Rock Valley College Athletics

Game Preview: #1 Rock Valley men travel to Madison on Saturday for conference matinee battle

2/6/2016 9:08:00 AM

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Upcoming Date
Feb 6 vs. Madison College, 3:00 PM; Madison, WI

Probable Starters
Rock Valley College (23-2, 7-2 in N4C)
PG- LT Davis, 5-11, So., Rockford, IL; 18.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg
SG- Dalton Menke, 6-3, Fr., Winnebago, IL; 8.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg
SF- Kooper Glick, 6-3, Fr., Columbus, IN; 12.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg
PF- Jontrell Robinson, 6-5, So., Rockford, IL; 1.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg
C- Elijah Williams, 6-7, So., Chicago, IL; 16.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 66.5% FG
Sub- Dalton Payton, 6-6, So., Byron, IL; 9.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg
Sub- Mo Jackson, 5-10, So., Belvidere, IL; 8.3 ppg, 2.4 apg

Madison College (10-13, 4-5 in N4C)
PG- Cortez McCree, 6-2, Fr., Madison, WI; 9.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg
SG- Tyler Meier, 6-1, So., Monticello, WI; 9.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg
SF- Zach Adkins, 6-3, Fr., Fennimore, WI; 1.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg
PF- Ethan Lurquin, 6-5, Fr., Poynette, WI; 17.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg
C- Markus Tobias, 6-5, Fr., Oregon, WI; 6.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg
6th – Kristian Zimmerman, 6-3, So., Green Bay, WI; 12.2 ppg, 4.6 apg, 4.4 rpg

Madison College Notes
Madison College is an NJCAA DIII member of the North Central Community College Conference (N4C) located in Madison, WI… Head coach of the WolfPack is Scot Vesterdahl… Back on January 13th, 2016, Rock Valley defeated Madison 89-77 in Rockford, IL… RVC had six players in double-figure scoring led by guards Mo Jackson (Belvidere, IL) and LT Davis (Rockford, IL) with 16 points each… Elijah Williams (Chicago, IL) went 6-8 from the field as he scored 14 points... Kooper Glick (Columbus, IN) scored 12 points (4-6 FG) while Dalton Menke (Winnebago, IL) and Dalton Payton (Byron, IL) chipped in with 11 points and 10 points, respectively... Rock Valley shot 31-60 (.517) from the field, 12-30 (.400) from 3PT and 15-20 (.750) from the free throw line… The Golden Eagles had 17 assists, led by Mo Jackson's 4… Ethan Lurquin led Madison College with a game-high 25 points in the loss.

Rock Valley College Notes
Rock Valley is an NJCAA Division III member of the North Central Community College Conference (N4C)… RVC is the #1 ranked team in the country at the NJCAA DIII level… The Golden Eagles have been ranked #1 for the last 20 national polls dating back to 10-27-2014... Rock Valley is currently 23-2, including a 14-1 mark against NJCAA DI and NJCAA DII schools… In their last contest out, Rock Valley beat Milwaukee Tech 99-85 in Rockford, IL… LT Davis (Rockford, IL) led five Golden Eagles in double-figures with 24 points (5-8 3PT)… Elijah Williams (Chicago, IL) was plagued by foul trouble all night but still scored 23 points (6-9 FG, 11-16 FT) in only 17 minutes of action... Mo Jackson (Belvidere, IL) scored 16 points while RVC back-up big man Alec Pena (Rockton, IL) had 12 points… Dalton Payton (Byron, IL) chipped in with 11 points… The Golden Eagles shot 31-62 FG (50.0%) and 10-18 (55.6%) from the 3 PT line in the game.

 
NJCAA DIII National Rankings
The Golden Eagles have been ranked #1 in the country for an unprecedented 20 straight NJCAA National Polls dating back to October 27th, 2014.  Here is the national poll released yesterday, Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016. Note: Records below are as of Sunday, January 31st.

