1. North Dakota State (4-2, 2-0 Summit) — The Bison are always tough at home and picked up a pair of Summit League wins at home last week. Senior Brett Winkelman averaged an impressive 23 points and 13 rebounds in the two wins. NDSU plays in the Drake Hy-Vee Classic this weekend.
2. Oakland (5-5, 1-1) — The loss at Southern Utah knocks the Grizzlies out of the top spot in the power rankings, but the trip to Cedar City is always a tough one. Sophomore center Keith Benson averaged 19 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in his last two games. The Grizzlies have some much-needed practice time this week before hosting Rochester College Sunday.
3. Oral Roberts (2-6, 1-1) — A poor second half cost the Golden Eagles against NDSU, but they rebounded with a convincing win over South Dakota State. Oral Roberts lost a close one at home to Arkansas-Little Rock and play at No. 1 North Carolina Saturday. Senior guard Robert Jarvis is averaging 18.4 points a game and 17.1 shots per game.
4. UMKC (4-6, 1-1) — The Kangaroos rallied to take the lead with less than a minute left against Oakland, but couldn’t pull it out. UMKC rebounded to beat IPFW by eight. Senior guard Dane Brumagin averaged 28.5 points a game in the two league games, while sophomore forward Spencer Johnson averaged 16 points and 11.5 rebounds.
5. Southern Utah (3-5, 2-0) —The Thunderbirds picked up their first two wins over Division I opponents with two convincing league wins at home. SUU beat both Oakland and IPFW by 16 points. Tyler Quinney averaged 23.5 points in the two wins, while Davis Baker averaged 21.5 points.
6. Western Illinois (3-5, 1-0) — The Leathernecks have won two straight after a 10-point road win at IUPUI and a two-point win over Texas-Pan American in Las Vegas. WIU also took Coastal Carolina to overtime in Las Vegas before falling by nine. Senior David DuBois (17 points per game) is the only player on the team averaging in double figures.
7. IUPUI (5-3, 0-1) — The Jaguars really struggled in a 10-point home loss to Western Illinois. IUPUI scored just 48 points and senior guard Gary Patterson was held scoreless in 33 minutes. The only bright spot was Wabash Valley J.C. transfer Robert Glenn scoring 17 points, his most since he scored 19 points against Northeastern in the season opener.
8. IPFW (3-5, 0-2) — The two December league games were not kind to the Mastodons. IPFW was down by as many as 10 and never led in the second half before losing by eight at UMKC and lost by 16 at Southern Utah. Two of the Mastodons three wins are against Eastern Illinois, with the other being over IU East. Senior forward David Carson is leading the team in scoring at 15.1 per game.
9. South Dakota State (4-5, 1-1) — The Jackrabbits split a pair of league home games. Junior guard Garrett Callahan averaged 19 points a game in the two games and is averaging 18.6 on the season. The Jacks play two road games this week, at Minnesota on Wednesday and at Denver on Saturday.
10. Centenary (2-8, 0-2) — The trip to the Dakotas is never easy and did not go well for the Gents. Centenary lost by 13 at SDSU and by 15 at NDSU. The loss at North Dakota State was the Gents’ 10th straight road game and they still have five more road games to go before hosting Oakland on Jan. 8 in their first home game of the season.