroll	0-3

When on Saturday, January 4 we pick up where we left off, the two lone unbeaten teams will be squaring off at Tarble.

[deiscanton]

Anyone know if there's any particular reason this weekend's Elmhurst @ IWU game is being played on Sunday rather than on the normal Saturday?

My understanding is that they wanted to accommodate a JV game? I'm not 100% sure.

I watched the Elmhurst @ IWU game via video stream on Sunday.   Yes, there was a IWU varsity reserves game that was being played first on Sunday before the main game.  But the primary reason that the men's game was being played on Sunday, according to the IWU play by play crew, was that a few Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball players had to take final exams on the last day of the final exams period at IWU, which was Friday, Dec. 13, and IWU did not want those players playing in a big CCIW conference game less than 24 hours after they took those finals.   So, the Sunday game was to accommodate those Illinois Wesleyan players who had to take finals on that Friday before the game.

[Gregory Sager]

Anyone know if there's any particular reason this weekend's Elmhurst @ IWU game is being played on Sunday rather than on the normal Saturday?

My understanding is that they wanted to accommodate a JV game? I'm not 100% sure.

I watched the Elmhurst @ IWU game via video stream on Sunday.  Yes, there was a IWU varsity reserves game that was being played first on Sunday before the main game.  But the primary reason that the men's game was being played on Sunday, according to the IWU play by play crew, was that a few Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball players had to take final exams on the last day of the final exams period at IWU, which was Friday, Dec. 13, and IWU did not want those players playing in a big CCIW conference game less than 24 hours after they took those finals.  So, the Sunday game was to accommodate those Illinois Wesleyan players who had to take finals on that Friday before the game.

Not just the Wesleyan players, but Elmhurst players as well. As Ron Rose noted, John Baines had to agree to the schedule change, which he did because his players were coming out of Friday finals as well.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised that the league as a whole doesn't schedule the third CCIW game day with a little more latitude. Wheaton obviously can't play on a Sunday, but most of the schools in the league are coming out of finals week prior to that third CCIW game every season. If you get the day after the second CCIW game to put hoops behind you and get your mind right for the first day of finals week, why not get the day after the last day of finals week to get your mind right for hoops?

The basketball season is long enough for this sort of flexibility, whereas baseball and softball don't have that luxury.