NAIA MBB WEEK 14 RECAP BY CATEGORIES
I think we set a record this week for number of nominees. I do want to shout out some who didn’t win this week. Coach of the Week was the toughest one. Jared Jauch of Huntington has done big things in his 1st season, and they continued that this week by knocking off #1 Grace. Danny Neville has Rocky atop the Frontier standings in his first season. Fred Lymas at Shawnee, who is also in his 1st season, led the Bears to a big win over IU Kokomo and are in the driver’s seat in the River States Conference. Shoutouts also to Leonard Epps of Brewton-Parker Christian who has led them to their 1st winning season in 20 seasons and David Osborn of Trinity Christian who has the Trolls with the most NAIA wins in the past decade. There are so many great coaches at this level and a lot of nominees this week who, honestly, all deserve the recognition!
Best Win
Huntington (IN) takes down #1 Grace, 72-65
The Foresters, for the 2nd time in 3 seasons, took down an undefeated Grace squad. Last time Grace was 24-0 and ranked #1. This year Grace was 21-0 and ranked #1! This was a PHYSICAL game, but was really fun! Jared Jauch, in his first season as a head coach, has Huntington with 5 Top 25 wins. They will get 2 more chances this week to knock off Top 25 teams as they travel to #5 Indiana Wesleyan and then host #10 Bethel (IN)!
Upset of the Week
Williams Baptist over #16 Columbia, 90-75
Williams Baptist is having one of its best seasons since the merger and in this one they got their 1st win over a ranked opponent since 2019! This one was in dominant fashion as they handed Columbia their first AMC loss of the season. Deion Wesson was phenomenal once again as he had a game high 27pts. The Eagles led for nearly 35 minutes in this one, leaving no doubt and moving to just a game back of Columbia for 1st place!
Best Game
#10 Bethel (IN) takes down #24 Taylor (IN), 78-75
The Pilots picked up a big Crossroads League road win in what was just a fantastic game! There was 13 lead changes and 6 ties in this one. The biggest lead change was also a nominee for Onions of the Week as Luke McBride buried home a deep 3 with 3.2 seconds left to secure the win!
Best Offense
Morningside (IA)
The Mustangs enter February with a magic number of 2! So two wins or a win and a NWC loss and the Mustangs will win another GPAC Title! This week, in two wins, Morningside put up 96pts against Waldorf and 104pts against Midland. In the Waldorf game, the Mustangs shot 58% from the field, 46% from 3 and had 20 assists! Vs Midland, the Mustangs shot 65% from the field while shooting 52% from 3! They had 18 assists!
MVP of the Week
Jesse Van Kalsbeek, Northwestern (IA)
Northwestern has found their stride again and the Van Kalsbeek/Jalen Langsy combo continues to be one of the best in the country as they are currently 1 and 2 in points per game in the NAIA! Jalen’s huge week will be highlighted later, but for Jesse he averaged 26ppg, 9rpg, 5.5apg, 1.5spg and 1bpg. He just missed out on a triple-double vs Doane as he finished with 26pts, 10rebs, 9assts! The Sophomore is putting together one heck of a season!
Defensive MVP of the Week
Makeem Roberts, William Carey (MS)
Makeem has been one of the best defensive players in the NAIA this season. He’s got a nonstop motor and is a menace to opponents. This past week Roberts had 3 games. He averaged 4spg, 3.3bpg, 5drpg to go with 13.3ppg and 6ppg!! He’s a 6’0 guard who leads the league NAIA in steals, add that to the 3.3 blocks per game he had this week and you have one of the best defenders in the country!
Coach of the Week
Drew Stutts, Freed-Hardeman (TN)
As mentioned above, this was, by far, the toughest category of the week. However, when you lead your team to two Top 25 road wins, both in dominate fashion, you get the edge and that’s what Coach Stutts and the Lions did this week. After losing leading scorer, Sam Powell for the season, the Lions didn’t miss a beat knocking off #18 Georgetown by 21 points and #6 Cumberlands by 27 points. Again, both in the road! The Lions were dominate defensively as they run their win streak to 19 straight games!
Defense of the Week
Huntington (IN)
In two wins this week, Huntington held MVNU to 74pts on the road. 10 below their season average. In doing so, they held MVNU to just 36% from the field and 35% from 3. They saved their best defensive effort for #1 Grace. Who they held to just 65pts. Which is 28pts below their average. The Lancers came into the game as the 2nd best offense in the country. They had their worst offensive output of the season shooting 37% from the field and 19% from 3! Big time defense by the Foresters!
Pippen of the Week
Xavier Kahube, Avila (MO)
Xavier has quietly out together a really good season and this past week he added to that. In 3 games this last week, Xavier averaged 22ppg, 10rpg and 2.6apg. Vs Southwestern Xavier had 25pts, 10rebs, 1asst while shooting 67% from the field. Vs #3 OKWU, 23pts, 11rebs, 3assts and 82% from the field. Vs #17 Friends 18pts, 10rebs, 4assts 67% from the field!
Onions of the Week
Aiden Cilladi, Trinity Christian
Aiden kept the Trolls within striking distance of a CCAC title with this amazing shot over the backboard to knock off IUSB on the road
!
Sniper of the Week
Jalen Langsy, Northwestern (IA)
2nd time in a row that Jalen earns the Sniper of the Week. We have said it before, but he is one of the best shooters we have ever seen. This week he continued his hot shooting with a school record 12-3’s in the NWC win over Dordt. He finished 12-16 from 3 in the game and was 15-25 from 3 on the week.
Stock Riser of the Week
LC State (ID)
Austin Johnson continues to be one of the best coaches in the NAIA. The Warriors, unexpectedly, lost the Cascade POY to D1 Eastern Washington. That hasn’t stopped the Warriors from, once again, be competing for a Cascade Collegiate Conference Title. A big reason they currently sit in a 4-way tie for 1st place, was the two big road wins they just picked up last week as they beat #22 Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon. The 4-way tie is between LC State, Eastern Oregon, Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon. LC State is the only team who have no remaining games against the rest! They control their own destiny!
Rodman of the Week
Tanner Vogel, Faulkner
The 7′ Sophomore has been great on the glass this season. This past week, in two wins, Tanner averaged 14rebs (5 offensive), while averaging 8ppg! He grabbed 6pts and grabbed 12 rebounds vs ABAC and had 13pts, 16rebs vs Thomas (GA)!
Sophomore of the Week
Lukas Morgan, Dakota State
Lukas is coming off another big week for Dakota State! He averaged 22.5ppg, 11rpg, 3.5apg! The 6’7 Sophomore put up 19pts, 13rebs, 5 assists vs VCSC! Then ended the week with a 26pt, 9reb, 2asst outing vs Mayville State!
Freshman of the Week
Jaylon Hicks, SUNO
SUNO is on the rise in the HBCUAC! Freshman Jaylon Hicks has been really good. This week he averaged 17pts, 8rebs, 4assts, and 4stls while shooting 52% from the field! In a big win over Philander-Smith, Jaylon went for 15pts, 6rebs, 5assts, 4stls and 3blks!
Dunk of the Week
Chris Yapo, USAO
We haven’t ever had a broken backboard winner for Dunk of the Week. That is until Chris Yapo Euro stepped his way into this massive dunk!
