MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

At the Shirk, IWU over pesky Millikin, 72-62.  Always makes one nervous when it looks like the Titans will play in the 50s or 60s.  IWU had only 22 points at the half, and roared back with 50 in the second half to get into the 70s.

For MU:
Thomann 17 and 11
Straughter 16

MU at 43%/33% from three/ 73% from the FT line


For IWU:

Cleveland 19 and 8
Colak 17 and 8
Lawrence 16
Neigo 9 and 5:2 A:TOs
Funk 8 with 5 blocks

IWU at 37%/ 30% from three/74% from the FT line.

IWU takes the lead in the CCIW race at 6-2.

IWU at Carroll on Saturday.


'70

[lmitzel]

NCC 82
Carroll 78 (OT)

In today's episode of Taylor Janssen Hates Playing in Naperville, NCC led for most of the contest, but did not take a dreaded double digit lead, though their highest cushion of nine was immediately cut into by the Pioneers. And yet despite that, Carroll missed seven of their 19 second half free throws. Despite that, NCC still couldn't put the Pios away in regulation. Tre Davis hit a three to put NCC up four with just under a minute left, but taunted the guy guarding him to earn a tech. Then after Tyler Surin broke a 63-all tie with a deep three with under 20 seconds to go, the Cardinals stupidly fouled Michael McNabb on a layup, which he turned into a three point play to tie the game with under 10 seconds left. NCC had a shot to end it in regulation, but Alejandro Diaz missed from the baseline and we got free basketball. NCC never trailed in the extra stanza, and even wised up at the end of overtime by fouling up three and benefitting from the intentional second miss not even coming close to hitting the rim.

Alejandro Diaz: 16 pts, 5 ast, 3 stl (missed basically all of overtime with an injury; he said he was "good" postgame, but was noticably limping)
Justin Sveiteris: 14 pts, 6 reb
Tyler Surin: 10 pts, 9 reb

Michael McNabb: 29 pts
Lamar Smith: 14 pts, 6 reb, 3 blk
Dennis Estepp: 10 pts

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 92
North Park 87

Kolden Vanlandingham: 26 pts, 6 rebs
William Bates: 14 pts
Lazario Cornish: 13 pts, 11 rebs
Mike Vuckovic: 12 pts

Andre Klaver: 22 pts (10-10 FT)
Dom Rhoden: 17 pts (15-18 FT), 6 rebs, 3 stls
Cam Atkinson: 15 pts (3-4 trey)
Eli Aldana: 13 pts (8-10 FT), 3 stls
Jake Willems: 10 pts

For the Park this was a near note-for-note reprise of Wednesday's loss to Elmhurst: give up a huge first-half lead (Augie scored the first ten points of the game last night and led by as many as 21 in the first half), start chipping away at that massive deficit well after the second half has begun, make a great attempt at a comeback that succeeds in getting the game close in crunch time, then just can't make enough plays at the end to sprint that final mile to the finish line.

The Vikings simply aren't playing defense at a level necessary to win CCIW men's basketball games. In league play NPU is bottom third in points allowed, opponent FG %, opponent trey %, and defensive rebounds. That won't get it done.

[markerickson]

I concur, Greg.  NP players have demonstrated they do not understand how to play defense.  Once again...at least three times this year...an opponent reached a career-high points against North Park.  Also, an average Augie team had a season high of 51 first half points. 

Instead of focusing on defense, the Parker thinks he can shine on O with hopes of draining an ill-advised trey or creating an interior shot to no avail.  Excluding the V brothers, of course.  Seems like the offensive lapses are due to teammates forgetting about the V brothers.  Hard to criticize any aspect of Kolden's game, but I think he should increase driving into the paint and less passing. Once again, he was clearly the best player on the court.

Julian Campbell did not suit and I did not see him in street clothes though I sat in the NE section whereas the team was at SW.

[Gregory Sager]

Campbell was there in street clothes. The Vikings hope to get him back in action quickly.

[Greek Tragedy]

Unless someone puts together a nice run, looks like the CCIW could be a one-bid league. For a conference with the pedigree of the CCIW, that would be a shame.

https://d3datacast.com/conference-ratings/cciw/

[GusD]

Unless someone puts together a nice run, looks like the CCIW could be a one-bid league. For a conference with the pedigree of the CCIW, that would be a shame.

https://d3datacast.com/conference-ratings/cciw/

Or.........the regular season champ doesn't win the conference tourney but still gets in along with the tourney champ. At any rate it seems chances of any more than two teams dancing are remote.

[lmitzel]

Aidyn Boone tip in at the buzzer wins it for Elmhurst in OT 82-80 over NCC.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 94
North Park 85

Mike Vuckovic: 24 pts, 6 rebs
Marquis Vance: 23 pts (8-11 FG, 6-6 FT)
Kolden Vanlandingham: 12 pts

Soren Richardson: 26 pts (3-6 trey, 7-7 FT), 6 rebs, 4:0 a:to
Kyan VanderWoude: 24 pts (11-14 FG)
Carson Grier: 16 pts (6-7 FT), 10 rebs
Devin Martin: 12 pts, 8:1 a:to

Same old story, same old song and dance. NPU gives up a massive lead in the first half -- Wheaton was up by 28 with three minutes and change remaining, and went into the locker room up 22 -- and then, after a few wasted minutes to open the second stanza, comes roaring back to make it either a one-possession or two-possession deficit, only to fade at the end of the game.

