The Daily Dive is your deep dive into the news and notes from around the NAIA Hoops World. Every day we will highlight some of the top headlines, conference updates, player accolades, coaching milestones and more. This used to be our Morning Bullet Points series. We went away from it this year, as others were doing similar things and we didn’t want to step on any toes. At the request of many, we have elected to bring it back for the second half of the season. Feel free to DM us on Twitter (@NAIAHoopsReport) or send an email to naiahoopsreport@gmail.com to recommend stories to be included into this segment.
A review of our January 5th Games of the Day:
#17 LSU Alexandria 81 @ Lyon 77 (Full Recap)
As we mentioned yesterday in our NAIA Schedule and Links article, it appears that LSUA is now without two of its top scorers as they are both completely off of the roster. As the saying goes “next man up” for the Generals and it came in the form of Freshmen; Jakemin Abney and Devonte Snow came up big on both ends of the floor to end the game on a 14-3 run to get the road win over Lyon.
Bryan 75 @ Reinhardt 90 (Full Recap)
A big win for Reinhardt today as they stay in second place (4-2) in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. That 4-2 record is actually less losses then 9-3 Point has, who sits atop the AAC right now, but more on them in a minute. We featured Bryan College Freshman Kavon Blankenship in our Five Players to Watch segment yesterday and he finished with a game high 23pts. However, a balanced effort for the Eagles, led by 19pts and 7reb from Tyler Smith was too much for Bryan to overcome.
Union 92 @ Point 100 (Full Recap) OT
To be the best, you have to beat the best and the Point Skyhawks just got a huge win over the 7x reigning AAC champs tonight. They have played more games then everyone in the league, but have set themselves up atop the AAC Standings and in a prime spot for tie breakers. Here is a look at the current AAC Standings:
We will point out that Union did get a slow start to the season last year as well before going on a big run to win the regular season title. We will see if they can bounce back and put themselves back in the hunt.
January 5th Top Performers:
Have yourself a game Trey Petty!! The Senior Guard showed last season that he was capable of putting up big numbers, but what a way to start off his 2020-21 season!!
National Player of the Year candidate Zaccheus Darko-Kelly helped 14th Ranked Providence (MT) to back to back Frontier Conference wins with a monster 25pt/16reb double-double!
Another National Player of the Year candidate Zach Wrightsil of Loyola had a big night as well. Wrightsil ended the night with 20pts, 13reb and 7assts.
NAIA National Player of the Week
The first National Player of the Week of the new year goes to Nathaniel Schmittler of Oakland City (IN) who just made the move back to joining the NAIA this year. Congratulations Nathaniel!
For those of you who love the NAIA All-Star game, the NAIA gave some updates on the plans for this years NAIA men’s and women’s All-Star game. You can read the full article HERE!
Wednesdays in the NAIA almost always produces a big slate of games. Especially during the second semester when we get a lot of leagues who play Wednesday/Saturday games. Today’s schedule features 10 of the NAIA Top 25 teams playing. The most ranked teams on one slate this year. Make sure you check back later this morning to get todays version of our NAIA Schedule and Links, Games of the Day and Five Players to Watch!
