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Ngwafang’s breakout game propels Vikings to 6-0

Kyle Rossi
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Ngwafang’s breakout game propels Vikings to 6-0
Chris Kielsmeier and Amele Ngwafang postgame

Amele Ngwafang enjoyed her best game so far at Cleveland State, connecting for 20 points while pulling down nine rebounds, helping her Vikings team (6-0, 2-0 Horizon League) to an 87-65 victory over Long Island University (0-6, 0-0 Northeast Conference) on Sunday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

“This is what she’s capable of,” CSU coach Chris Kielsmeier said afterwards. “She didn’t do anything tonight that surprised me.”

To be fair, there’s very little surprise in Ngwafang’s game. She plays Titanic-level low and typically outworks opponents for rebounds while being well positioned. Disproportionately, the points she gets are on offensive putbacks and other chaotic situations.

“[Assistant] Coach [Desma Thomas Bateast] emphasized how they were going to play us in the post,” Ngwafang said. “They’re a very aggressive team, and I just thought we took our time, we saw what the defense gave us, and we just executed well.”

On Sunday though, she added a new weapon to her arsenal: free throws. While a 6-for-10 rate from the charity stripe won’t blow many minds, the Radford transfer seems to have a newfound confidence when she absorbs one of the frequent shooting fouls against her, with the understanding that success or failure there plays a large role in what sort of game she ultimately has.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

“I try to shoot 100 free throws every day,” she said. “I’m starting to make them, so I’m trying to get my confidence back up. I know I get to the free throw line a lot, so I know I have to shoot a lot of free throws by myself.”

“She’s that type of player, I’ve got a tremendous amount of confidence and belief in her to make plays on both ends of the floor,” Kielsmeier added. “She was good defensively tonight too. She really made it tough for [LIU leading scorer Erykah Russell] in the paint to attack, and she got some good blocks on her and stuff.”

“Sometimes things just take time for kids, and there was no doubt – I told her that this game was coming, I just didn’t know when it was coming.”

Despite Ngwafang’s efforts, and despite entering the game winless and while being at the end of a road trip that saw them swing through Youngstown State on Friday (a 70-55 win for the Penguins), an enthusiastic LIU team gave the Vikings fits for a lot of the first three quarters before CSU managed to put the Sharks away.

Though the visitors never led during the contest, every time it seemed as if the Vikings might be about to crack the game open, Rene Haynes’ squad had an answer. They were within eight points as late as the 6:12 mark of the fourth quarter, before a pair of Gabby Smith three pointers triggered a CSU run that saw the Vikings score 17 of the game’s final 20 points.

LIU was able to hang around largely thanks to its blistering rate from behind the arc as the Sharks went 10-for-18 from three, highlighted by Emaia O’Brien’s 5-for-7 effort. Danielle Grim and Shyla Sanford each connected twice from long distance as well.

“[LIU] played really well, and [O’Brien]’s a heck of a player, that kid can flat-out play,” Kielsmeier added. “They’re a way better basketball team than what their record shows.”

“But with that being said, you always look at why are they hitting those shots, and we made some mistakes we can get fixed. We have been making those mistakes for weeks now, they just hadn’t been hit on us at that high of a level.”

For the Vikings, Barbara Zieniewska also had her best game of the young season, chipping in nine points while corralling a game-high 12 rebounds. Smith finished with 13 points while Destiny Leo, despite having an uncharacteristic game with a 4-for-16 line from the floor, still managed to score 18 points.

“I just believe so much in this team. I just think we’ve got playmakers on the offensive end, different people who can step up any given night, go out and do what [Amele] did tonight, a whole bunch of them,” Kielsmeier said.

Up next, the Vikings – despite Kielsmeier’s joking protests – will play their first two road games of the season, of the 11 required by Horizon League membership. The foray back into conference play includes a trip to Northern Kentucky on Friday, followed by a contest at Wright State on Sunday, though it also comes with a warning from CSU’s coach:

“Don’t be surprised if [Amele] does it again next game out.”

Former RMU star using experience, wisdom to guide up and coming stars

Scott Meier
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Former RMU star using experience, wisdom to guide up and coming stars

Jimmy Langhurst, a Willard, Ohio native, spent four seasons as a guard for Robert Morris and averaged8.7 points per game, 84% from the free throw line. He also appeared in two post season games as a Colonial: the 2008 NIT and 2009 NCAA tournament. Langhurst ended his RMU career winning two NEC tournament titles in 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.

Knowing what I do about Jimmy, which knowing him for the better part of 14 years, I am not at all surprised to see where he has landed: on Andy Toole’s staff at RMU. Whether it was dealing with a broken nose a couple days before the NEC semi-final in 2008, fighting to get into the starting lineup, Langhurst knows and lives by one motto: FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU WANT.

Langhurst, in his current role of Director of Basketball Operations, know what it takes to get to the D1 level and what it takes to play for a leader like Andy Toole. I was fortunate enough to get a few moments of his time and ask him some questions about the teams current state, what his duties are, what his memories of my days as a student manager are and a few other things.

1. So, an 0-4 start… I know there are tons of negatives to come from it, what positives do you take away from it?

(J) We’ve played some tough teams on the road and let one slip away at home. Hopefully we have learned from our mistakes and can move forward. Our team has shown signs of progress at times on the offensive and defensive end. We just have to sustain that for 40 minutes. 

2. I know coach Toole is all about fight, grit. In your opinion, who has shown you the MOST of it during this tough stretch?

Khaliel Spear has shown some fight/grit this year with his play on the court. He really dedicated himself last Spring/Summer to develop both his game and his body for this season, and it’s showing!

3. What changes can RMU fans expect to see with conference play upcoming? Any starting rotation changes, added minutes for guys?

