CHICAGO, Ill. -- After a week's rest, North Park's Men's Basketball (10-3, 3-1) heads down to Bloomington, Illinois to face #18 Titans of Illinois Wesleyan (11-3, 3-2). This will be the second nationally-ranked opponent that the Vikings will face this year, their first being against UW-La Crosse early in the season. However, North Park has been making noise in the national polls themselves, as they received votes as of the Week 5 poll. A win against a conference rival who sits at #18 nationally will keep the Vikings at the top of the league standings as they continue to climb in the national spotlight.
IL Wesleyan defeated Augustana College Wednesday night 88-79 behind three 20 point scorers and 11 blocked shots. Their leading scorer on the season, Noah Cleveland, led the charge with a 25 point double-double, backed by Karlo Colak's 23 point double-double, while point guard Carsen Lawrence posted 21 points and 6 assists. 6-foot-10 forward Nathan Boldt was the driver of the defense, as he logged 5 of the Titans' 11 blocks. IWU has the ability to get shots up in a hurry and are making them at a high clip, shooting 43% from behind the arc against Augie and a near 80% from the free throw line. On the season they are shooting 45% from the field and sit around 16 assists per game with a lot of those coming by way of good defense and getting out in transition. Due to their length IWU provides matchup challenges for many teams and it shows on the stat sheet, winning the rebounding margin by three and holding teams to 67 points a game. If the Vikings can get out and run to avoid the Titans setting up on defense they can nullify Wesleyan's length advantage.
For the Vikings, they're coming off an electric OT win over North Central College. A game that saw the Vikings overcome an 18-point deficit in the second half behind Mike Vuckovic's efficient 28 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. He was accompanied by Kolden Vanlandingham's 15 points and Jakhi Gray's 14, with Gray knocking down crucial free throws down the stretch and William Bates logging a game-high 4 steals.
North Park's advantages lie in transition offense and defensive intensity. Out of their 14 games this season, IWU has only scored over 80 points four times, meaning they like to control the clock and get the right shot every time down the court. While North Park's averaging 91 points a game, good for first in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The Vikings' signature full-court pressure and transition offense can act as a nuisance for the Titans, forcing them to speed up and play at a pace that they usually don't play at. This pressure that is applied by North Park has forced their opponents to average 16 turnovers a game which has turned into an average of 18 points per game in transition for the Vikings, while the Titans only average 13 turnovers a game and hold teams to 12 points in transition, making this matchup all the more excitiing. Kolden Vanlandingham leads the Vikings with 2.1 steals per game and is one of eight North Park players to average at least one steal. It is a luxury that many teams do not have to be able to go to 8-10 guys deep and know that the defensive intensity won't drop off and the Vikings will need every player to bring a different level of intensity if they want to knock off the #18 team in the country.
Tip off is set for 4:15 PM CT on Saturday, January 10th at Illinois Wesleyan University inside the Shirk Center.
