MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Wow, this is as silent as I can remember the board being while in-season in a long, long while.

Saturday's other games included an impressive win by Millikin at Aurora, 96-74, to start off the season 2-0. Ian Winkler parlayed a 5-9 performance from beyond the arc into a 24-point game, while Lane Thomann had a business-like 17 and Ryheem Tyus notched a 12-11 double-double.

(Fun fact: With former Aurora football player Lane Provance having transferred to Millikin, where he is now following in the footsteps of his father Adam by playing on the Big Blue basketbal team, MU is now most likely the only school in D3 that has two guys with the first name Lane on their roster -- and they're definitely the only school in all of college basketball to have two players named Lane whose dads were teammates at that same school a generation ago.}

Elmhurst opened its campaign by blowing up hapless Ripon, 81-52, on the other side of the Cheddar Curtain. Dom Trelenberg led the way with 19, including 4-6 from downtown, while Aidyn Boone contributed 14 and EJ Marshall added 11 off the bench. Former Millikinite Chris Ketchum grabbed ten boards from off the bench, while Vinnie Adjahoungbeta seized eight.

Carthage blasted perennially underwhelming Thiel at Tarble, 85-56. The Firebirds held the Tomcats to less than 37% from the field. Braylen Meredith led Carthage with 18 and 7 off the bench while Trey Blissett scored a dozen, and KJ Cathey and Max Sheridan each added 10. Ryan Johnson had a quiet night offensively, but he did collect 13 rebounds.

It was The Staishaun Kelley Show in Rock Island, where the Augie star lit up Buena Vista for 27 points in Augustana's 91-81 victory over the Beavers. Caden Workman was true to his name with a 15 and 7 performance, while Eli Aldana chipped in 11.

Carroll was the lone Saturday disappointment for the CCIW, and yet it's not exactly the end of the world to lose by four to UW-Whitewater, even if it's in your own building. There were six ties and 13 lead changes in UWW's eventual 78-74 win, and it appears that there was too much Collin Madsen for Carroll's liking; he scored 28 points for the Warhawks with only 15 FG attempts. The Pios got nice distribution from Logan Steffensmeier (15), Peyton McKenna (14), Michael McNabb (13), and Dennis Estepp (10), while Jimmy Tarjan grabbed 11 boards before fouling out.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin has an exhibition game at D2 UW-Springfield this evening.

[GusD]

Millikin has an exhibition game at D2 UW-Springfield this evening.

I believe the Big Blue traveled west last evening to play UI-Springfield rather than north to face the renowned power UW-Springfield. 😉

[y_jack_lok]

UIS 108, Millikin 72. https://athletics.millikin.edu/news/2026/11/9/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-scores-72-in-exhibition-match-at-uis.aspx

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin has an exhibition game at D2 UW-Springfield this evening.

I believe the Big Blue traveled west last evening to play UI-Springfield rather than north to face the renowned power UW-Springfield. 😉

Forgive me. Force of habit.

[Jbothe]

Interesting that they would have an exhibition after the regular season started. Did this count as a game for UIS? 

[Gregory Sager]

Interesting that they would have an exhibition after the regular season started. Did this count as a game for UIS? 

Yes, it did.

It's not all that unusual for a D3 team to play an exhibition against a D1 or D2 after the season begins. After all, the game is scheduled at the host's (the scholarship team's) convenience, and the D3 team has to take whatever date it's given, as long as it doesn't interfere with a league game.

In fact, there's another CCIW team that has an upcoming in-season exhibition, as North Park will take on D1 SIUE in Edwardsville a week from tomorrow. It's hardly ideal, as the Vikings have a track meet basketball game the night before in Greenville, but, as I said, D3 teams are at the mercy of the NCAA scholie teams in terms of when these games are held.

At least the Vikings can stay in a hotel downstate the night before SIUE and their reunion with Ed McGhee.

[Gregory Sager]

Last night Augustana fell at Carver to Central, 86-77. Augie was down by 19 at the half but cut the Dutch lead down to four on a couple of occasions before a 10-2 run by the Dutch essentially salted the game away. Baker Beal led Augie with 22 points, while Staishaun Kelley and Eli Aldana each scored 17 and Caden Workman netted 10.

Tonight's games
DePauw @ Elmhurst, 6 pm
Carthage @ Lake Forest, 7 pm
Illinois Tech @ Wheaton, 7 pm
North Central @ Aurora, 7 pm

[GusD]

Last night Augustana fell at Carver to Central, 86-77. Augie was down by 19 at the half but cut the Dutch lead down to four on a couple of occasions before a 10-2 run by the Dutch essentially salted the game away. Baker Beal led Augie with 22 points, while Staishaun Kelley and Eli Aldana each scored 17 and Caden Workman netted 10.

Tonight's games
DePauw @ Elmhurst, 6 pm
Carthage @ Lake Forest, 7 pm
Illinois Tech @ Wheaton, 7 pm
North Central @ Aurora, 7 pm

Arriving at the Aurora gym @ 7 pm will allow you to watch much of the second half of a game between the Aurora and Beloit women's teams. The NCC/AU men's game does not begin until 8:00.