A couple of players that haven’t played yet this year will be back for HL play: Kam Farris and Brandon Stone (both out with injuries). Kam will obviously bring some shooting and knowledge on the offensive end. Brandon will bring some size/length to our front court, and is capable of stretching the floor. We will keep harping the defensive side of things. That won’t change. We can’t keep giving up 82 ppg and expect to win games in the HL.

4.  So, being a former RMU Mens Basketball star, what’s it like to coach at your alma mater? 

Being back at RMU means a lot to me! I love it here and it’s a special place to me. Winning Championships here both as a player and as a coach is unique (‘09, ’10, ’20). There aren’t many former players that can say that they have coached at their alma mater. 

5. As Director of ops, what are some of your main duties. Scouting, travel arrangements, etc?

(J)At the Ops spot I juggle a lot of responsibilities. The duties can range from travel, making scouting reports, player workouts, player film breakdown sessions etc. It’s been great the last few years because I’ve been able to be on the floor to coach and be active in the drills. 

6. As some may know, I used to be a student manager for the teams you played on. What are some memories, good and bad, you have of our time together in those teams?

Always good memories with the managers! The managers here at RMU have always been treated with respect. As a player, I thought of you guys as my teammates. You do so much behind the scenes, work hard every day, and have long nights in the gym too! 

The only bad memory I can recall was after a late return (2:30AM) from Monmouth/Mt. St. Mary’s my Sophomore year. I shot poorly on the weekend and I had you and others come straight off the bus to rebound for me! I’m sure it wasn’t what you wanted to do immediately after getting off the bus, but you wanted to help and put the team first.  

(Langhurst didn’t shoot poorly very often; he felt automatic from anywhere on the floor) 

7. What’s your biggest piece of advice you’d give Someone wanting to play D1 college basketball. What was your biggest challenge that you faced?

My advice would be… There are two things that are guaranteed every day in a practice setting… Opportunity and Adversity. You’ll get opportunities before, during and by staying late after practice. The adversity will hit in the classroom, practice, life etc. It’s how you respond to that adversity. 

My biggest challenge would have been not playing as much as I wanted as a Freshman. I knew that if I continued to work hard on my game that my time would come. It didn’t happen overnight (Microwave Success) but I had to stay consistent with my work ethic. The next 3 years I was a starter and a member of an NIT and 2 NCAA teams. 

Langhurst has quite the vital role on this team. He is someone Coach Toole can lean on to guide his younger plays as well as someone who can step in and be a role model to the older, more seasoned players. I speak from years of experience, Jimmy knows what he is doing; what he is talking about, now its time, with being in the Horizon League, it is properly on display for more eyes to see.

The Colonials, 0-4 so far this season, look to finally get on the board with their first win Saturday when they travel to take on Davidson. It can’t get worse that it was last week against their former NEC rival, I look for the Toole/Langhurst lead Colonials to rebound. After all, fighting for what you want and what you need is what Jimmy Langhurst has done his whole life.

Vikings have success in MTE

Alec Kwait
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Vikings have success in MTE

The Cleveland State Vikings earned a trio of hard fought non conference battles, both of which were part of their own midseason invitational, hosting Canisius and Coppin State.

As an appetizer to their MTE, the Vikings hosted Edinboro, a division two school located in Pennsylvania. The Vikings began to figure some things out offensively against the Fighting Scots, as they had four players reach double figure scoring; D’Moi Hodge, Torrey Patton, Broc Finstuen, and Yahel Hill in their 75-61 victory. CSU also held Edinboro to just three fast break points on the night, an area of their defense that has become a staple so far this season. While much of this can be attributed to their full court press, they are not allowing for teams to break it in a way that leads to a quick bucket on the other end.

The Vikings began their MTE by hosting Canisius out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Golden Griffins came into Cleveland State’s tournament with a winless record, but they played a pair of high majors very closely in games versus Miami (FL) and nationally ranked St. Bonaventure. Despite their overall record, the Vikings knew this game would be hard fought, and they were not disappointed. After scoring a season high in points with 45 in the first half, the Vikings were led by Hodge, who amassed 27 points on 11-15 shooting in the Vikings’ 80-70 victory.

Following CSU’s victory over Canisius, Dennis Gates spoke to the ability of first year Viking Deshon Parker, who has been tasked with the starting point guard duties in the absence of Craig Beaudion who is sidelined indefinitely after undergoing surgery on his ankle.

Gates stated, “Whenever you have a guy who started two straight years, averaged over 30 minutes at JMU…then he transferred and was on an NCAA tournament team, you have some great experience. And then I didn’t wanna disrupt the flow of Yahel Hill, who was coming off the bench playing a combo position for us. I just thought to settle the entire team down, let’s get someone as steady as Craig Beaudion, Deshon Parker was it with his experience I thought.”

Through his first few games as a Viking, Parker has been what Gates has exactly described; a steadying force who has the ability to facilitate half court offense and make his teammates better. Parker will be asked to do that and then some as the Vikings get ready to begin the conference portion of their schedule in the coming weeks.

After the victory over Canisius, Cleveland State did battle with a very young but upstart Coppin State ball club to wrap up their MTE. Despite the Vikings getting off to another hot start in the first half, Coppin State was able to weather the storm and gain more confidence as the contest went on.

The Eagles, who have only one senior on their roster, doubled up Cleveland State’s output from behind the three point arc as they converted on ten three pointers in comparison to the Vikings who hit just five. This allowed for Coppin to stay in the game until the waning moments, when Hodge and Tre Gomillion put the Eagles to bed with a layup and breakaway dunk, respectively.

