With Thanksgiving week, we didn’t have as many games this week, but we still saw a lot of really good ones! Here is a recap of the week!
BEST WIN | No. 6 Freed-Hardeman over No. 1 Arizona Christian.
You will see a lot of FHU in this week’s recap as they played four games across the Battle at the Beach and the Show. While they picked up four total wins on the week, they picked up the best win of the week in the NAIA as they knocked off No. 1 Arizona Christian, 84-76. FHU was as good defensively as they have been all year. Despite the 70 FT’s that were shot in the game, this game had everything you want in a Top 10 matchup. Star power, big time plays. Defense, athleticism, shot makers, toughness and guys leaving it all on the line. Could very much see both of these teams squaring off again in Kansas City in March. For FHU, again, this was the best, and most complete game, we have seen the Lions play this season. Going 30-34 from the FT line certainly helps. BUT, the Lions put together stretches defensively that reminded us of their National Tourney run last year. Their ability to frustrate teams with their length mirrored what made them so good last year!
UPSET | Philander Smith (AR) takes down No. 10 Central Baptist
This is a Philander squad that came into the season with big expectations, so they were certainly capable of pulling off this win. However, CBC hadn’t lost at home in almost two years, so not a game you expect them to lose either. For Philander, Raymond Reece had a monster double-double with 22pts and 16rebounds. He also had 2stls and 2blks. Amorey Womack chipped in with 15pts, 5rebs and 6assts and Evan Alexander came off the bench to score 15pts and grab 4rebs as well.
OFFFENSE | Northwestern (IA)
Last week it was the Dordt Defenders from the GPAC occupying this space. This week, the Northwestern Red Raiders are letting everyone know that the GPAC is full of bucket getters as they come off a 2-0 performance in Tennessee at ‘The Show’ including a Top 10 win over No. 9 Cumberlands (KY). It’s not just about points though (currently 8th in the NAIA in PPG at 95.6) it’s also about efficiency. Northwestern, currently, is the 5th best OFF EFF team in the NAIA at 1.258. The Red Raiders also rank 5th in APG with 19.9. They rank 1st in the NAIA in FG% at 57.6% and are 3rd in the NAIA in 3FG% at 43.2%! They are led by one of the most efficient players in the NAIA in Alex Van Kalsbeek, who we almost had as our Player of the Week. Here is what NWC did this past week at ‘The Show’:
vs No. 8 Cumberlands (KY) | 88PTS, 35-69 50%FG, 9-26 34.6%3FG, 17ASSTS
vs Bluefield (VA) | 87PTS, 33-65 50.8%FG, 10-27 37%3FG, 19ASSTS
DEFENSE | Georgetown (KY)
Georgetown moved to 12-0 on the season with a 3-0 week, including two really big wins over Crossroads teams. The Tigers did so by absolutely locking up on defense! On Tuesday, Georgetown handed No. 22 Bethel (IN) their first loss of the season. They did so by holding Bethel (87.3ppg) to 68pts. Bethel shot just 36.1% from the field while going 6-21 (28.6%) from deep. Then Georgetown headed to Kingsport, TN to play in ‘The Show’ and on the first night held TN Wesleyan(75ppg) to 62 pts on 24-71 (33.8%FG) and 4-26 (15.4%) from deep. Finally, in their 3rd game of the week, the Tigers played RV St. Francis (IN) (86.1PPG) and held them to 72pts on 26-70 (37.1%FG) and 4-20 (20%3FG). St. Francis was Top 20 in 3 pointers made on the season headed into the game.
COACH OF THE WEEK | Drew Stutts, Freed-Hardeman
Coach Stutts, coming off of a National Title, has the Lions sitting at 11-1 on the season after going 4-0 this past week. While 4-0 is impressive in it’s own right, the Lions did while also knocking off the No. 1 team in the country, Arizona Christian AND also while playing in BOTH of the two big Thanksgiving week events in the NAIA. They started off the week in Panama City, Florida at the ‘Battle at the Beach’. They picked up wins over Southeastern (FL) and Arizona Christian. Then they finished off the week by going to Kingsport, TN to ‘The Show’, and knocking off both IU East and Reinhardt!
STOCK UP | Ave Maria (FL)
I think we have said this a few times now, but Ave Maria honestly is a Top 25 team who simply just doesn’t have the number beside their name. They lost back-to-back games at the wrong time to two teams who, at the time were fringe Top 25 teams, but now are currently inside the Top 25. The Gyenes stock had them fall outside of the Top 25 from a numerical standpoint, but they certainly are every bit of a Top 25 team and it’s time to put them back inside the Top 25! The 3pt line is known as the great equalizer and Ave leads the NAIA in made 3’s with 128 made on the season. If you want to take that to a % made standpoint, they are 14th in the NAIA in 3pt% at 40.8%. What makes them maybe the most dangerous is that nearly everyone on the roster is capable of shooting it. They currently only have one player who hasn’t hit a 3 on the season.