Today there were two twists on that ongoing theme, though. One was that this time the Vikings got the deficit down much more quickly than they did against Elmhurst or Augie, in large part because Wheaton just simply doesn't defend very well. North Park closed to within five at 72-67 with a full 9:20 remaining, and it looked as though this might be the instance in which the Vikings finally manage to fully push the boulder up the hill. But that's where the second twist came in. The catalyst behind the comeback, as usual, was North Park's star, Kolden Vanlandingham, who had been saddled with foul trouble throughout the game. But he fouled out with 7:47 to go (he got his 12 points today in only 13 minutes on the floor), and although the Vikings did get back to being only five down less than a minute later, the handwriting was on the wall. It was his Wheaton counterpart, Soren Richardson, who took over the game at that point and led his team to victory by precipitating a run that more or less sealed NPU's fate. He complemented an explosive first half by Kyan VanderWoude that spearheaded that huge Wheaton first-half lead.

Have to mention that Marquis Vance played a really impressive game for NPU today, and Mike Vuckovic did everything he could to keep the Vikings viable in the second half.

However, the formula was the same for North Park down the stretch: Try too hard to manufacture a shot in close, miss a low-percentage attempt within ten feet of the basket, and get caught with too many players attacking the offensive boards, leading to easy points going the other way for the opponent. But, really, the overarching theme remains the same -- North Park just hasn't played defense well enough to beat other CCIW teams throughout this losing streak.

[Gregory Sager]

Aidyn Boone tip in at the buzzer wins it for Elmhurst in OT 82-80 over NCC.

Elmhurst only got the game to OT in the first place because of Boone. NCC had a four-point lead with 16 seconds left in regulation, but let Dom Trelenberg end what had only been a four-second possession by the 'jays with a trey to make it a one-point game. EU quickly fouled three seconds later, and Ale Diaz's two FTs put the Cards back up by three with nine seconds to go. That paved the way for Boone's heroics, as he stroked yet another trey with 00:05 on the clock to force the extra session.

It's been many years since I've seen a team find as many different ways to lose close games as North Central has in 2025-26.

[GusD]

Aidyn Boone tip in at the buzzer wins it for Elmhurst in OT 82-80 over NCC.

It's been many years since I've seen a team find as many different ways to lose close games as North Central has in 2025-26.

12 losses by a total of 68 points. An average of only 5.67 ppg. Sacre bleu! ☹️

[iwu70]

IWU over Carroll, 60-58.  A road win is a road win.  Pretty ugly, especially from the FT line.

We'll take it and go home.

IWU'70

[mwunder]

Carthage continued it's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde season with an up and down week.

They dropped their Wednesday road contest at Elmhurst 72-60.  The Firebirds went cold for long stretches in this game where they didn't score for 2, 2, and 2.5 minutes in the first half.  They opened the second half by scoring 5 points in the first 5 minutes of the half.  Elmhurst won that important 8 minute phase of the game. Elmhurst's perimeter D was great as well, holding Carthage to 36%.

Brooks 27
R Johnson 11 and 15
AJ Johnson 11

Trelenberg 24 (7-11 FG, 5-6 3Pt)
Blachut 15
Boone 11
Cherry 10.


Saturday at home was a totally different story for the Firebirds with a 75-61 win over Augustana.  Carthage ran it's offense efficiently and consistently made the correct pass for an open look leading to 22 assists and shooting 50% on the night.  AJ Johnson hitting 6-10 3's opened up the inside game for quite a few easy buckets.  Carthage led by as much as 20 in the half even after a 4 minute scoring drought from 14:16 to 10:14.  The second half was back and forth with Carthage stretching it's lead to 23 at one point.  Oddity for the game...Carthage shot 3 free throws the entire contest.

AJ Johnson 22 6-10 3Pt and 7 boards.
Brooks 19
R Johnson 17 7 and 8 assists

Klaver 11
Parcel 11
Maurchie 8 and 10


Big matchup on Wednesday at the Shirk

[iwu70]

IWU moves up to #12 in the new poll.  IWU now 15-3, 7-2 in CCIW play.  Hopefully, heading for a 20 win season.  7 games to go.  Big game Wednesday evening vs. Carthage at The Shirk. 

'70

[Greek Tragedy]

IWU moves up to #12 in the new poll.  IWU now 15-3, 7-2 in CCIW play.  Hopefully, heading for a 20 win season.  7 games to go.  Big game Wednesday evening vs. Carthage at The Shirk. 

'70

IWU holds the Pool A and, barring a complete collapse, should be a lock for a Pool C bid.

Elmhurst is inching closer to a Pool C bid, sitting at Pool C29. Millikin 41, Wheaton 49, Augustana 55 and Carthage 61 in the Pool C race.