Despite the opponent being undermanned in terms of veteran leadership, this is the exact type of game Cleveland State needs to become comfortable playing as conference play nears. As the defending conference champions, the Vikings will receive their opponents best shot on a nightly basis as they are now viewed as a mid major program who can make some noise.

Playing with targets on your back is something that Cleveland State is not accustomed to, but this year, they will take the title of perhaps being the Horizon League’s most anticipated opponent based off their success from last year. While it has taken some time for the Vikings to grow accustomed to this, they are certainly on the right track in terms of gaining the mental tenacity they need to bring into each game as defending league champions.

The week that was For Oakland basketball – 11/14

Matt Dudek
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Let’s clear one thing up before we go forward with this. When we say “Oakland Basketball” we are talking men’s and women’s hoops. We here at HoriZone Roundtable are doing our best to give the women’s side equal attention to the men’s side. They deserve it. As this will likely become a weekly article, we wanted to establish that up front.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s get to the week in Oakland basketball.

The week started out strong with the men’s team hosting Toledo on Wednesday. Greg Kampe had this as one of 3 games that he felt really mattered in the non conference season as it would really be a way to see where his team stood against another solid mid-major. Fresh off their strong showing in the loss to West Virginia to open the season and the upset of Oklahoma State (Cowboys, not Sooners. That way my bad) the Grizzlies were feeling confident.

That confidence was aided by almost 4,000 people packed in the O’rena for the first regular season game in way too long. Oakland went into the half down one, but really got things going in the second half outscoring Toledo 49-27 and winning decidedly 80-59. Jamal Cain lead the way with a career high (at the time) 29 points and 17 rebounds. He was clearly the best player on the floor for either team, both athletically and skillset. Oakland also got 18 points from Blake Lampman on 5-9 from 3 and 17 points with 11 assists for Jalen Moore. Moore has struggled a bit early in the season as other teams have made him a focus of their defense, but was able to look more like Jalen Moore of last year this game.

The following night, The OU Women opened up their Horizon League conference slate hosting Youngstown State. The Penguins jumped out to a 23-13 lead after the first quarter and never really allowed the game to get much closer. YSU was hot from the field all night shooting 56% overall including 12-23 from 3 while also outrebounding Oakland by 15 boards. The Golden Grizzlies were lead by Kahlaijah Dean who scored 18 points and Kayla Luchenbach who chipped in 10. Oakland managed to turnover YSU 21 times to their 9, but never found a way to convert those to points.

Friday night it was the men’s turn to play basketball again. This time, they took the show on the road to No. 14 ranked Alabama. Coming into the game, Oakland had the 3rd ranked RPI in the country, however, their early season success was not to be duplicated on this night. Alabama lead from start to finish including a lead as large as 29. Oakland struggled to get their zone defense set up, and that was really the story of the game as they have really used their defense as their calling card early in the season especially at times where their offense has struggled.

The offense did struggle again on this night, as they shot 4-23 from three and 30% from the field. Cain set another career high in points, pushing it to 31, while Moore struggled again against a Power 5 team. Through 4 games, the point guard is averaging nearly 6 assists per game, but also 6.5 turnovers while shooting 26% from the field and 9% from 3. The reality is, Jalen Moore is a much better player than his stats show, but teams have been prepared for him this season and are making others beat them.

One positive from the game for OU was the first appearance of the season for Zion Young. Kampe had mentioned his ideal situation was to not play Young on this trip, but he got him 5 minutes of work in the blowout loss. Hopefully they can ease him back into the lineup getting into conference play where he can provide some offensive spark for the team.

To round out the week in OU basketball, the women hosted Robert Morris for their second game of the HL slate. It was a back and forth game, but in the end, OU pulled away and finished with a 65-60 win. RMU was picked 9th in the preseason poll so it seemed like a game that OU should have dominated, yet, they struggled all the way to the end with Colonials. OU was again lead by Kahlaijah Dean who had 22 points while Briana Breedy chipped in 13 as the only other Grizzly to reach double figures.

Jeff Tungate and the women’s coaching staff seem to still be struggling to find a combination that works consistently on the floor. This game saw Breanna Perry start in place of Luchenbach and Alona Blackwell, who started all but 1 game last year and averaged 10.5 points a game, come off the bench and seem to be in the background much more than she was in the past. The minute distribution still seems unsure and may be playing a part in the seemingly rocky start to the OU season. They are a veteran team and it would figure this would be a year that the team is expected to succeed or talk of change could be in the near future.

Things do not get any easier for the women this week. After 2 games in conference, they will step back to non conference play with the two in state Big 10 schools. They travel to Ann Arbor to take on 13th ranked Michigan on Monday night before hosting MSU Friday afternoon in the Orena.

The men have a very important week as they head to Florida for the Gulf Coast Showcase. The only known game is their Monday afternoon tilt with University of Vermont, a team Kampe says is consistently one of the best mid-majors in the country. That is another measuring stick game for them to see where they really stand in the mid-major realm. They will follow that game up with 2 more games in the next two days as part of the MTE. While the Alabama loss certainly wasn’t the result they wanted, it is this next week that will really determine where the team is at this season. A few wins in the MTE would likely set them up for success heading towards the Horizon League conference schedule.

#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 2

Kyle Rossi
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#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 2

I could write a broad opening statement here but let’s be honest, you just want to see what I said about your team. So let’s go.

