The Illinois Wesleyan University men’s basketball team maintained its position at No. 16 in the latest D3hoops.com top-25 poll released on Monday, February 9. The Titans are the only College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) men’s team ranked, while Carthage received votes but did not make the top 25.
Illinois Wesleyan collected 296 points in the poll. In comparison, Carthage earned 33 points in the receiving votes category.
Montclair State moved to the No. 1 spot for the first time this season with 11 first-place votes and a total of 584 points. The new rankings followed a week where both previous top two teams dropped out of the top five. Randolph-Macon advanced to second place with 574 points, St. Thomas (Texas) took third with 550 points, Trinity (Conn.) placed fourth with 549, and Emory rounded out the top five with 526 points.
Illinois Wesleyan had a successful week by defeating two CCIW opponents. On Wednesday, February 4, sophomore Noah Cleveland nearly achieved a triple-double as Illinois Wesleyan beat Wheaton, 82-71. Three Titans players scored more than 20 points each during Saturday’s game against Elmhurst on February 7, helping secure a decisive 91-69 victory that avenged an earlier loss to Elmhurst this season.
The Titans will finish their regular season on a three-game road trip starting at Millikin on Wednesday, February 11 at Griswold Center.
Illinois Wesleyan plays its home games in Bloomington, Illinois and is part of NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletics under the CCIW conference system (official website). The program has won national championships in Division III twice—in both 1997 and 2001—and uses green and white as its school colors along with adopting “Titans” as its nickname (official website).
