Our Daily Dive series is your daily rundown of what is happening around NAIA basketball. We feature game breakdowns, updates on players, coaches teams and leagues for both men’s and women’s basketball.
As we mentioned on the podcast, we have had so many great non-conference games already, but there is just something so special about conference games! Sure, you still get some blowout games from time to time, but for the most part, you get games that may look bad on paper, but end up being great games! As Conference season starts to rev up, don’t be surprised if you start to see more and more upsets!
– Men’s Game of the Day:
- #22 The Master’s 77 vs Antelope Valley 70
- Antelope Valley always battles in the games vs the GSAC and it was more of the same last night as UAV held a 3pt advantage at the break and remained close all the way until the last minute of the game. UAV had their chances late, including a chance to take the lead with 1 minute to go, when Coach Ken Starr got a Technical with his Mustangs up 1. However, Tyler Murrell could only hit 1 FT to tie the game. Thomas Lowery on the next Mustang possession got a HUGE And 1 to put the Mustangs up 3 and they were able to get stops and hit FT’s to push it to a 7pt win. The Mustang Freshman continue to impress as Kaleb Lowery finished with a team high 16pts and Caden Starr finished with 13pts, 5rebs, 5assts. Arik Nicholas came off the bench for UAV to score a game high 21pts in the loss.
– Women’s Game of the Day:
- #11 MidAmerica Nazarene 65 vs Baker 45
- MNU struggled a bit early in the season, but over the past two games, they seem to have righted the ship! The Pioneers jumped on Baker from the tip and taking a 23-8 lead into the 2nd quarter. While the rest of the game was pretty balanced, that 1st quarter turned out to be all MNU needed to roll to their 2nd straight win. TrEl’Shawn Smith scored 24pts to go with 6rebs while Lydia Ostenson came off the bench to chip in 23pts and 5 steals.
– Another GREAT night for NAIA’s versus NCAA D2 opponents
- Clarke Defeated St Cloud State behind 37pts from Jacob Fierst. The former Morningside Mustang has his best collegiate game to-date adding in 10 rebounds to complete the double-double.
- Mayville State knocked off NCAA D2 University of Mary. Reigning North Star Athletic Association Player of the Year, Latrelle Franklin scored 20pts in the win!
– Pros will be Pros
- Always been a big footwork guy so love seeing videos of players who have great feet. Here are a few from plays from last night from a few players who will have shots to be pros if they want.
- Kae’ron Baker, of Louisiana Christian, is new to the NAIA, but is someone you should get familiar with as he is really good. He is averaging 19.9ppg this season.
- No Video with this one, but future pros Dan Largey (23pts,7rebs) and Seth Maxwell (17pts, 9rebs) continue to be really good for Indiana Wesleyan!
- The reigning Heart Player of the Year, Kevion Blaylock put on quite the 2nd half show last night scoring 19 of his 25pts. In their Heart opener versus Peru St., his Statesmen found themselves down 16 points with 11 minutes to go, but the 2x All-American showed down the stretch, why he is one of the best players in the country.
- Speaking of one of the best players in the NAIA, we can’t leave the stellar play of Imani Guy of Marian off the list. The All-American set a new career high last night with 30pts and showed off her incredible skill set while leading Marian to the win.
– While the previously mentioned William Penn vs Peru St game was the only Heart of America game on the docket, the River States League opened up conference play last night as well!
- WVU Tech got back to their winning ways with a nice 20pt win to open RSC play.
- Coach Ken French gets his first win as Head Coach of Oakland City as the Mighty Oaks take down St Mary of the Woods!
- IU Kokomo took down Brescia
- Rio Grande knocked off Carlow
– ICYMI:
- NHR-The Podcast S2, E2
Brought to you by the leader in NAIA Men’s Basketball coverage, NAIA Hoops Report, The Road to Muni Podcast, formerly NHR – The Podcast, is a Podcast dedicated to NAIA Men’s Basketball. Each week Junior and Pat Derksen will help to paint the men’s basketball national championship picture as we discuss the action from the week prior, games to watch for the week ahead, interview coaches and much, much more!
We are down to the final three games of the season as College of Idaho, Ottawa (AZ), Georgetown and Indiana Tech make up your NAIA Fab Four teams and tipoff on Saturday! In this episode, Junior and Pat dive deeper into the games, the paths of each team and more!
– With the NAIA Coaches Poll set to release today, here is a look at our own NAIA Hoops Report Top 25
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2pm CT | No. 2 Freed-Hardeman (TN) @ No. 1 Georgetown (KY) Georgetown Athletics YouTube What a matchup this is today! Our first No. 1 vs No. 2 game of the season! The Mid-South is never shy on having some of the best teams in the country. FHU is coming off a National Title and…
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NAIA MBB Top Games | January 16th
Top Games 4:30pm CT | No. 2 Freed-Hardeman (TN) @ RV Cumberlands (KY) UCSN This starts off a big week for Freed as they hit the road to face a Cumberlands team, who was ranked as high as Top 10 and who are now back to playing good basketball! Then they finish off the week…
NAIA Hoops Report Men’s Basketball Top 25 – 2nd Edition – NAIA Hoops Report
