The SXU men’s basketball team won two of three games this past week. They beat Indiana University South-Bend and Judson University, while losing their first CCAC game against Olivet Nazarene University.
Their first set of games took place on November 16 against IUSB where the Cougars took care of business on the road winning in dominating fashion 104-55.
The Cougars played a complete game of offense and defense, making nearly 64% of their shots from the floor and an unbelievable 63% from three.
Senior guard, Jaden King, continues to be the driving force behind the Cougars offense, scoring 26 points on 10-14 shooting.
Senior Guard, TJ Babikir, shined playing the facilitator role, dishing out a team high seven assists.
Offensively it was another team effort that saw the entire starting lineup score ten or more points, including significant points from the bench.
From a defensive perspective, SXU held Indiana South-Bend in check, only allowing 12.5% from three, and just 32% from the floor. They also dominated the boards, catching forty-five rebounds to just twenty-five from Indiana South-Bend.
Overall there are a lot of positives from this performance. The only concern for the Cougars continues to be the little things. While the offense can score at will in a lot of cases, SXU registered 17 fouls and 16 turnovers. This can be concerning for when the Cougars play a stronger opponent, they may not see the same success.
Their next game took place three days later, where SXU lost 81-77 in a late game battle.
From a statistical perspective, the Cougars played a clean game. While there were small concerns about turnovers and fouls from previous games, they registered just eight turnovers and only one more foul than Olivet.
The Cougars competed throughout the first half and went into the locker room up 42-37, but Olivet rallied back in the fourth and outscored the Cougars by nine points to secure the victory.
Junior Forward, Kevin Bishop, continued to be one of the stars for SXU scoring 28 points on 12-18 shooting while also contributing on defense with eight rebounds and four blocks.
Junior guard, Cedric Johnson, contributed on offense as well scoring seventeen points on 7-8 shooting.
Despite the close loss the Cougars hung with a very strong Olivet Nazarene team which has received votes in multiple weeks this season to be ranked in the top 25 of the NAIA.
Their final game this past week took place against another conference foe in Judson University where SXU won 83-78 after a fourth quarter comeback. The Cougars had a come from behind victory down six at halftime to outscore Judson 42-31 in the second half.
Johnson continued his scoring momentum from last game to score a season high 26 points on 9-13 shooting. He added six assists, four steals, and three rebounds.
Other stars from the game included Bishop with nineteen points and King with seventeen points.
The Cougars made some serious halftime adjustments when they were down 47-41. While the team attempted fourteen three point shots and made just five in the first half, they went just 0-2 in the second half. SXU clearly noticed they weren’t making threes with high efficiency, and focused on shooting two’s and secured the win.
The Cougars sit at 6-3, winning six of the last seven games. They remain a great offensive team and the potential to win the conference title is certainly there, as they are 4-1 inside of CCAC play.
SXU plays two games this upcoming week, their first on Wednesday November 30 against Trinity Christian College at 7:30pm and the other on Saturday December 3 versus Cardinal Stritch in the Shannon Center at 3pm.
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