NAIA Schedule, Links to Watch, Games of the Day and Five Players to Watch: December 17th

December 17th NAIA Games

Games of the Day:

RV Oklahoma Wesleyan @ Ottawa 5:00pm CT Live Video

A battle between the two preseason KCAC favorites. Oklahoma Wesleyan sits just 1.5 games back of Bethel (KS) for first place in the KCAC. Ottawa, who was preseason ranked 14th in the country came off of a long quarantine and stumbled a bit out of the gates. They have won 2 of their last 3 games with their loss being in double OT. Important game for both teams as they progress forward through KCAC play.

RV Indiana Tech @ Huntington 7:00pm ET Live Video

Really fun non conference matchup here. Huntington sits at 7-2 and it will be interesting to see how they come out after suffering a 26 point loss at #1 Indiana Wesleyan. This is definitely a youngish team that, if they can hang around in this one, can come up with a big road win. Indiana Tech continues to face good competition and even at 6-4, managed to hold onto the RV tag ahead of their name in the most recent rankings. Part of that is the competition they have faced. They have been in some battles and could face another one tonight.

UPike @ Rio Grande 7:30pm ET Live Video

Another intriguing non conference game. Rio has played well at times this season and have a really nice win over another Mid-South opponent in RV Shawnee State. They will look to get their 2nd win against a Mid-South team this evening against a 3-3 Pikeville team. Pikeville, under new Head Coach Tigh Compton, looks to be still finding it’s groove here early in their season. Of the Bears three losses, two of them are to Top 25 teams, so they have played some good early competition and will be looking to come away with a road win tonight.

Five Players To Watch

Malcolm Green 6’2 G Pikeville – 13ppg, 4.5rpg

The Senior has scored in double figures in all but one game this season. He’s coming off of his worse game of the season in a game where the Bears didn’t need him. Green is aggressive to the rim and is shooting a blistering 61% from the field through six games.

Josh Kline 6’9 F Indiana Tech – 15.5ppg/8.1rpg

Rog Stein has been getting a lot of the attention as of late, but Josh Kline is a returning NAIA DII All-American and 1st Team All-WHAC performer. The Junior big man is 3rd in the WHAC in rebounds per game and is actually putting up bigger numbers this season then his All-American stats from last season.

Kaleb Stokes 6’6 F Oklahoma Wesleyan – 19ppg/6.4rpg

Kaleb is a Sophomore who is off to a great start to the season for the Eagles. Kaleb is currently 3rd in the KCAC in points per game and leads the Eagles in points and rebounds. The Eagles will look for him to have another big game tonight as they hit the road to face Ottawa.

Jalon Perry 6’1 G Florida College – 12.64ppg/4.7rpg

This starting five for the Falcons plays a lot of minutes and we tend to focus a lot of our focus on Matt “Mr. Buckets” Simpson, but Jalon is coming off of a great week that saw him win the SSAC Player of the Week. Over his last three games the Senior is averaging nearly 21ppg helping the Falcons to a 8-3 start to the season.

Shiloah Blevins 6’5 F Rio Grande – 16.8ppg/6.4rpg/1.75bpg

Shiloah has been a pretty reliable scoring threat this season for Rio. He has scored in double figures in every game including three 20+pt games. He is also 15th in the NAIA in total blocks and ranks 25th in blocks per game.