Favorable stretches await Wesleyan squads

The Wesleyan men (9-9, 5-5 G-MAC) are 8-1 on the Sportscenter floor, with the Panthers’ only home loss coming in a 76-68 defeat on Jan. 5 against Walsh — the same squad KWC is set to face Thursday in North Canton, Ohio. No doubt, nothing would make the Panthers happier than repaying the Cavaliers on their own court.

The KWC women (14-4, 10-1) are a perfect 7-0 at home — a welcome reprieve after the Panthers opened the year with seven consecutive road contests. In Owensboro, they’re winning by nearly 14 points per game. The closest contest was a 67-65 decision over Cedarville on Dec. 10, in which Tahlia Walton scored the game-tying and game-winning layups in the last 41 seconds.

Now, with about a month left in the regular season, both programs have to take that competitive spirit on the road.

For the KWC men, their final 10 games are split evenly — 10 at home, 10 on the road — and, as head coach Drew Cooper has said, the schedule flips in the Panthers’ favor.

In the games left to play, their opponents are a combined 70-70 overall and 42-46 in conference play, not including the two games apiece against Trevecca Nazarene (1-16, 0-11) and Ohio Dominican (6-12, 2-9).

Although Wesleyan sits ninth in the league standings, there isn’t much separation throughout the conference. The Panthers are only a half-game behind Malone, Lake Erie and Tiffin for a tie for sixth. With the G-MAC taking the top eight teams into the conference tournament, KWC still controls its own destiny for the postseason.

Along the way, however, the Panthers will have to overcome their road woes. They’re only 1-7 away from home this season, but after sweeping the two-game homestand against No. 7 Hillsdale and Northwood over the weekend, KWC’s confidence should be sky-high no matter who its opponent is.

For the Wesleyan women, however, most of their work has already been done.

After starting the season just 2-3, the Panthers have won 12 of their last 13 outings and enter Thursday’s matchup at Walsh on a seven-game winning streak. They sit at second in the league standings, with their lone loss coming against Ashland, the top-ranked team in all of Division II basketball.

Their remaining schedule includes four games at home and five on the road, with a combined opponent record of 48-78 overall and 27-50 in G-MAC competition.

Like the men, that doesn’t include two games against Trevecca (13-6, 9-3) and Ohio Dominican (6-12, 3-8).

The simple fact is this: Both Wesleyan squads have favorable stretches to close the season. However, it would be just as easy to look at the schedule on paper and expect to simply show up and win. As we’ve seen in the G-MAC, that’s not how it works.

So, the success for the remainder of the regular season depends on both teams’ ability to stay focused on the task at hand. They’ve both seen glimpses of what they can be by season’s end, but neither squad is there yet.

After all, coaches want their teams peaking toward the end of the season.

As it just so happens, that time is now.