[Greek Tragedy]

Last night Augustana fell at Carver to Central, 86-77. Augie was down by 19 at the half but cut the Dutch lead down to four on a couple of occasions before a 10-2 run by the Dutch essentially salted the game away. Baker Beal led Augie with 22 points, while Staishaun Kelley and Eli Aldana each scored 17 and Caden Workman netted 10.

I know it's the CCIW page, so people usually don't care what the other team does. However, sophomore Kyle Cason dropped 49 on the Vikings. He was ARC's rookie of the year last year.

[lmitzel]

Aurora 86
NCC 84 (OT)

Is it Groundhog Day? Because it feels like Groundhog Day.

The Cardinals led by 10 at halftime, and were up 13 about four minutes into the second half. Naturally, this is when Aurora fought back and the teams traded blows for much of the rest of the second half. An Alejandro Diaz layup off a beautiful cut from an inbounds pass gave the Cardinals a 73-71 lead with about 32 ticks left, but Aurora's Zerrick Johnson answered at the other end to tie it at 73. With the last shot in their hands, James Bullock missed a three, and Alejandro Diaz' putback at the buzzer rolled out to provide free basketball in Aurora. AU went up by 6 with under two minutes to play, the Cardinals got back within 1, but that was as close as they got.

James Bullock: 29 pts, 8 reb
Tyler Swierczek: 27 pts, 8 reb
Alejandro Diaz: 19 pts, 12 reb, 4 ast

The stat that jumped out at me: while the rebounds were pretty close (46-43 Aurora, 14-12 on the offensive glass), the Spartans outscored NCC 28-10 in second chance opportunities.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage used a 19-5 run midway through the second half to break loose from host Lake Forest, 82-63, up on the North Shore. Ryan Johnson  had 24 and 9 to lead the way for the Firebirds, while Braylen Meredith contributed 16 off of the bench and Tre Blissett and Chris Schlesinger chipped in a dozen apiece.

Wheaton curb-stomped Illinois Tech, 104-60, at King, as the Schauerites shot over 61% from the field. Soren Richardson had 25, Carson Grier contributed 14 and 8, Kyan Vanderwoude also scored 14, and Devin Martin dished out 11 assists.

Elmhurst had an easy time of it with DePauw, 75-60, at Faganel. Aidyn Boone led the way with 18 for the 'jays, while Vinnie Adjahoungbeta logged a 17 and 10 dub-dub, Dom Trelenberg scored 14, and Jack Cherry added 10.

[ChickenHoops]

Wow, this is as silent as I can remember the board being while in-season in a long, long while.


Carroll was the lone Saturday disappointment for the CCIW, and yet it's not exactly the end of the world to lose by four to UW-Whitewater, even if it's in your own building. There were six ties and 13 lead changes in UWW's eventual 78-74 win, and it appears that there was too much Collin Madsen for Carroll's liking; he scored 28 points for the Warhawks with only 15 FG attempts. The Pios got nice distribution from Logan Steffensmeier (15), Peyton McKenna (14), Michael McNabb (13), and Dennis Estepp (10), while Jimmy Tarjan grabbed 11 boards before fouling out.

It's really shouldn't be that unusual for CCIW teams to lose to WIAC teams.  Just thought I'd liven up your board since you were begging for it. Who is "hapless" and "perenially underwhelming" in the CCIW this year?  There are no candidates in the WIAC. 

[blue_jays]

If Wheaton can figure out its defense, they're gonna be real dangerous in the conference race. Lots of offensive options along with the best scorer in the league.

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Lead City:

Concordia (WI) 95
North Park 83

Mike Vuckovic: 37 pts, 7 stls
Marquis Vance: 11 pts
Jerome Smith: 10 pts, 5 asts
Makeith Deng: 9 rebs, 4 blks

The Vikings let this ballgame get away from them early in the second half, as a four-point CUW halftime lead swelled to as much as 18 at the 14:24 mark. The Vikings got the deficit back down to eight but never drew any closer, as the Falcons shot the lights out (10-20 trey, over 50% from the field) and enjoyed a sizeable rebounding advantage that more than canceled out their 21 turnovers (14 of 'em the product of NPU steals). Mike Vuckovic was a one-man show for the Vikings, but that was strictly out of necessity, as the Park couldn't hit a jumper to save their lives and all of their possessions in the final dozen minutes or so basically degenerated into a run-no-plays, drive-every-time mess.

This is a frustrating North Park team to watch. Their three-point shooting and free-throw shooting have been absolutely awful through two games (.243 and .574, respectively), and, undersized or not, they have to get much better on the boards than they've been in the first two games, which find them at an atrocious -14.5 team rebound margin thus far. There is plenty of talent on this team, but, as I said before, they play undisciplined and individualistic basketball -- the kind of basketball that gets you a steady diet of 20-point losses if you play that way in CCIW games. Tonight they were beaten by a Falcons team that wasn't nearly as quick as they were but which consistently stuck with their offensive game plan, got good shots (which they hit more often than not), and were more aggressive on the boards (and on boxing out) than the Vikings.

Robbie Harman's got a lot of work ahead of him to turn this bunch of guys into an actual team. But at least it's still early.