The Benedictine University men's basketball team has not played since December 17, but the team will be back in action this weekend down in Puerto Rico. BenU will play two games on its holiday trip, taking on Wesley College on Sunday and Ramapo College on Monday. Both games will tip-off at 4:00 p.m. central time.
 
Benedictine (5-4, 4-2) dropped its last two contests before the long break, falling to both Lakeland College (64-61) and North Central College (65-64) in close games at home. Three-point shooting stood out in both losses, as the Eagles shot just 6-of-41 (14.6%) beyond the arc. BenU ranked first in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in three-point shooting percentage prior to the Lakeland game, but the recent cold streak has dipped the Eagles down to ninth at 31.3%.
  
Under current Head Coach Jerry Kobasa, Wesley has been a strong program over the last decade. Located in Dover, Delaware, the Wolverines have compiled two straight 20-win seasons and qualified for the last two NCAA Division III Tournaments. In addition, Wesley is 155-99 (.610) over Kobasa's ten seasons at the helm and have made the NCAA Tournament four times in that span. However, the Wolverines graduated three starters from last season's 23-4 team and have already equaled the number of overall losses from last season (4-4).
 
The Eagles and Wolverines are similar statistically in many areas, as both teams shoot around the same percentage from the floor (40.9% for Wesley, 43.8% for BenU) and from three-point range (31.0% for Wesley, 31.3% for BenU). In addition, both team's scoring offense (67.8 for Wesley, 65.4 for BenU) and defense (66.5 for Wesley, 64.6 for BenU) are comparable. Benedictine, however, holds a distinct rebounding advantage, out-preforming opponents on the glass by 6.2 rebounds per game compared to Wesley's -7.4 rebounding margin.
  
After a rare 9-16 campaign in 2013-2014, the traditionally strong Ramapo Roadrunners are off to a 7-2 start this season. Hailing from New Jersey, Ramapo has qualified for five NCAA Tournaments in Chuck McBreen's 16 seasons as head coach and have finished below .500 just once in the new millennium (last season). One of Ramapo's victories came against BenU's first opponent on the trip, as the Roadrunnders defeated Wesley on the road 69-62 to open the season on November 15.
 
Ramapo's fast start is extremely impressive, as out of 16 rostered players, the Roadrunners feature eight freshman and no seniors. In addition, just one player who started a game last season returned to Ramapo for 2014-2015, as Ramapo started four freshman in its last game back on December 13 (a win over Farmingdale State College). Ramapo's strength has been its offense, as the team is averaging 76.9 points per game and shooting 43.8% percent from the floor thus far this season.