RSC Men's Basketball Weekly Report -- Dec. 16, 2016 #RSCMBB #RSC
FLORENCE, Ky. -- Week 3 of the River States Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Report brings you an update on RSC men's hoops with a little more than one week until Christmas. Look for this weekly feature at RiverStatesConference.com to stay updated.
EARLY RETURNS
It's still very early in River States Conference play with more than two months of conference game still to come. But the divisional races within the RSC standings are beginning to take a bit of shape. And that will be built on this weekend with four conference matchups on tap, two from each division.
In the RSC East Division, No. 10 IU East and Point Park are out to the early lead tied for first place at 3-0 RSC heading into the weekend. WVU Tech is a game back at 2-1 RSC and will host IU East in what has been designated the RSC Men's Basketball Game of the Week (Sat., 3 p.m.).
Carlow (1-2 RSC) is next in the standings having picked up an earlier win over Rio Grande. The RedStorm (0-3 RSC) and Ohio Christian (0-2 RSC) are next in the standings having started out by taking losses to the top teams in the division but still very much in contention in the early stages.
The RSC West Division has No. 18 IU Southeast leading the the way at 3-0 RSC. The Grenadiers visit Asbury on Saturday at 4 p.m. Asbury (2-1 RSC) and IU Kokomo (2-1 RSC) are just a game back of first place and followed by Alice Lloyd (2-2 RSC) and Cincinnati Christian (2-2 RSC) as the top four teams in the division are separated by just 1.5 games.
Midway (1-3 RSC) and Brescia (0-4 RSC) have absorbed some losses against some of the top divisional teams but remain in the mix with lots of basketball left to be played.
NAIA DII TOP 25 POLL
The second installment of the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll came out this past Tuesday, Dec. 13. The poll had IU East (11-3) at No. 10 overall. The Red Wolves dropped from No. 5 in the previous poll two weeks earlier on Nov. 29. A big win over then-No. 3 Davenport on Nov. 28 didn't factor into that previous poll. But a couple of losses, including to then-No. 14 Rochester figured into the latest poll to move IU East back a bit.
IU Southeast (9-2) moved up one spot to No. 18 in this week's poll to give the RSC two teams in the Top 25. The Grenadiers had been one of the hottest teams in the country with nine straight wins, a streak that came to an end versus Cumberlands Dec. 10, the only team to beat IU Southeast the last month.
The Top 25 rankings take a break for the holidays and return on Jan. 10 for the next release of the ratings.
THIS WEEKEND
RSC men's basketball has four conference matchups on tap this weekend, two from each division. No. 18 IU Southeast at Asbury (Sat., 4 p.m.) and IU Kokomo at Midway (Sat., 3 p.m.) compete in the RSC West Division. No. 10 IU East visits WVU Tech (Sat., 3 p.m.) for the RSC MBB Game of the Week to highlight the RSC East matchups, which also includes Ohio Christian at Rio Grande (Sat., 4 p.m.).
Other RSC teams will play out of conference beginning with Cincinnati Christian at No. 7 Taylor (Ind.) on Friday at 7 p.m. Alice Lloyd will be playing two games in Florida when it plays at Florida National (Fri., 7 p.m.) and at St. Thomas (Sat., 4 p.m.). Carlow visits NCAA DII California (Pa.) (Sat., 3 p.m.) while Point park and Brescia are off.
BY THE NUMBERS
Asbury continues to lead the nation in scoring offense averaging a national-best 113.0 points per game. The Eagles also lead the country in made 3-point field goals per game (14.00), steals per game (15.67) and turnover margin (+10.42).
Individiually, another high-scoring output occured this past week when WVU Tech's Ryan Atkins put up 41 points in a win over Ohio Christian. It was the second time this year an RSC player eclipsed 40 with the other being the season-high of 51 by OCU's Marquis Jackson on Nov. 19 vs. Huntington. There have been a few players come close to 40 this year, including Brescia's Dillon Geralds scoring 37 and Asbury's Trenton Thompson scoring 36 in the same game Dec. 8.
Speaking of that Asbury-Brescia game Dec. 8, the 140-124 win for the Eagles was the most points scored by an NAIA team this year and the most combined points in a game this season.
Point Park made an entry into the NAIA basketball record book with its game at Northwestern Ohio Dec. 14. The teams combined for 41 made 3-pointers, just two off the national record for most combined treys in a game. Point Park made 20, and UNOH made 21 for the first-ever game with both teams making at least 20 in the same game.
IU Southeast leads the RSC defenses ranking first in the country in field-goal defense at .362. The Grenadiers lead the conference and are sixth nationally in scoring defense at 67.6 ppg.