Heat Check: Northern Iowa, Seattle Surge ahead of Feast Week
Week 3 college basketball heat check report heading into feast week. Northern Iowa, Seattle heat up while Oregon State, Samford cool down.
Happy feast to all of those that celebrate!
We are entering week four of the college basketball season which means that it is officially feast week! We have a ton of incredible games among the non-power conference ranks and the power conference teams alike. While the MTE’s might not have the same flair with the Player’s Era Festival taking a large market share, it doesn’t mean they aren’t as important. As the non-power conference schools fight for ever inch to make it to March, we will really start to see separation following this week.
Looking back at week three, we saw a number of MTE’s kick off leading to fun upsets, teams that continue to separate themselves from the rest of the pack, and those that continue to fall behind. Let’s take a look at who’s hot, who’s not, and who’s on fire in this week’s Heat Check Report!
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Heat Check
Heating Up
Northern Iowa
11/17/25 KenPom: 96th
11/24/25 KenPom: 93rd
While Illinois State was picked as the favorites to win the Missouri Valley, teams like Northern Iowa, Belmont, and Murray State are looking to beat the early predictions. The Panthers are 5-0 coming out of week three of the season while picking up the best win for the conference per KenPom over UC Irvine 70-69 in overtime. The Panthers also took down Northern Illinois 70-57.
Ben Jacobsen continues to assemble strong teams, and this year in particular he has put together one of their strongest defensive teams in recent years. The Panthers currently sit at 50th in defensive adjusted efficiency through their first five games. Here’s where they sit in the rest of their defensive categories:
36th in opponent effective field goal percentage
39th in opponent turnover percentage
20th in opponent 3pt percentage
117th in opponent 2pt percentage
39th in opponent free throw percentage
At this moment, they have four players ranking nationally in blocking percentage, and Trey Campbell ranks 43rd in the country with a 5.3% steal percentage. Campbell has been incredible thus far as he is averaging 14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.8 steals. Leon Bond III and Tristan Smith are both averaged 1.2 blocks per game and 13 points and 12.4 points each respectively.
They’ll play in the Acrisure Holiday Invitational this week as they open against Loyola Chicago which…should be a win at this point guaranteed as the Ramblers have snowballed themselves into one of the worst starts in program history. They’ll then take on either San Jose State or Tulsa.
Seattle
11/17/25 KenPom: 118th
11/24/25 KenPom: 107th
The Seattle Redhawks took down Stanford this week 77-69 to move to 4-1 on the season. They are now on the edge of reaching top-100 status per KenPom. Their only loss came against Cal Poly, who just beat Utah, by two points. Similarly to Northern Iowa, they are doing it through the power of their defense:
85th in defensive adjusted efficiency
95th in opponent effective field goal percentage
34th in opponent turnover percentage
163rd in opponent 3pt percentage
73rd in opponent 2pt percentage
However, Chris Victor has put an emphasis on the offensive end as well, making them feature a well balanced system. They rank 144th in offensive adjusted efficiency, 10th in effective field goal percentage, 11th in three-point percentage, and 52nd in two point percentage.
Will Heimbrodt has been phenomenal through their first five games. He is averaging 16.3 points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal, and an absurd 3.8 blocks per game. His 14.7% blocking percentage is currently sixth in the country.
Brayden Maldonado is averaging 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and two steals while shooting 57.9% from the floor and 56% from three-point on five attempts per game.
Looking at their schedule for feast week, they’ll take on Texas State in the Resorts World Classic, whether they’ll line up against either Lehigh or UC Santa Barbara the follow day. If they could take down both Texas State and UC Santa Barbara, Seattle will be helping to continue the surgency of the WCC this season.
Iona
11/17/25 KenPom: 193rd
11/24/25 KenPom: 157th
Iona took their first loss of the season to one of the best non-power conference schools in the country to Akron, but the Gaels fought back and took down Oregon State 91-84 in a thrilling double overtime game on Saturday.