TeamRankPre.Change
Youngstown State17+6
Cleveland State24+2
IUPUI31-2
Milwaukee42-2
Northern Kentucky5T-5–
Oakland6T-5-1
Green Bay73-4
Purdue Fort Wayne811+3
Robert Morris910+1
UIC109-1
Detroit Mercy1112+1
Wright State128-4

I really like what I’ve seen from Youngstown State so far, with the Guins reading as a much better team than preseason projections. Lilly Ritz has been a walking double-double, Chelsea Olson has been Chelsea Olson, and they’re getting contributions from everyone who sees the floor. YSU can beat anyone in the league when they’re connecting from three, and they showed on Saturday that they can find another route when things aren’t clicking from behind the arc. It’s a crowded field near the top of the rankings, with four teams sweeping the opening Horizon League weekend (not to mention the IUPUI situation), but YSU has the most impressive collection of wins among those teams, including two over the MAC, a league HL teams often struggle with, as well as a road win at Oakland to open the conference schedule.

Who owns the nation’s longest active winning streak? It’s Cleveland State, believe it or not, with the Vikings’ 2021 WBI title combined with a 5-0 start to this season adding up to eight victories (NCAA champion Stanford, WNIT champion Rice, and skipped-the-year-altogether Princeton have lost this season). Sure, there’s a strength of schedule argument to be made, especially after CSU managed to grab a win from IUPUI without facing them on the court, and Chris Kielsmeier’s squad struggled with UIC’s press on Saturday, but nevertheless, the Vikings look like a serious conference contender at this point. Destiny Leo has taken over point guard duties and may be a darkhorse player of the year candidate, while home run threat Gabby Smith has stood out among the newcomers.

If you can tell me that you know exactly where IUPUI should be in these rankings, you’re lying. Technically, of course, the Jags are 1-3 (0-2 Horizon League) record thanks to a pair of COVID forfeits this past weekend, but at the same time, the available game evidence still points to them probably being somewhere better than third. Austin Parkinson’s squad went to Ann Arbor on opening day and nearly pulled off a stunner against No. 11 Michigan, then they followed it up with a solid win over Bowling Green, the MAC’s defending regular season champion. I’ll take my chances on Macee Williams and company proving themselves once they get back on the court, but until then, they’re two games behind the conference leaders.

I was set to bury Milwaukee until Saturday. The Panthers opened the season by dropping a game they should’ve won at Ball State, then followed it up with a loss to a tough North Dakota State team (with the Bison losing decisively to Green Bay two days later) and a boat race at Florida State. You don’t necessarily expect things on trips to play an ACC or a Big Ten school of course, but you’d like to see your conference favorites at least be competitive in those games, as IUPUI was at Michigan. Then conference games rolled around, and suddenly Milwaukee was Milwaukee again, sweeping Wright State and NKU. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, Megan Walstad was Walstading with 32 points and 20 boards over the two games. I’m still not entirely convinced that we didn’t overrate the Panthers in preseason, but it’s not looking quite as bleak anymore.

Until Saturday, I strongly considered placing Northern Kentucky first largely because the Norse were extremely impressive in their Horizon League opener. Essentially, they walked into Kress and absolutely choked out Green Bay, which isn’t something many have done over the years. NKU’s stats were eye-catching in that game, as Lindsey Duvall had 19 points while Grayson Rose dominated the paint with 12 points, 18 rebounds, and six blocks. Just as impressively, Camryn Whitaker’s squad held Phoenix stars Meghan Pingel and Sydney Levy to zero points on a combined 0-for-17 from the floor. And then…they went to Milwaukee two days later and couldn’t finish the perfect weekend. The Wisconsin trip is brutal, so some slack is deserved, and we’ll see how NKU responds in their next HL games, when Cleveland State and Purdue Fort Wayne visit Highland Heights.

Oakland probably deserved a better fate in their Horizon League opener against Youngstown State, a game that saw the Penguins hit everything while the Grizzlies hit a lot less than that en route to an 11-point loss. Still, Jeff Tungate’s pressure defense gave YSU fits, it’s not hard to envision an alternate reality where OU takes that game, and there will certainly be others down the road where the team’s ability to make up a lot of points quickly will work in their favor. Oakland bounced back with a win over Robert Morris ahead of a big (or B1G) trip to Michigan on Monday to climb to 2-2 (1-1 HL), and while Kahlaijah Dean has been leading the way as usual, OU has been getting very good balance. Kayla Luchenbach has been a solid inside presence, while Breanne Beatty and Brianna Breedy (totally different people, believe it or not) have knocked down plenty of big shots.

Green Bay has looked better than a seventh-place team so far, but the middle of the Horizon League pack is extremely crowded, and the game results – a loss to NKU, and a 1-1 mark this past weekend against teams that Milwaukee swept – sort of box things in a bit. Meghan Pingel has been a revelation so far this season, as the redshirt senior who has mostly been a pass-first guard during her career suddenly started scoring a ton of points, including 22 against NDSU in what is probably the team’s most impressive win. As mentioned, she was held off the board against the Norse, a major factor in that result, while Hailey Oskey and Brooklyn Blackburn took the lead roles in Saturday’s win over Wright State. A brutal upcoming schedule might also mean that we’re unlikely to get a better read on the Phoenix in the near future.

If you’re a Purdue Fort Wayne fan and you’re reading this, and you want to say “Hey, we’re 3-0 and just swept our Horizon League weekend too, why are we down here?” I get that. The 3-0 mark is a bit awkward since the Dons got one of those wins via IUPUI forfeit but didn’t have to give one back when their own COVID issue wiped out a non-conference game at Ball State, so basically PFW is a couple rulebook revisions from being 2-1 on the exact same resume. Nevertheless the Dons – who have already topped last season’s win total – look primed to make things interesting in the middle of the standings thanks to Shayla Sellers, who had a career game against UIC on Thursday, and the Ott sisters.

