2022-23 Men's Basketball Notebook (at OIT and at SOU)

Men's Basketball | 1/19/2023 9:11:00 AM

ASCENDING TO THE TOP: The Yotes ascended to the No. 1 spot from the No. 3 spot, last Wednesday in the latest NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. College of Idaho, who had spent the latest ranking at the No. 3 spot, picked up 17 first-place votes with a 14-1 record. It is the first time in program history that in the single-division poll that College of Idaho finds itself at the top. College of Idaho was ranked No. 1 in the final three NAIA Men's Basketball Division II polls in 2019-20 before CoVID canceled the NAIA Winter Championships. The Yotes were also ranked No. 1 in the Division II for a week in 2018-19. Plus, they were ranked No. 1 in the preseason and in the first poll of the 1991-92 season. The next ranking is due to come out on Wednesday, January 25.
 
TOUGH FIRST 20 MINUTES: After building a 52-12 halftime lead on Northwest (Jan. 7) for the fewest points by an opponent since Montana Tech put up 10 on November 12, 2016, the Yotes held a two-point halftime lead on Bushnell (Jan. 13) and a one-point lead on Corban (Jan. 14). The one-point lead against Corban at the break matches the smallest lead at halftime for the Yotes since a 30-29 lead on Southern Oregon in the first meeting on December 2. 

BEVO FRANCIS AWARD: Sophomore guard Drew Wyman was one of the 100 on the watchlist released on Monday by Small College Basketball for the Bevo Francis Award. The first list features 100 players from DII, DIII, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA men's basketball. The award was created in 2015 and is named after Clarence "Bevo" Francis. Francis played two seasons at what is now the University of Rio Grande. In his first season, he led the team to a 39-0 record averaging 50.1 points per game, highlighted by a 116-point performance against Ashland College in Kentucky. Read more about the award at https://www.smallcollegebasketball.com/bevo-francis-award-2.

 CONFERENCE PLAY: The Cascade Collegiate Conference began play with the 1993-94 season. College of Idaho has won seven regular season titles and a league-leading 10 tournament titles. The seven regular season titles are second in the CCC, just behind the 10 won by Oregon Tech. With the exception of the COVID-19 and no full CCC season in 2020-21, College of Idaho has won at least 10 CCC games in all but four seasons en route to an all-time CCC mark of 361-104 (.776). The Yotes have won 51 of their last 53 conference games for a .962 winning percentage.

SEEING DOUBLE DOUBLE: With the double double performances by Jake O'Neil (11 pts., 10  reb.) and Straton Rogers (10 pts., 11 reb.), against Eastern Oregon was the first time that a pair of College of Idaho teammates had double double performances since Connor Desaulniers finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds and Jake Bruner added 11 points and 11 boards against Salish Kootenai (Mont.) on October 13, 2018.

ACADEMIC SUCCESS: Six members of the team were among 206 Cascade Collegiate Conference student-athletes named U.S. Bank Academic All-Conference on Tuesday. Among those honored were: Connor Cooper, Caden Handran, Whitt Miller, Jake O'Neil, Bryan St. Clair and Drew Wyman.

STRONG START TO SOPHOMORE CAMPAIGN: Sophomore Straton Rogers has increased his production in his second full season with the Yotes from 4.6 to 18.9 minutes per game; 1.3 to 7.7 points per game and 1.8 to 8.5 rebounds per game.