The Gaels aren’t dominating in one particular category as they rank 171st in offensive adjusted efficiency and 176th in defensive adjusted efficiency. They rank 86th in effective field goal percentage, 132nd in opponent effective field goal percentage, 58th in three point percentage, and 14th in opponent field goal percentage.
CJ Anthony has been quietly one of the most dominate point guards this season thus far. He is averaging 16.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 48.1% overall and 47.4% from three-point. His 36% assist rate is 45th in the country, and his 63.1% true shooting percentage is 254th. One thing that he does very well is get to the free throw line. He sits at 43rd in the country with 7.8 fouls drawn per game on average and 31st with an 88.9 free throw rate. He is only shooting 75% from the line, so if he could tick that up just a tad he’ll be even more effective on the offensive end.
If you haven’t watched a game yet, you absolutely should. Dan Geriot runs a fun style of play as they sit at 16th in tempo and 59th in average possession length. They thrive off ball movement. On top of CJ Anthony, Lamin Sabally is averaging 4.2 assists per game and features a 22.6% assist rate.
The Gaels will take on Green Bay on Monday as they wrap up the Paradise Jam, then they’ll take on Delaware the following Monday.
San Francisco
11/17/25 KenPom: 84th
11/24/25 KenPom: 72nd
The San Francisco Dons took a hit when losing to Memphis 76-70 on the road in their second game of the season. However, they’ve done exactly what they needed to in the weeks following. They took down Bradley, Portland state, Northwestern State, and no a resume building win against Minnesota. Metrics-wise, they are doing nearly everything correctly:
70th in offensive adjusted efficiency
79th in defensive adjusted efficiency
44th in effective field goal percentage
62nd in opponent effective field goal percentage
62nd in offensive rebounding percentage
16th in 3pt percentage
30th in opponent 2pt percentage
21st in opponent free throw percentage
Ryan Beasley has been everything that Chris Gerlufsen could have asked for so far. He is averaging 16 points, 2.6 rebounds, three assists, and 1.6 steals while shooting 51.9% overall and 40.7% from three-point. Against Minnesota, he dropped 24 points with four assists and two rebounds. That marks three games in a row with at least 23 points for the junior.
Mookie Cookie has also been lights out for the Dons. He is averaging 13.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and one block per game while shooting 63.3% overall and 59.1% from three-point on 3.7 attempts per game. He’s been unreal on the offensive end and he’s taking full advantage of his opportunity after seeing limited playing time at Oregon over the last two seasons. His unreal 82.9% effective field goal percentage is 6th in the nation and his 79.5% true shooting percentage is eighth.
David Fuchs has quietly been one of the most valuable players on the roster for the Dons. He is averaging 10.3 points and 6.5 rebounds in just 20.5 minutes per game. He features a 25.2% defensive rebounding percentage which is 79th in the country and a 4.2% blocking percentage which is 308th.
This week, they’ll partake in the Acrisure Series where they have an opportunity to continue to build their resume against Colorado in the opening game, then either Nevada or Washington.
Cooling Down
Oregon State
11/17/25 KenPom: 137th
11/24/25 KenPom: 159th
After starting off 3-0 and reaching 139th in KenPom, the Oregon State Beavers have dropped three games in a row. They fell to Oregon 87-75, Evansville 73-69, and Iona 91-84 in double overtime. They’ve fallen from 137 to 156 in KenPom.
Wayne Tinkle has always ran a slower offense with the Beavers, and that’s no different this year as they rank 343rd in Tempo. However, defensively they are struggling. They are just 213th in defensive adjusted efficiency, plus they are getting ate alive on the offensive glass as they sit at 274th in opponent offensive rebounding.