I think if you asked Robert Morris, they’d feel like they could be 4-0 overall instead of 1-3, and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong about that. The Colonials’ opener against St. Bonaventure and their most recent game at Oakland, in particular, were games where RMU led for substantial portions of the 40 minutes before fading late. Sol Castro has been good once again, but this season, Esther Castedo has also risen to the top of the stat sheet. Castedo has seen her role increase gradually throughout her career, and while her 23 points against Detroit Mercy was an outlier, some sort of sustained contribution beyond Castro would be significant. RMU reads as a strong defensive team that needs to make their shots count, but they do have upward potential.

After watching UIC in person on Saturday, I’m extremely impressed with the Flames. They have a very young and talented team, and were a couple more big shots and a couple fewer fouls away from taking down Cleveland State. Jaida McCloud continues to be one of the conference’s elite x-factor players who can match up with just about everyone and do just about everything, with her 24 and 7 line against the Vikings standing as the most recent evidence. UIC pressed for an entire half – not an easy thing to do, try it if you don’t believe me – and put future opponents on notice that half court is earned, not given. Kristian Young and Keona Schenck have also been great for the league’s Chicago entry.

I don’t know how many games Detroit Mercy will win this year. It probably won’t be a ton if we’re being brutally honest, but after watching the Titans repeatedly get off the mat and nearly stun Youngstown State on Saturday, I remain convinced that they’re absolutely going to ruin a good team’s week at some point this year. UDM is essentially a roster with no shared history, they’re a bunch of players from all over who couldn’t find what they were looking for somewhere else, and they’re playing like they have a chance to re-write some stories. It’s hard not to root for a situation like that. Louisiana Tech transfer Irene Murua has sort of taken the mantle as LaTanya Collins’ go-to player, but I really liked Daija Moses against YSU and Imani McNeal and Sydney Searcy have been good as well.

Wright State hasn’t been within single digits of anyone yet this year, and while they’ve had a tough opening schedule (Bradley and Toledo in their non-conference, then road games at Milwaukee and Green Bay this past weekend), it’s hard to find many reasons to believe that the defending league champs won’t finish near the bottom of the standings this season. The flip side of that, of course, is that Kari Hoffman had a massive rebuilding job in front of her and her track record suggests that WSU won’t be down here for too long. As projected by most, the Raiders’ leading returners, Destyne Jackson and Jada Roberson (who entered, then exited the transfer portal over the summer) have been their best players to this point.

#HLMBB Power Rankings — Week 2

John Parker
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#HLMBB Power Rankings — Week 2

I don’t know why I’ve insisted on starting up the Power Rankings early the last two seasons. With two weeks in the books, the information we have on this year’s Horizon League is…inadequate. Oakland looks to have locked up a superstar in the transfer portal and came away with a pair of really impressive wins, but otherwise the only teams that have played enough Division I competition to give us any idea about their abilities have shown they might be in for long seasons.

Here’s a look at the first Horizon League Men’s Basketball Power Rankings of the 2022 season:

TeamRankPreviousChange
Oakland16+5
Wright State22–
Cleveland State31-2
Northern Kentucky45+1
Detroit Mercy54-1
UIC69+3
Purdue Fort Wayne77–
Milwaukee83-5
Youngstown State98-1
Robert Morris1010–
Green Bay1111–
IUPUI1212–

Oakland has played one of the tougher schedules of any team in the league so far, and the Golden Grizzlies have come away 2-2. On Wednesday, Jamal Cain led OU with 29 points and 17 rebounds in a dominant 80-59 win over a Toledo team picked to finish third in the MAC. On Friday, Oakland was no match for Alabama but Cain once again starred with 31 points and 10 rebounds. Not only should Cain be a shoo-in for Horizon League Player of the Week, but the Marquette transfer has immediately emerged as a contender for League Player of the Year. Cain is averaging 22.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game through four difficult contests.

Wright State gets the second spot in this week’s rankings thanks to the competitive game it gave to a Marshall team that ranks higher than anyone in the league on KenPom right now. The Raiders fell behind for good once Grant Basile fouled out with a career-high 37 points that helped him win Horizon League Player of the Week last week. This week’s contest against Purdue wasn’t quite as promising, but with 7-foot-4 standout Zach Edey in the middle, it was going to be hard for a team that relies on its 6-foot-9 post player to have much success.

Cleveland State secured its first Division I win on Saturday against Canisius, but had to do it without starting point guard Craig Beaudion. Beaudion missed the team’s last two games with an injury, and things have been a bit of a struggle in his absense. While the Vikings added several nice pieces to last year’s league champion, those pieces were primarily on the wing and the absence of the team’s experienced floor general is a significant loss. Pacific transfer Brock Finstuen has been an excellent addition for CSU so far. The wing is averaging 10.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest off of the bench.

With just two Division I games played and both against mid-major competition, Northern Kentucky might be the toughest team to figure out in the league right now. The Norse were one basket away from getting to this point undefeated, but neither UNC-Greensboro nor Eastern Michigan is expected to be more than a middle-of-the-road mid-major this year. This might be a little too high for the Norse at the moment, but Marques Warrick has yet to find his shot this year. The 2021 runaway Freshman of the Year winner is averaging just 7.0 points and 2.3 assists per game this season.

Ranking winless Detroit Mercy this high feels odd, especially after the team’s season-opening beatdown at the hands of Wyoming. But the Titans have seemed to make leaps and bounds every game against a strong schedule, and they’ve done it without Noah Waterman. Naturally Antoine Davis has carried the scoring load through the first four games, but it’s the contribution of Madut Akec that could pay serious dividends when UDM is back at full strength. The USF transfer is second on team with 14.5 points per game, and leads the way with 8.8 rebounds per contest.

I might be overreacting to a mostly competitive loss to post-Cameron Krutwig Loyola and a win over Valparaiso, but I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from UIC this season. Led by Damaria Franklin’s 16.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, the Flames have played some very nice basketball. The Valpo game was well-executed and a lot of fun to watch from start to finish.

