The Guilford men’s basketball team went into winter break nationally ranked. With a 6-1 record, the Quakers outscored their opponents by 17 points a game. But, during break the team took their game to an even higher level. After defeating Hampden-Sydney in a hostile Fleet Gymnasium on Frat Night on Dec. 7, the Quakers went on to a perfect 6-0 record over winter break, including Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) wins at Lynchburg, 89-82, and at home against Randolph, 78-42. Guilford also took their show on the road, winning championships in the Lon Varnell Classic at Sewanee College and the Marietta Shrine Tournament at Marietta College.

While the Quakers dominated teams in every statistical category, such as rebounding, assists, steals, and blocks, the most staggering statistic of the six-game stretch did not come on the stat sheet. During break, the team traveled 1,724 miles to and from their opponents, including two back-to-back game days.

Senior center Tyler Sanborn explained that without classes, break was a good time for refocusing on basketball. With the extra time, the team was able to practice more – sometimes twice a day.

In the region-crossing trips, the nationally-sixth-ranked Quakers saw their fair share of stiff competition.

“We faced a lot of athletic and scrappy teams,” said sophomore forward Tobi Akinsola. “But our seniors have been able to step up and lead us on this past stretch of games.”

Senior guard Clay Henson explained that he and the rest of the seniors have kept the practices sharp and focused while maintaining the same tempo of a game.

The senior leadership and up-tempo disciplined practices seem to reflect the Quakers’ play on defense, as they lead the ODAC in scoring defense (63 ppg), field goal percentage (49 percent), and rebounding margin (+11.4 per game).

Senior guards Rhett Bonner (14 points per game, 3.33 assists per game) and Henson (17 ppg, 2.84 assists/game) stand among the ODAC’s best in scoring and assists. Meanwhile, Sanborn leads the ODAC in rebounding (14 per game) and field goal percentage (65 percent), and leads the team in scoring (19 ppg).

Sanborn also passed the 1,000 career points milestone on a 17 point, 11 rebound performance on Jan. 16 at Emory and Henry where the Quakers were victorious 99-57.

“It’s a big deal and a real honor,” said the 6-9 Elkin, N.C., native. “But the unselfish attitude we have on the team is what has made us so great over the past three years . I’ll take wins over points any day.”

A big win was exactly what the Quakers needed on Jan. 16, as Ragan-Brown Field hosted conference and national contender Virginia Wesleyan.

On that day, the Quakers held the first annual Stache Day. The Stache Day game came in honor of the stached Head Coach Tom Palombo. Fake mustaches were handed out to fans at the door, which they then covered the upper lip of many of the 1,450 fans in attendance.

With full steam ahead, the Quakers avenged their ODAC-opener loss at Virginia Wesleyan with a 71-56 win over the nationally-eighth-ranked Marlins.

Before the game, Henson said that a win against the Marlins would send a message to the rest of the conference.

“Winning against them is huge because of the rivalry, and we’re both two of the top teams in the conference,” said Henson.

While the latest winning streak has some Quaker fans planning their Final Four weekend in Salem already, Henson refuses to look too far ahead.

“We’ve made the mistake in looking too far into the future before, so right now we’re taking everything one game at a time.”

The Quakers currently hold a 14-1 record, and are second in the ODAC standings at 5-1. Guilford will travel to Roanoke Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to face the Maroons (6-9, 3-3), who stand at fifth place in the ODAC. Guilford will then travel to national powerhouse and previously top-ranked Randolph-Macon (14-1, 5-1) Saturday at 4 p.m.