The Beavers are hard to read because looking at their wins they took down North Dakota State, Illinois Chicago, and North Texas who are all 170 or better in KenPom. Against North Texas, they completed an incredible late comeback. Then they held their own against a top-60 Oregon team. Against Evansville they held them to just 27.8% shooting from outside, however, they couldn’t stop fouling as the Aces had 35 free throw attempts. Against Iona, they held them from the line, but the Gaels shot 13-37 from three-point and Oregon State shot a miserable 21-36 from the free throw line despite sitting at 82nd in the country in free throw percentage even after that game. Overall, I think the Beavers will figure it out and be a solid basketball team in the WCC this season, however, it’s been an up-and-down rollercoaster over the past week.
Samford
11/17/25 KenPom: 179th
11/24/25 KenPom: 216th
The Samford Bulldogs crashed down 46 spots in KenPom from 179th at the beginning of the week to just 225th. After starting off 3-2 with a near upset win over No. 21 Arkansas, the Bulldogs got crushed by Florida Gulf Coast 77-62 and then lost another to New Mexico State 81-72.
The defense for the Bulldogs are just killing them. They are limiting offensive rebounds, but they are getting ate alive in nearly every other statistic. They are 305th in defensive adjusted efficiency, 290th in opponent effective field goal percentage, 355th in opponent three-point shooting percentage, and so on.
Dylan Faulkner followed Lennie Acuff to Samford and he’s doing everything he can on the defensive end. He is averaging 13 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game. His 7.5% blocking percentage is 107th in the country. However, the next leading blocker is averaging just 0.3 blocks per game. Faulkner stands at 6’9, but he’s just the tallest player on the roster that contributes significant minutes.
The Bulldogs do have some favorable matchups against George State, a couple of non-division one schools, and VMI over the next month, so record wise they’ll be looking okay going into the SoCon. However, if they aren’t able to find Faulkner help on the inside, they’ll struggle to finish better than .500.
Staying Hot
Kent State
11/17/25 KenPom: 126th
11/24/25 KenPom: 122nd
The Kent State Golden Flashes picked up a couple of more wins this week to expend their winning streak to six games. They took down Eastern Kentucky 93-78 and Cleveland State 91-71.
Delrecco Gillespie continues to be one of the best forwards in college basketball. Through seven games he is averaging 20.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, two assists, 1.9 blocks, and one steal per game while shooting 60.2% from the floor. His 6.8% blocking percentage is 142nd in the country, meanwhile is 14.4% offensive rebounding percentage is 85th and his 28.6% defensive rebounding percentage is 34th. For a team that is 53rd in the country in three-point percentage, it’s the 6’8 non-three-point shooting forward that’s leading the charge for the Golden Flashes. If you are wondering how good they are at shooting three pointers, they have five players shooting 40% or better from beyond the arc.
They’ll take on a non-division one opponent this week against Penn State Shenango as they should move to 7-1.
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One to Watch
Penn
11/17/25 KenPom: 289th
11/24/25 KenPom: 218th
Don’t look now, but the Penn Quakers jumped 71 spots in KenPom last week! Fran McCaffery picked up a couple of solid wins over Saint Joseph’s 83-74 and Drexel 84-68 this week to move to 3-2 on the season.
The defense needs a lot of work as they rank 304th overall in defensive adjusted efficiency. However, their offense has a few bright spots. They rank 145th in offensive adjusted efficiency, 17th in 3pt shooting percentage, and 28th in free throw percentage.
Ethan Roberts has been nothing short of incredible thus far. He is averaging 24.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and two steals per game while shooting 47.3% overall and 44.4% from beyond the arc. He’s also getting to the line at a high rate as he is drawing 8.1 fouls per game and shooting 84.6% from the line on 39 attempts through five games.
TJ Power is averaging 14.4 points and 8.4 rebounds, and Michael Zononi is averaging 13.2 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 46.4% from three-point.
They’ll take on Merrimack and La Salle this week as they see if they can get hot and move to 5-2 on the season.
Around the College Basketball World
Here are some interesting headlines and articles I read this week around college basketball:
If you missed it, make sure to check out our latest YouTube video where we discuss how Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara’s hot starts are helping propel the WCC to a potential three-bid status!
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