Purdue Fort Wayne‘s win over Austin Peay immediately looked better when APSU turned around and took down Dayton…aside from the fact that Dayton would be 0-4 with nothing but losses to mid-majors had UIC been able to hang on in its season-opener. Nonetheless, the little information we have for PFW this year has been pretty solid. The Mastodons were overwhelmed by Big 10 team Minnesota, but that’s been a recurring theme for most of the league so far. While the season is still young, it’s been a little surprising to see returning starter Jalon Pipkins leading the way for PFW so far. Pipkins is averaging 16.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game so far.

Milwaukee drops significantly from its preseason ranking after floundering for 30 minutes in its lone contest against a team that looks like it would be a middle-of-the-road caliber Horizon League team in Eastern Kentucky. The Panthers easily beat a bad North Dakota squad and were clobbered by a Florida team one game removed from cruising past perennial NCAA Tournament team Florida State, so the EKU result winds up the only one that can give much valuable information at this time. The team fought back late for a respectable looking 77-71 loss, but it wasn’t pretty for a majority of the contest. As expected, five-star freshman Patrick Baldwin Jr. has been the go-to-guy for the Panthers, leading the team with 17.7 points and 8 rebounds per game. There is room for some hope for the Panthers: Baldwin is shooting just 21.1 percent from beyond the 3-point arc after coming into college touted as an elite perimeter scorer.

Youngstown State looked to be on its way to proving it was decisively better than the lower ranked teams in the OVC and Summit League through the first two weeks. The Penguins clobbered Southeast Missouri State, finished off a hot-shooting St. Thomas and looked to be on the way to holding on against Southern-Illinois Edwardsville in the first two weeks of the season when a late 7-0 run against the Cougars that ended with a game-winner from well beyond the 3-point arc prevented YSU from holding a winning record. To make matters worse, returning starter Garrett Covington was lost for year due to an Achilles injury. Michael Akuchie already looked to be doing his best Naz Bohannon impression by erupting into the team’s leading scorer (18.0 per game) and rebounder (7.5 per game), but now might need to do even more to move the Penguins up the rankings.

Like Detroit Mercy, most of Robert Morris‘ results so far aren’t a surprise. The Colonials dropped games against Kentucky, UCF and the Ohio team that cruised past Cleveland State. It’s the loss to former NEC rival Mount Saint Mary’s that’s going to sting. RMU led 51-36 before a 16-0 Mount Saint Mary’s run put the Colonials behind. The teams went back-and-forth until overtime, where the Mountaineers got the upper hand to win 74-70. Last year’s mid-season addition Kahliel Spear is leading the way for Robert Morris, pacing the team with 14 points and 8 rebounds per game.

Green Bay didn’t face the number of high-level opponents that fellow winless teams Detroit Mercy and RMU took on, but the Phoenix are also the winless team most likely to be truly devastated not to have a winning record right now. The team held leads against Indiana State, UNC-Greensboro and FIU before fading late and losing in heartbreaking fashion to drop to 0-5. Donovan Ivory has been a pleasant surprise for Green Bay. After failing to log significant minutes in stops at UMass-Lowell and Boise State, Ivory burst onto the scene and currently leads the Phoenix in scoring with an efficient 16.2 points per game.

Following a decent showing at Butler, IUPUI looked like it might not be destined for the bottom of the Power Rankings. Then the Jaguars took part in a Multi-Team Event featuring three of the fifteen worst ranked teams on KenPom, as well as host UTSA that was coming off of a loss to unranked Division II opponent Texas A&M-Commerce and came away with an 0-5 record on the year. Given everything the team lost it’s not a surprise that the Jaguars have a lot to figure out in Matt Crenshaw’s first year, but there have been some intriguing pieces. B.J. Maxwell has been far and away the best player on IUPUI in his return to the Horizon League, leading the team with 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

Should We Have Expected Better?

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Bob and John delve into yet another week of non-conference games, as well as the started of the conference slate for the women, which found IUPUI notably absent due to COVID issues. They discuss the rise of Jamal Cain as one of the best players in the league during the early going, as well as some of the struggles teams from top to bottom have had in unexpected places. 

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Wright State remains winless after tough Horizon play in Wisconsin

Blake Schumaker
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Wright State remains winless after tough Horizon play in Wisconsin

Horizon League play has officially begun for the women’s basketball teams, about a month earlier than the COVID season last year. For Wright State, this allows them to take a break from the non-conference tests to see what their early competition looks like, as Milwaukee and Green Bay both finished just behind them in the standings during Wright State’s marquee year. Milwaukee started their non-conference play with incredibly difficult matchups at Ball State, North Dakota State, and #16 Florida State that tested their mettle and gave them a 0-3 record to start the season. They look to prove that their record is nowhere close to indicative of the squad they will be putting out on their quest for another Horizon title.

Wright State started the game taking advantage of Milwaukee’s passing lanes, accumulating two steals in just under two minutes. However, shooting was absolutely cold, resulting in Milwaukee taking an early 13-2 lead off of Wright State making 1-8 in their shooting attempts. Coming out of the timeout and after multiple attempts to drain the ball from three, both teams attempted to drive the ball to the rim to Wright State’s success. After a full minute long possession off of multiple offensive rebounds, the score was 17-10 Milwaukee at the end of the 1st.

The second quarter saw the Raiders continue their thieving tactics as they collected more turnovers off of bad Milwaukee passing. Jada Roberson led the pack in the game with five total steals while the team made a total of 13. Besides this, the quarter was very quiet in scoring; no team had any good chances at fast breaks and a turnover-heavy quarter would prevent any team from making their presence known. At halftime, each time had only made 9 points a piece to bring the score to 26-19. Wright State went scoreless for four minutes to end the half.

