Chicago, Il., -- The Vikings are coming off their second conference loss this season, moving them to 3-2 in CCIW play, after falling 79-59 to an Illinois Wesleyan team that sits at 18th in the country in the D3hoops national top-25 poll. Staying on the road, North Park Men's Basketball, now 10-4 on the season, will travel to Kenosha, WI to face the red hot Firebirds team that is on a six-game win streak and is receiving votes in the D3hoops top-25 national poll as of this week. At 10-4, Carthage sits in first place in the CCIW with a 4-1 conference record, ahead of Wesleyan in second with a 4-2 CCIW record. North Park currently sits in 3rd after Saturday's loss to the Titans, however there are presented with a great opportunity this week to bounce back and to move up from third in the conference and get an early tiebreaker lead over the Firebirds should it come down to that down the stretch of the season.
The Vikings are a team with four players putting up over ten points a game led by Mike Vuckovic (20.1), Kolden Vanlandingham (15.3), Julian Campbell (12.9), and Marquis Vance (11.5). North Park's bench is one of the best scoring bench in the CCIW, with William Bates and Jahki Gray both averaging over eight points and Jerome Smith Jr., Tyvin Garrison, and Lazario Cornish all above 4.5 points per game. This luxury of keeping capable scorers on the floor at all points in the game is a big reason why the Vikings are the highest scoring team in the conference.
Carthage is rolling, winning six of their last seven with five of those wins coming by double digits. Their only single digit win in this span was over North Central in a low scoring 69-61 victory. The Firebirds also have four double digit scorers in Riley Brooks (18.4), Ryan Johnson (13.2), AJ Johnson (12.5), and Antuan Nesbitt (10.9). Riley Brooks and North Park's Mike Vuckovic are neck and neck at 4th and 5th in the conference for scoring; while Ryan Johnson is one of two players averaging a double-double right now with 10.2 rebounds a game. As a team, Carthage is 5th in three point percentage (35.9%) and has three players in Brooks, AJ Johnson, and Nesbitt all knocking down at least 40% of their threes. North Park will have a tall task in closing out on these shooters and forcing the Firebirds into turnovers, as they average less than six a game. They take care of the ball and are fourth in CCIW in assists (15), just behind the VIkings who sit in first (19.8).
Both teams are fighting to stay atop the CCIW standings as they face off in what could end up being one of the more important games for both teams as we get into the toughest part of the season for every team. North Park and Carthage are high scoring teams that play two different styles of effective defense; Carthage puts up 78.6 points a game and allows less than 70 points a game, yet doesn't force teams into many turnovers, only forcing 10 per game. While North Park aims to fluster teams and force them to turn the ball over, averaging a conference best 15.9 per game, to foster easy baskets. It will be a great chess match between Vikings head coach Ed McGhee and Firebird head coach Steve Djurickovic, and see how each side makes their adjustments throughout the game.
Tip off is set for 7pm at Carthage College on Wednesday, January 14th.
