NAIA Schedule and Links, Games of the Day and Five Players to Watch: January 5th

Saturday, January 2nd NAIA Games

Games of the Day:

#19 LSU-Alexandria @ Lyon 1:00pm CT Live Video
Lyon played #17 Talladega down to the wire this past weekend. This LSUA team has won six straight games now. Looking over their roster, it will be interesting to see if they truly lost Adebutu and Ellis or not. Those two are two staples of success for this program. Should be an interesting game either way, as this game was scheduled in just the past couple of days. Scouting reports and game prep is tough on the fly like that.

Bryan @ Reinhardt 4:00pm ET Live Video
Two teams who currently sit 2nd and 3rd in the AAC standings. Bryan is 2-1 in league play while Reinhardt is 3-2. This would be a big win for either team to come away with as it helps keep them in striking distance as a majority of the AAC teams are going to have a flurry of games this semester. Krystan Collins (RU) and Brandon Thomas (BC) will duke it out on the inside while Jalin Wimberly (RU) and Kavon Blakenship (BC) will provide the fun from the perimeter.

Union @ Point 7:00pm ET Live Video

Point currently sits at 8-3 and atop the AAC standings. Union is 1-1, but are also have won both the AAC regular season and AAC tournament titles for SEVEN straight years. Union hasn’t played as much as some of the other teams in the league, but rest assured that the AAC Title still goes through Union. Point needs a big home win today to help keep themselves atop the AAC. Little bit of an under the radar game this evening in our opinion.

Five Players To Watch

Bryan has played fewer games then some of the teams in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, but they still currently sit in 2nd place in the league. A lot of that has to do with the play of Freshman Kavon Blankenship. In his first 7 games in NAIA, Kavon is leading Bryan in both PPG and APG. He is coming off of a 22pt performance in their only league loss of the year to Columbia International. Blankenship has a bight future ahead of him, but right now he is trying to keep his team in the hunt for an AAC regular season title.

When we are talking about how great the Sophomore class is in NAIA, you best be sure that Markell is part of that list. Through four games this season, Markell hasn’t been below 20pts yet. He is a big time shooter who currently sits 3rd in all of NAIA in 3pt FG made per game at 4.5. He is also 12th in NAIA in PPG at 25.25.

It is no secret that we are big fans of Jevon Knox, but what is there not to like about his game. Knox currently sits at 1820 career points and as long as the rest of the season cooperates schedule wise, he will surpass that 2,000 career points plateau by the end of the season. This is a young Cougar team that has lost four in a row and the road doesn’t get any easier as they face a tough Indiana Tech team today. Jevon is coming off of a 28pt game and will look to try to come out and lead the way once again for MVNU in a bid to get this team back on track.

Not real sure what is going on at LSU Alexandria, but leading scorer Jordan Adebutu and third leading scorer Brandon Ellis don’t seem to be on the roster any more. We will see if they play today or not. If not, that leaves Jevon Berry as a guy who Coach Larry Cordero will be looking to score the ball more. Berry was a little inconsistent early in season, but had a pretty good three game stretch headed into break. Definitely something to watch for today as the Generals face Lyon.

It is good to get this Loyola team back in action after a long time off. We talked with Head Coach Stacy Hollowell on our podcast back in mid December, but he is doing a great job at Loyola. This roster is full of talent including returning two All-Americans. Zach Wrightsil being one of the two. Wrightsil was a 1,000pt scorer just two years into his career. Now as a Junior he is leading the Wolfpack in PPG, RPG, APG, SPG and BPG. He is a high motor player who is ultra competitive. The Wolfpack will roll in today’s game, but Zach is always a joy to watch play.