The third quarter started as a grind with only 4 points made in first three minutes. Milwaukee could not find any good pathways inside the paint as most efforts to get to the rim ended in a steal or a stiff defensive effort by the interior guards. Off of a superior defensive effort in the third, the Raiders went and tied the game at 30-30 with three minutes left. However, those points would be the last the Raiders would get in the quarter as Milwaukee took full advantage of the Raiders’ foul trouble to earn a 40-30 lead at the end of the quarter.

Wright State was able to drag the deficit to 4 in the fourth quarter before another Milwaukee run off of a quick 5 points in ten seconds took away Wright State’s momentum. Milwaukee kept Wright State at arms length with their double digit lead and ended the game 58-47.

The Raiders were led by bench player Diamond Stokes, making 6-8 from the floor to land 12 points in 22 minutes of play. While the Raiders were phenomenal in grabbing steals from the floor, they were matched by an inability to convert a majority of those steals into points on the ground. Some costly mishandling of the ball resulted in the Raiders only managing a +2 turnover ratio. Milwaukee played a incredibly clean game, only acquiring five total fouls on the night to prevent any costly turnovers or free throws from ruining their night.

Both teams shot consistently on the floor when their possessions weren’t turned over, with the Raiders at 39% and Milwaukee at 47%. Wright State’s conversion at three continues to suffer as they went 3-16 from behind the arc, with most shots and conversions coming from Destyne Jackson. The Raiders do show a sturdy paint defense that continues to make paint points a battle to acquire, but Milwaukee was able to take increasingly contested shots that found the inside of the rim.

The Raiders continued Horizon play Saturday with a short bus trip to Green Bay, saying goodbye to the volleyball team that cheered them on while they awaited their tournament start. An unusually cursed matchup, Wright State is 66-7 all time against Green Bay, who usually performs at the same level as other national powerhouses under Kevin Borseth. Coach Hoffman looks to start her career against Green Bay with a win as they start on a brisk Saturday afternoon. Green Bay, on the other hand, is looking to stop a losing streak after losing to NKU off of a poor shooting performance.

Wright State started the quarter with two brilliantly placed three pointers by Jackson and KK White to take an early 8-3 lead. Then a scoring lull took over the Raiders as they went nearly six minutes without a score, allowing a 14-0 run for Green Bay. The Raiders would then only get within 3 of Green Bay as every Wright State point was immediately answered by the Phoenix. A late foul on a possession allows two free throws from Hailey Oskey, who puts the Phoenix up 27-18 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw the Raiders and the Phoenix traded points until another six minute drought took over the Raiders, putting Green Bay up for good. Green Bay’s 12-0 run gave the Phoenix a double digit lead that the Raiders could not crawl back from. Wright State had the highest scoring first half of the season with 32 points, but were unable to overcome Green Bay’s onslaught of 49 points.

Wright State’s strength lies in driving the rim, but most of the shots taken in the first half had been from the three point range. While this had some success, converting on four out of eleven attempts, the offense had slowed down the clock and did not fire as quickly as Green Bay had in that half as a result. This ended up being the undoing of the offense for the Raiders.

Methodical play began the third quarter as Wright State and Green Bay slowly jostled for position. Each team took its time to find an open selection and make shots where they could. Green Bay had a couple of moments of weakness that allowed the Raiders to cut the deficit to 53-44, but this was immediately followed by another lull by the Raiders as their shots bounced off the rim. By the end of the third, the game once again looked to be fully in Green Bay’s grasp with a 64-47 lead. Despite a late push in the fourth quarter to get into range, Green Bay successfully added to their win tally with a score of 78-67.

Four Raiders saw double digit points as the Raider offense had their best showing so far. With 45% shooting overall and 9-22 from three, this squad was able to successfully showcase its offensive talents and ability to spread points wherever they so choose. Where the Raiders struggled was with rebounds and free throws, shooting 14-22 from the line and getting out-rebounded by an 8 point margin. In particular, Green Bay’s second chance shots off of ten offensive rebounds were the turning point of the game.

The Raiders return home for their first contest in the Nutter Center against Xavier on Wednesday, November 24th. They will then travel to Marshall to take on the Herd on November 30th before restarting Horizon play again against Purdue Fort Wayne and Cleveland State.

“Fortunate” Vikings top UIC to sweep unusual conference opening week

Kyle Rossi
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“Fortunate” Vikings top UIC to sweep unusual conference opening week

Cleveland State 74, UIC 64

Chris Kielsmeier postgame

In most of the objective ways, Saturday evening’s victory was an ugly one for the Vikings (5-0, 2-0 Horizon League), despite the fact that CSU never trailed UIC (0-3, 0-2 HL) after the first minute of the second quarter and was generally up by double digits at most points, even pushing the lead as high as 20 midway through the fourth quarter.

The culprit for the ugliest pretty win ever: Tasha Pointer’s full-court press, which the Flames coach unleashed in the second half, confounding the Vikings into many of their 30 turnovers. There were plenty in the standard double-team, hand-in-a-passing-lane forms, but really, they came in all varieties: five and ten-second violations, passes to nobody, and, when things got particularly desperate, court-length heaves that sailed past the target and out of the back of the end zon…err baseline.

Over the second half of the fourth quarter, the Flames cashed in enough of the miscues to trim that 20-point lead down to nine, and were a couple missed shots from drawing even closer.

“Tonight we were fortunate to get the win, it exposed a lot of things that we’ve got to get better with this week, and we’ll go to work on that,” Cleveland State coach Chris Kielsmeier said.