STOCK UP | Columbia International (SC)
CIU moved to 9-1 on the season with three more wins this week. The Rams really took their stock up with a big 82-74 win over No. 18 Mobile. Thier only loss on the season is a 2pt OT loss to Tennessee Wesleyan. They have two tough AAC games left this month as they head to Johnson (TN) later this week and then will face off against Reinhardt next week. Coach Tony Stockman has done a great job getting the Rams back after losing quite a bit from last year!
STOCK FALLING | Cumberlands (KY)
I preface this by saying that neither of their losses were bad losses, so they aren’t falling far. However, when you don’t have as many games as normal in a week and a Top 10 team losses twice, Cumberlands gets slotted into our Stock Falling category in the sense that they will drop in the rankings a bit. The Patriots are still a Top 25 team though and we don’t expect them to drop THAT far down the rankings.
GAME OF THE WEEK | RV Ave Maria defeats No. 9 Cumberlands, 105-103
This game was really a lot of fun. Two of the best shooting teams in the NAIA and Ave really put it on display early as Ave hit 9 threes to get control of the game and take the half time lead. Cumberland’s closed the gap early in the 2nd half only to see Ave break the game back open to double digits midway thru the half. Cumberlands showed no quit though as they continued to fight back from down 18pts and as Matthew Cromer and Anthony Johnson led a furious comeback with about 6minutes left in the game. Both would miss layups late though to send the game to OT and Cumberlands fell just short of the comeback. You could feel the electricity though and obviously see it in the gym as well as The Show has two courts going on at one time and you could see on camera people coming over from the other court as they could hear and sense the late game comeback building! It really made for a great game/final five minutes and a lot of big shots and plays happening down the stretch!
ONIONS | IU Kokomo’s Chris Chin Calls Game to knock off IU East at ‘The Show’
PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Peyton Law, Freed-Hardeman
Peyton Law, now that he has TWO hands, has quickly thrown his name into the hat for National Player of the Year candidates. He helped lead the Lions to a 4-0 week, including a win over No. 1 Arizona Christian. Here are his stats from an impressive week:
vs Southeastern (FL) | 23pts (90% from FG, 4/4 3FG), 9rebs, 3assts, 3blks, 1stl
vs Arizona Christian | 24pts (47% from FG) 7rebs, 2assts, 4stls
vs IU East | 20pts (63% FG) 8rebs, 2assts, 2blks, 3stls
vs Reinhardt | 26pts (83% FG) 11rebs, 4assts, 3stls, 1blk
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Keyshawn Robinson, Cumberland (TN)
Keyshawn Robinson had a big week as the RS Sophomore worked his way into the Cumberland starting lineup.
vs Crowley’s Ridge | 9 rebounds (6 defensive) added in 1 steal.
vs Reinhardt | 3 rebounds (2 defensive) added in 10 steals and 1 block.
vs Tennessee Wesleyan | 4 rebounds (3 defensive) added 3 steals.
RODMAN PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Max Newman, IU Kokomo
Max is actually a good scorer too, But he had one of the better “Rodman” performances of the week against Campbellsville when he put up 4pts to go with 15 rebounds! This was coming off of a 35/11 night against Olivet Nazarene. He also followed up his Rodman outing with a 14pt/10reb game against Pikeville!
SOPHOMORE OF THE WEEK | Calvin “BoBo” Sirmans
BoBo had two big games this week as he led Keiser to a 2-0 week. The reigning SUN Freshman of the Year and NAIA Assist Per Game Leader as a Freshman is having another nice Sophomore season.
vs Virgin Islands | 15pts, 10assts, 4stls
vs Brewton-Parker | 18pts, 7assts, 2stls
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK | Jesse Van Kalsbeek
The Freshman is making a name for himself alongside his brother Alex as he is averaging 19.2ppg to go with 6.4rpg. This past weekend, at ‘The Show’, Jesse continued his big season with his fourth 20+ pt game in 9 games this season.
vs No. 9 Cumberlands | 22pts, 8rebs, 3stls
vs Bluefield | 8pts, 7rebs, 4assts
DUNK OF THE WEEK | NONE
Unfortunately, I lost my list of times and games to go back and clip the ones I saw while watching live. So, I don’t have any for you this week. We also didn’t get tagged in any on social media as I know a lot of SID’s are stretched thin trying to cover Fall Sports National Tournaments! Feel free to post in the Twitter or Instagram comments under this post if you have ones for this week!
