By MIKE BROWN Sports Writer on Dec 27, 2011, at 1:43 AM Updated on 12/27 at 1:43 AM
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Three faces were conspicuous in their absence when the Golden Eagles returned from Christmas Break for a Monday shootaround at the Mabee Center.
Kansas City seniors Dominique Morrison, Rod Pearson and Michael Craion were home for the holidays and had excused absences.
Head coach Scott Sutton allowed them to remain in their hometown an extra day, since the rest of the team will be headed to Kansas City on Tuesday.
ORU resumes Summit League play with Wednesday’s game at UMKC. It touches off a rugged stretch of five conference games in 11 days.
Sutton said it didn’t make sense for the Kansas City seniors to travel the roughly 4-1/2 hours back to Tulsa on Monday, only to have to make the return trip on Tuesday.
“They’re seniors, and they’ll be ready to play,” Sutton said. “It’s not like we’ve been off a long time, so I’m not worried about conditioning.”
The Eagles capped the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule with a 72-56 win over Texas Tech last Thursday, and are 9-4 going forward.
Sutton knows his Kansas City seniors will be ready to play in their hometown, especially Morrison, who is 6-0 against the Kangaroos and has 102 points and 29 rebounds in those six meetings.
He scored 25 points in Kansas City last February as the Eagles rolled 102-81, part of a 10-game winning streak that redeemed the 2010-11 season.
The Eagles will practice Tuesday in UMKC’s Swinney Recreation Center and Sutton said it will be a longer-than-normal road session because of the limited time the Eagles have to prepare for what could be a dangerous foe.
Despite losing standout seniors Jay Couisnard, Bakari Lewis and Specner Johnson, the Kangaroos are a better-than-expected 7-7, led by Reggie Chamberlain’s 17.3 points per game.
Chamberlain scored 21 points in the Kangaroos’ 81-66 win at IPFW on Dec. 1 to open Summit League play and scored 30 two nights later in an 86-73 loss at defending league champion Oakland.
The next five games are one of the most challenging conference stretches Sutton can remember. From UMKC, the Eagles visit new league member South Dakota for the first and possibly only time on Friday night (because ORU is leaving for the Southland Conference next season).
The Eagles will spend New Year’s Eve in Omaha and fly Sunday to Michigan for a game at Oakland next Tuesday (Jan. 3).
Following that, the Eagles fly home for games with conference contenders North Dakota State (Jan. 5), and South Dakota State (Jan. 7).
SDSU (10-4, 2-0) scored perhaps the league’s most impressive win of the season by routing Washington 92-83 in Seattle on Dec. 18. The Jacks are No. 23 in CollegeInsider.com’s latest Mid-Major Top 25.
NDSU (8-3, 1-1) thrashed Fresno State 78-65 and has narrow losses at Arizona State and Minnesota.
Sutton said one of the worst parts of the five-game stretch will be flying home on a Wednesday from Oakland and having that same day to prepare for a Thursday home game with NDSU.
The good news, he said, is that the Eagles couldn’t be playing much better, with wins in nine of their last 11 games.
Tough sledding: ORU won’t be the only team in a difficult stretch. Oakland makes the always-tough trip to the Dakotas this week, playing at NDSU on Wednesday night and SDSU on Friday night before returning home to host ORU next Tuesday.
Mid-major poll: ORU received 17 points in the poll and would rank 29th. Oakland received 37 points and is 27th. SDSU received 83 points and is 23rd, up to spots from 25th in the previous poll.
Creighton (10-1) is No. 1 in poll, followed by Murray State (13-0), Harvard (10-1), Iona (10-2), Cleveland State (11-2), Wichita State (9-2) and Gonzaga (9-2) in the next six spots.
ORU lost to Gonzaga and Tulsa lost to Creighton and Wichita State.
-- Mike Brown
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