Others Receiving Votes

	College	State	Record	Points	Prev
	Joliet	IL	16-7	6.0	8
	Bronx	NY	18-5	5.0	RV

NJCAA DIII Region 4/District 2 Standings
1. Rock Valley College, IL: 23-2 (.920)
2. Milwaukee Area Technical College, WI: 19-5 (.792)
3. Joliet Junior College, IL: 18-7 (.720)
4. College of DuPage, IL: 15-8 (.652)
5. Mid Michigan College, MI: 10-10 (.500)
6. Lorain County Community College, OH: 11-13 (.458)
7. Madison College, WI: 10-13 (.435)
8. Harper College, IL: 10-15 (.400)
 
Individual and Team Stats
*Note: The NJCAA DIII level is represented by approximately 120 men's basketball programs from Texas to Minnesota, from Illinois to New York and throughout the United States.
-The Golden Eagles are led by LT Davis who is averaging 18.1 PPG.  LT ranks 2^nd in the country in 3PT field goals made with 88. LT has scored a total of 452 points this year which is 10^th best in the country… LT Davis redshirted last season after being named MVP of the 2014 NJCAA DIII National Tournament.  In the 2013-14 season Davis averaged 15.5 points per game, second on the team to Jared Mayes who averaged 19.0 PPG that season and earned National Player of the Year.
-Elijah Williams is second in scoring (16.4 PPG) and leads RVC in rebounding (7.8 RPG) this season.  Williams is 3^rd in the country in FG% shooting 145-218 for an impressive 66.5%.
-Kooper Glick is the third leading scorer for the Golden Eagles scoring 12.3 PPG.  Glick's 653 minutes played this season ranks him 36^th in the country.
-As a team, Rock Valley currently ranks 3^rd in 3PT made per game (10.8).  Last season the Golden Eagles ranked 6^th at 9.2 3PTM per game.  In 2013-14 RVC finished 1^st in the nation hitting 10.0 3PT shots per game. In Doty's first season, RVC ranked 2^nd in the country at 9.2 3PTM per contest.
-The Golden Eagles are currently hitting a sizzling 73.7% of their free throws which ranks them 3^rd in the nation
-Over the past three seasons the Golden Eagles have been ranked in the top 20 for assists per game.  This year RVC comes in at #15 (17.9 APG), in 2014-15 the Golden Eagles finished #7 in assists per game at 17.9 while in 2013-14, RVC handed out 17.8 assists per contest, good for 19^th nationally.
 
Tough Scheduling
The Golden Eagles play one of the most difficult schedules in the country again this season…RVC has scheduled 13 of their 16 non-conference games against NJCAA D1 and D2 opponents including 2015 NJCAA D1 national tournament teams and top 10 ranked Vincennes University (W: 78-66, Oct. 30) and Indian Hills (W: 88-86, Nov. 7), as well as the 2015 NJCAA D2 National Runner-up John Wood Community College (W: 76-51, Nov. 13), all on the road.  Rock Valley will play no JV teams or prep schools.  For the complete schedule along with game times click here.
 
Tradition
The Golden Eagles men's basketball program started as NJCAA members in 1966 under Charles Behrends.  With a rich tradition, RVC has taken the men's basketball program to new heights over the past three seasons.  Despite reaching the NJCAA National Tournament only one time from 1966-2012 (in 2001 under Carl Armato), the Golden Eagles have won the NJCAA Region IV tournament each of the past three seasons to make three straight trips to the national tournament in New York.  The Golden Eagles have placed 7th, won the National Championship and was National Runner-up respectively, over the past three seasons.  To view the year-by-year success of the Golden Eagles program click here.
 

(Head Coach Craig Doty - RVC Athletics)

Craig Doty is in his 4th season as the Golden Eagles' head coach. Doty has produced three of the best seasons in the 49 year history of the RVC program.  Rock Valley won the Region 4 Championship in all three seasons, earning a 7th place finish at the 2013 national tournament in Doty's inaugural season followed by a 30-5 season and winning the NJCAA DIII national championship in 2014. Last season, the Golden Eagles went 31-4 overall and made a return appearance in the National Championship game finishing 2nd in the country.  The 31 victories are the most in program history in a season.  In 2014, Doty was named the Spalding NJCAA national coach of the year, the Gary S. Cole coach of the national tournament, the NJCAA coaches association coach of the year, and the NJCAA national all-star game coach.  In all three seasons at RVC Doty earned Region 4 coach of the year, District 2 coach of the year as well as the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association coach of the year awards.  Doty graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English from Morningside College (IA) and served previous stints as an assistant at the University of Sioux Falls (NCAA Division II), Riverland Community College (NJCAA), Central Wyoming College (NJCAA) and Morningside College (NAIA).  Doty served as interim head coach at Central Wyoming College in the spring of 2011 and also spent a season as the head boys basketball coach at Akron-Westfield high school (IA).