Winners of seven in a row, the Benedictine University men's basketball team has entered the D3hoops.com Top 25, receiving the 24th slot in the national poll.

Benedictine totaled 86 points to enter the crowded rankings, sliding in just behind Augustana. Augustana, who Benedictine defeated in a preseason exhibition game, owns 94 points. The 20-through-25 slots in the poll are separated by just 20 total points. There are currently 47 teams receiving votes in the poll. The Central Region has been the toughest in the nation thus far with eight teams in the Top 25 and five more in the receiving votes section.

Benedictine enters the poll after a pair of home conference wins last week, holding off a stingy Edgewood team 77-66 to break a three-game slide against the Eagles of the North, and logging a 74-63 win over Dominican.

Benedictine is ranked for the first time since the final poll of the 2016-17 season after gaining 57 additional points this week. The team received 29 points in the week two poll, the first time the team received votes since the preseason poll of the 2017-18 season. The team gained attention on the national level after winning at North Central, who was ranked ninth in the nation at the time of the November 26 victory. North Central was ranked third in the preseason poll.

Benedictine finished 4-1 in the non-conference schedule against teams with a current combined record of 20-14, winning the Rhodes College Tournament which included a win over LeTourneau, who features an All-American and currently owns a 5-1 record. The lone loss came at Hope College, a team that is usually a regional handful and opened the year 4-0. The season opened with a win over St. Norbert College, who will join the NACC in 2021-22, but was chosen as the preseason favorite in the Midwest Conference. The team faced just one team with a losing record in the non-conference slate.

Shutdown defense has been a big key to Benedictine's start. The team has held eight consecutive opponents below their season scoring average and has kept seven teams at or below their season field goal percentage. Benedictine is allowing just 63.7 points per game, best in the conference and 30th in the nation. Opponents shoot just 40.6 percent from the floor against Benedictine, 70th in the country. the team owns a scoring margin of +9.7, first in the conference and 67th nationally. Benedictine recorded a 93-63 win over Lakeland on November 30, the program's first win by 30-or-more points since January of 2018.

Mike Boatright leads the nation with 29 steals and ranks fifth in steals per game at 3.2. Eric Grygo, who missed the final five games of the 2018-19 season due to injury, leads the team in scoring at 17.6 points per game, seventh in the conference. Grygo led the nation in field goal percentage last year and ranks 13th so far this season at 66.7 percent, second in the conference. Grygo currently holds the conference record for single season and career field goal percentage along with the school record for field goal percentage, initially set by the Addison, Ill. native in 2017-18 and bettered last year. Kenny Bogus leads the conference in assists with 42 and ranks 37th nationally. Six players are scoring six points or more per game. Boatright, whose brother won a national title at UConn, is second on the team at 14.7 points per game. Bogus ranks fourth in conference in rebounding while Grygo is fifth.

Owning a record of 8-1, Benedictine is idle for finals week and will not play again until December 16 at Concordia Chicago in a 7:00 p.m. game. Benedictine is the only remaining undefeated team in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, streaking to a 4-0 start.