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.
Got a sneak peak at the Men’s ARC ratings. Looks like the ARC’s were how we had them listed. The rankings within them were a little bit different. We give you this little teaser to set up the fact that we will have our new NAIA Bracketology Report out on Sunday! Along with our newest NAIA Hoops Report Top 25, so be on the look out!
Recap of Yesterday’s Games of the Day:
Xavier 49 vs 14 Talladega 61 (Full Recap)
This was the best we have seen Dega play this year. An absolute defensive clinic and attacked the XULA full court pressure. Really well executed game plan by Chris Wright and his guys! Talladega can now win the GCAC Regular Season Title with a win against #24 Dillard today. Paul Turner had 14pts for Talladega. While RayShawn Mart finished with a game high 18pts to go with 7 rebounds in the loss for XULA.
William Woods 56 @ Columbia 68 (Full Recap)
Well, this was an ugly game to say the least. 50 FT’s combined between the two squads. Harrison Vickers led the way for Columbia with 18pts while Tony Burks added in 17pts and 6rebs in the win! Columbia stats 1 game back of Central Baptist for 1st place. William Woods sits 6th in the 9-team American Midwest Conference.
College of the Ozarks 72 @ Crowley’s Ridge 82 (Full Recap)
It’s hard to say who will make it to the NAIA National Tournament from the Aii. With it only being a 4-team tournament, everyone has a fair shot. These two could definitely see each other again with a little bit more at stake. This game went to Crowley’s Ridge who were led by Kyle Moore with 18pts, while K.J. Corder added in a nice 16pg, 10reb double-double in the win.
Other Games of Note:
– RV William Carey knocked off #12 Loyola 90-81. They have now won 4 of their last 5 games!
All Scores:
Shout Outs:
– Got to love the fact that @Famouslos32 was an NAIA guy who played at Union back in the day! Always love seeing famous guys rep the NAIA!
Congrats to Matti Morgan of Avila on surpassing 1,500 career points!
– Cameron Wolter is climbing the scoring ranks at Marian. He now sits 23rd after hitting the 1,200 career points mark.
– Christian Rodriquez has had a great playing career. The Senior now has 466 career assists moving him into the Top 5 all time at Cornerstone.
– Apparently the NAIA forgot to post that Kyle Mangas is this weeks NAIA Men’s Player of the Week. Also a huge congrats to Sierra Mitchel of Morningside who is the Women’s NAIA National Player of the Week.
That GCAC regular season title is on the line at 2:30 today between #24 Dillard and #17 Talladega. It will surely be on today’s Games of the Day list. Check back in to see who else makes it as the post will be up later this morning!
