NAIA Schedule & Links, Games of the Day, Five Players to Watch: Feb. 12th

Friday, January 15th NAIA Games

Games of the Day:

BenU Mesa @ Saint Katherine 1pm PT Live Video

One of these teams, along with Simpson, will represent the CalPac in the National Tournament. While the Round Robin version of the schedule will start at the end of February, this weekends series will be a great opportunity to preview the teams that look like the best teams in the CalPac. Saint Katherine has some nice wins against Vanguard and Westmont in the GSAC. BenU Mesa record is a bit skewed with their NCAA D1 losses mixed in. They did beat Ottawa (AZ) and played The Master’s tight. Going to be a great weekend to see a preview of a team who should come out of the CalPac!

Bellevue @ RV Valley City State 7:30pm CT Live Video

A battle between two of the three teams tied for 2nd place in the NorthStar. This is such a big game for both as the winner stays in the hunt for a regular season title. The loser could find themselves in the 4-seed range for the NSAA Tournament. Valley City State is currently the highest rated NSAA team in their ARC, so a win tonight helps them with stay on the bubble for an at-large bid.

John Brown @ 9 SAGU 7:45pm CT Live Video

Both of these teams are coming off of great seasons last year. SAGU has been able to build off that momentum into this season. JBU struggled out of the gate, but has won 5 of their last 6 games now with their only loss coming by 1 point. The last time these two teams met up SAGU was able to walk away with the 3pt win. We expect this game to also be a barn burner! JBU needs a win to boost their resume as a potential bubble team. A SAGU win keeps them atop the Sooner Athletic Conference Standings. Big game for both teams!

Vanguard @ Westmont 7pm PT Live Video

This becomes a big game tonight because the GSAC has elected to forgo a GSAC Tournament and give the two division winners auto-bids to the National Tournament. With just 3 teams in the GSAC West, the auto-bid is wide open for the taking. Every league game will be important, especially this game tonight as Vanguard already owns a 1-0 record over Westmont.

Five Players To Watch

– 27th in the NAIA in 3FGM per game with 3.0

– 45th in the NAIA in PPG with 19.571

It’s been a bit of a weird year for the CalPac teams, but Saint Katherine has made the best of it. Tonight they play their 1st CalPac regular season game against BenU Mesa. Maurice Woods has been really tough for USK this season, if they are going to make it to the National Tournament, it will be Woods who carries them there!

– 13th in the NAIA in Scoring with 22.333ppg

– 17th in the NAIA in SPG with 2.33

– 29th in the NAIA in APG with 4.833

Abram was a 1st team All-American last season. We haven’t gotten to see him as much this season with the schedule, but when Westmont has played, Carrasco has balled out. He is one of the best players in the country. Westmont needs a big win tonight and you expect Carrasco to show up big!

The 2019-20 3rd Team All-American has been pretty good again this season for JBU. In the 6 games that he has been back for, JBU is 5-1. A team that was a preseason Top 25 team, but had a rough start to their season. They, like MACU have some work to do to build that resume back up. A big Top 10 road win would go a LONG ways in helping get this tough JBU team back in the picture!

– 47th in the NAIA in ORPG with 2.684

– 3rd in the SSAC in Scoring at 19.05ppg

– 5th in the SSAC in FG% at 51.6%

– 7th in the SSAC in RPG with 7.37

Another 3rd Team NAIA All-American from last season who is having another great year. Williamson doesn’t have the pressure to score as much as he did last year with Jordan Hamlette adding some good scoring balance. Williamson is so tough and will be a big part of the puzzle if Faulkner is to make a big run at the National Tournament.

– 2nd in the NAIA in ORPG with 4.111

– 13th in the NAIA in RPG with 10.333

– 26th in the NAIA in BPG with 1.667

– 42nd in the NAIA in DRPG with 6.222

Joel is another one of these high motor kids that you see scattered across the NAIA. He is long, athletic and plays so hard. He’s not an explosive scorer, but still has such a big impact on winning.