Championship Rematch Highlights Busy Night in Men's Hoops

Horizon League Men's Basketball Schedule (all times EST)
Valparaiso at Detroit -- 7 p.m., ESPNU
Youngstown State at Green Bay -- 8 p.m., ESPN3
Cleveland State at Milwaukee -- 8 p.m., HLN

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tonight could prove to be the biggest night of the Horizon League men's basketball season, at least to this point.

For the first time since the Titans went into the ARC and beat the Crusaders to win the Horizon League Tournament Championship, Detroit and Valparaiso face off. Tonight, there's no title on the line, but the two teams are tied in the standings at 3-1 in conference play.

Both of the losses were surprising: Valpo was beaten at home by an upstart Loyola squad on the first day of conference play while a youthful Cleveland State team managed to protect their home court and thwart Detroit's bid to improve to 4-0 in the Horizon League.

After tonight, the teams will not be tied any longer. Someone is going to get that fourth conference win.

No doubt, it's going to be a high-intensity matchup. Detroit, coming off an upset loss, is looking to defend a 17-game home winning streak. Valpo -- winners of three straight, including back-to-back road games -- was the last away team to win in Calihan Hall. Combined, the teams hold four preseason All-Horizon League picks, the defending Championship MVP, the defending Player of the Year and the two-time defending preseason Player of the Year.

And, certainly, Valparaiso fans have not forgotten Ray McCallum's dunk late in last season's championship game.

This matchup has all the makings of a classic conference rivalry, but Detroit coach Ray McCallum wouldn't go so far as to call it that, instead saying the matchup is more about mutual respect.

“Our coaching staff and their coaching staff, I think it’s nothing but respect. Our players respect their players,"  McCallum said in a phone interview on Wednesday. "We knew we had to play our best game of the year because it was on their court and, fortunately for us, we did. They’re picked to win the conference title, we won it last year in the tournament, and I think that makes for a good story and it’s good for their program and our program and for the [Horizon League].”

Valparaiso head coach Bryce Drew, meanwhile, admitted that, yes, there is a little bit of rivalry -- but also said he feel that way about nearly every conference opponent.

“I think one of the things that’s unique about [the Horizon League] is that there are a lot of different rivalries within the conference," Drew said over the phone on Wednesday as his team traveled to Detroit. "Obviously, we played against each other in the conference championship last year. And over the past few years it’s been back-and-forth: they beat us, we beat them. It seems like we’ve been matched up a lot.”

Rivalry or not, both coaches realize the importance of the matchup in the longview. For Valpo, a win could create momemtum for Saturday night, when the Crusaders host No. 1-ranked Wright State. For Detroit -- playing the first of three straight home games -- a defense of their home court winning streak would get the homestand, which culminates with a visit from the Raiders, off on the right foot.

McCallum said the key to the game will be if the Titans can find a way to score the ball to try to keep pace with Valpo's offense. He also said he won't argue with Valparaiso's ranking as the preseason favorite, but he hopes his team can challenge it.

“They were a unanimous choice to win the championship, to defend their regular-season title, and we can’t dispute that," McCallum said. "They’re playing extremely well, and we have been playing very well, so it’s a good measuring stick to see where we are."

For Drew, the key will be if his team can limit their turnovers, thus limiting fastbreak baskets for Detroit. He said he expects a fast-paced, high-intensity matchup.

“We’re tied with them in the standings, so it’s a very big game from that standpoint," Drew said. "We’ve played some really good games over the years. I think both teams will be fired up for this game.”

The game can be seen on ESPNU as part of the #MyHomeCourt series.

The night's two other Horizon League matchups feature Buckeye State teams traveling to the Badger State as both Youngstown State-Green Bay and Cleveland State-Milwaukee tip off at 8 p.m. EST.

Hosting the Penguins, Green Bay looks to move to 3-2 in conference play and .500 on the season after a slow start that has started to turn around. After a tough road swing to start Horizon League play that included losses to Wright State and Detroit, the Phoenix won back-to-back home games against the two Chicago schools to kickoff a four-game homestand. The second half of that homestand could be huge for Green Bay, which will then hit the road for four straight before returning home to face Wright State and Detroit.

The Phoenix started their five-game home court winning streak without Brennan Cougill, but now the burly forward will likely slide back into the starting lineup, as sophomore Greg Mays will miss the next three games for Green Bay. Mays' athleticism shined during his starting turn, but Green Bay will lean on Alec Brown to control his matchup versus Youngstown State's Damian Eargle.

Brown broke out with 21 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in Green Bay's 63-57 win over UIC, but Eargle enters the game as the Horizon League's all-time blocks leader, at 262. Brown sits eighth in the category with 179.

Youngstown State has been on an opposite path from the Phoenix. The Penguins started out hot but have faltered in Horizon League play, going 1-2 so far. There is still reason to be optimistic about YSU, though: the lone win came on the road at Loyola (away wins are not easy to come by in the Horizon League) and the Penguins are tied with Milwaukee for having played to fewest conference games so far this season.

The Penguins will turn to their backcourt, hoping that Blake Allen and Kendrick Perry can control their matchup with Keifer Sykes and Sultan Muhammad.  Limited by foul trouble in YSU's loss to Detroit on Jan. 10, Perry sits third in the Horizon League with a 16.0 points per game average. Directly behind him, however, is Sykes, who checks in at 15.6 ppg.

The matchup can be seen on ESPN3.

In the other matchup, Cleveland State looks to build off a surprising win over Detroit while Milwaukee searches for its first conference win.

The Vikings have won both Horizon League home games so far and are hoping to pick up a road win during a two-game swing through Wisconsin. The Panthers, meanwhile, are hoping for some homecourt magic as they continue a three-game homestand that began with a rout by Valparaiso.

The youthful Cleveland State squad is still finding its way on the road, sporting a 1-7 mark away from the Wolstein Center. However, the Vikings will try to bottle up Bryn Forbes' hot week and bring it to the Klotsche Center. Forbes earned Horizon League Newcomer of the Week honors after averaging 16.7 ppg last week, including a 21-point performance against Detroit. Forbes tied a CSU freshman record with five three-pointers in the game.

However, Milwaukee has ranked as one of the toughest teams against which to knock down three-pointers, holding the opposition to just 27.7-percent shooting from beyond the arc, a number that shot up as Ryan Broekhoff and Valparaiso hit 12-of-31 attempts last Saturday.

Against what is traditionally a stingy defense, Milwaukee will be looking to get its offense on track. The Panthers have struggled throughout the season, turning in an effective field-goal percentage of 41.6, ranking 335th in the country.

The game will be available on HLN.

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