Opponents: Link Academy Preview (Heartland Hoops)

By: Steven Pham

Graphic by: Ryan Deppen

Wichita, KS. - Fresh off a NIBC championship, No. 1 Sunrise Christian Academy takes on undefeated No. 3 Link Academy at Heartland Hoops. The game is on Friday, February 11th at 7 p.m. in Nebraska. The game will be streaming on Striv, for $10.

Sunrise celebrated the NIBC title but has plenty of basketball left to play before nationals. Their matchup this week is a tough one. Link has not lost a game this season and is looking to continue their perfect season.

Link is led by first-year head coach Rodney Perry. He has done a fantastic job with the new program. This will be coach Perry and Link’s biggest challenge of the season. Link has four players in ESPN’s Top 100 for the class of 2022.

Those four include; Jordan Walsh (ranked #10), Julian Phillips (ranked #11), Tarris Reed (ranked #33), and Felix Okpara (ranked #58). The rest of the roster is; Omaha Biliew, Julian Norris, Trey Green, Damien Mayo, Kade Rice, Kavien Jones, Cameron Carr, Jordan Ross, and Ethan Lathan.

Link has two notable wins against No. 9 Prolific Prep. Those wins proved that Link was ready for the big stage against the top-tier teams. After this game against Sunrise, Link will finish the season with games against Wasatch Academy, No. 13 AZ Compass Prep, and No. 20 Southern California Academy, before nationals.

After the game against Link, Sunrise has three more games in the regular season. Next week, Sunrise will travel to Tennessee for the Dr. Pepper Classic. On February 25th, Sunrise will be back home to close out the regular season against Sean Dumas Academy and have senior night.