“I’ve got to get better, I’ve got to coach them better, I’ve got to figure some things out. That’s the challenge of the game, you just love constantly being challenged, and that’s what the game does to you.”

For Cleveland State, salvation both in the hairy late moments and throughout the game rested in some of the familiar places – Destiny Leo put up 22 points on 50 percent shooting, to name one – but also some previously unexplored to this point in the young season.

Isabella Geraci fell squarely under that latter category. The senior from North Ridgeville, OH, who usually serves as something of a shooting specialist, took a turn in the spotlight on Saturday. Her 28:30 of playing time, second on the Vikings to Leo’s 36:07, began at a point that helped turn back an early UIC rally and finished with a career-best 16 points on 4-for-7 from the floor and 7-for-7 from the free throw line.

“Every player, whether you start or you don’t, it’s basketball, go play,” Kielsmeier said. “When your number’s called, and you’ve got an opportunity to produce, go produce. And [Geraci] did a great job of that tonight.”

Geraci and Leo were both part of a strong CSU shooting effort that helped negate the turnover issues, one that totaled 39.6 percent on field goals and 72.1 percent on free throws. The two of them contributed an outside presence along with effective drives to the hoop that often resulted in trips to the line. Others like Nadia Dumas and Amele Ngwafang, who combined for 16 points and 17 rebounds despite tough matchups from UIC’s interior defense, were beneficiaries of the times CSU managed to break the press.

“When we broke the press, we were able to attack downhill and get to the basket, and made a lot of plays and got to the free throw line a lot,” Kielsmeier said.

“[There really were] two stories to the game. When we were turning it over, it got messy, we were throwing the ball all over the place, we were allowing them to be able to do what they want to do. When we weren’t turning it over, we were making plays, and we made a lot of plays tonight.”

The Flames were paced by Jaida McCloud, who scored a game-high 24 points and added seven rebounds. Kristian Young added 15 points, eight during a first quarter UIC surge that saw the visitors take a four-point lead into the second quarter. UIC’s young inside players, Leah Yarbrough, Ky Dempsey-Toney, and Isabel Gonzalez were also effective but plagued with foul trouble (Yarbrough, in fact, committed fouls on CSU’s first two possessions of the contest).

“We’re trying to get better at closing the high post, we really focused on that heavy this week, and we felt like we’d made a significant stride with it, and I think that the tape’s going to show that we really didn’t,” Kielsmeier said of the source of much of the Flames’ offense.

“They’ve got a great young team, and certainly they’re going to get a lot better throughout the year.”

For now though, the Vikings and their head coach are headed back to the film room and the practice gym.

“It exposed a lot of things that we need to get better with, and it’s great to be able to [work on] that after a win,” he said.

Cleveland State 2, IUPUI 0

Cleveland State’s Horizon League opener, set for Thursday against league favorite IUPUI, wound up as a huge result for the Vikings, but not in the way Kielsmeier would have preferred. Instead of an on-court statement, CSU had to settle for a forfeit win after COVID spread through the Jaguars’ Tier 1 personnel.

“You don’t [give it much thought], it’s life,” he said. “Everything is so unusual right now, you don’t really process it. It’s the rules, that was determined by somebody else, and so we just roll with it.”

Nevertheless, for all teams involved in the outbreak (IUPUI was also forced to forfeit their scheduled game at Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday), there are potentially enormous standings implications down the road. CSU, along with fellow conference 2-0s PFW, Milwaukee, and Youngstown State, are now two games ahead of the squad most consider the class of the league. Additionally, the Vikings and Mastodons now have credit for wins that others near them in the standings will be forced to try to earn through a more difficult route.

Those are concerns for the distant future, however. For now, CSU will return to non-conference play after Thanksgiving with a home contest against LIU on Sunday, November 28th.

IUPUI gets swept in San Antonio, moves to 0-5 on the season

Nick Lorensen
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IUPUI gets swept in San Antonio, moves to 0-5 on the season

The woes continue to begin the Matt Crenshaw era at IUPUI. They lost all three games in San Antonio this week to move to 0-5 on the season.

It began on Monday against old Summit League foe, Denver.

The Jags were never really in the game, falling by a final score of 63-47. Luckily for IUPUI, this was the end of a three-game streak of not breaking 50 points.

Although they dominated the boards, IUPUI really struggled from the field. They shot only 30.8% on the evening, making 16 of its 52 shots.

BJ Maxwell was able to continue his good start for the Jags, scoring 14. Bobby Harvey had his first double-digit scoring game of the season, dropping 13.

Take them out of the picture and IUPUI was 8-32 from the field. Not that good if you ask me.

On Tuesday, they would battle with Texas A&M Corpus Christi but fall once again by a final score of 65-59.

The Jags led in this game, and finished leading in a lot of categories but they couldn’t make shots when it mattered.

Corpus Christi was able to get its lead to ten with 3:24 remaining, wrapping up their victory.

IUPUI shot 38% from the field again, hitting only 18 of its 47 shots. Four of those came from, you guessed it, B.J. Maxwell who had 14 points on the afternoon.

Wednesday was a completely different story.

The Jags led for all 20 minutes of the first half, taking a 33-28 lead at the break.

UTSA would take the lead early in the second half, but it would be back-and-forth for the remaining 20 minutes.

Bobby Harvey would make a three-pointer for IUPUI with 6:44, wrapping up what the Jags thought was its first win of the season. From there, UTSA ended the game on a 16-3 run, winning the game via a Dhieu Deing layup with 30 seconds left, 60-57.

B.J. Maxwell was able to pick up a double double for IUPUI in the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Jags will get back to action on Tuesday against D-3 Spalding at 7:00 in Indiana Farmers Coliseum. There, they should pull off their first win of the season and gain some confidence heading into Horizon League play.

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