"First-Place Friday" Looms Over Four-Day Slate of Games

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Jan. 13)

Horizon League Men's Basketball TV Schedule (all times Eastern):
Thursday, Jan. 13
Loyola at Green Bay, 8 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
UIC at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com

Friday, Jan. 14
Valparaiso at Wright State, 7 p.m. -- ESPN3.com
Butler at Detroit, 9 p.m. -- ESPNU

Saturday, Jan. 15
UIC at Green Bay, 12 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
Loyola at Milwaukee, 2 p.m. -- Horizon League Game of the Week (check local listings), ESPN3.com
Cleveland State at Youngstown State, 7:05 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com

Sunday, Jan. 16
Valparaiso at Detroit, 1 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
Butler at Wright State, 7 p.m. -- ESPN3.com, HorizonLeague.com

The four teams tied atop the Horizon League with 4-1 conference marks - Butler, Detroit, Valparaiso and Wright State - will all meet during the weekend, setting up a Friday night showdown in which Butler travels to Detroit and Valparaiso heads to Wright State.  Both games will be on the ESPN Family of Networks, with ESPNU carrying the Bulldogs and Titans at 9 p.m. ET and ESPN3.com picking up the Crusaders and Raiders at 7 p.m. ET.

All four squads enter the weekend having swept the previous weekend's set of games, with Butler (12-5, 4-1 Horizon) and Valparaiso (12-5, 4-1 Horizon) going 2-0 against Cleveland State and Youngstown State, while Detroit (10-7, 4-1 Horizon) and Wright State (11-6, 4-1 Horizon) took to the road for wins at Loyola and UIC.

While the Titans, Bulldogs and Crusaders sit at the top of the conference in most offensive categories, it is the Raiders who have been winning with defense, limiting the opposition to 59.0 points per game, the 18th-best mark in the country.  Wright State has been stingy at the WSU Nutter Center as well, winning 13 straight contests in Dayton.

Friday night marks a "Blackout" game for the Raiders, as the first 5,000 fans at the Nutter Center will receive black Wright State t-shirts.

Butler and Valpo will head in opposite directions on I-75 following the games, with the Bulldogs heading south to meet Wright State at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday night on ESPN3.com, while the Crusaders and Titans will tip at 1 p.m. ET from Calihan Hall on Sunday on Fox Sports Detroit.

Before those games are contested, Loyola (10-7, 1-5 Horizon) and UIC (5-12, 0-5 Horizon) will each be seeking to turn around its conference season on the Wisconsin swing of the Horizon League schedule.  The Ramblers get their trip started in Green Bay (8-9, 2-3 Horizon) at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, where the Phoenix are looking to reach .500 since early December.  While Loyola has lost two straight contests, Green Bay has notched a tally in the win column in each of its last two outings, including a 69-64 win over in-state rival Milwaukee last Saturday.

UIC has the shorter portion of the Wisconsin swing first, making the short drive up I-94 to meet Milwaukee (8-9, 3-3 Horizon) in an 8 p.m. ET tip from U.S. Cellular Arena.  The Flames were in both contests late last week, but could not come up with enough key plays to overcome Detroit or Wright State in close losses.  Still, Paul Carter picked up his second and third straight double-doubles and will be looking to extend the streak against a Panther squad that has proved to be streaky itself.

Milwaukee has shot just 33.9 percent and scored just 50.8 points per game in its last five losses; however, in their last four wins, the Panthers have scored 78.5 points per game and shot at a 50.7 percent clip.  The Panthers will be looking to get on the same roll that helped them knock off both Detroit and Butler in the span of 48 hours nearly two weeks ago.

Loyola and UIC will pass each other on I-43 following the games, with the Ramblers taking on Milwaukee in the Horizon League Game of the Week at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday.  The HL Game of the Week package airs on WWRD (Dayton), WADL (Detroit), MyYTV (Youngstown, Ohio), MyNDY (Indianapolis), Comcast SportsNet Chicago, SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland), Time-Warner Cable Sports32 (Wisconsin) and Metro Sports (Kansas City, Lincoln).

The Flames and Phoenix will get together two hours prior to the Game of the Week, with a 12 p.m. ET tip from the Resch Center scheduled so that fans in Green Bay can begin preparations for the Packers game later that evening.

Cleveland State (4-2, 15-3 Horizon) sits just one-half game behind the four-way tie atop the Horizon League and will be looking to rebound after an 0-2 road trip last weekend to Butler and Valpo.  The Vikings head to their travel partner, Youngstown State (7-9, 1-5 Horizon), for a 7:05 p.m. ET tip on Saturday, with HorizonLeague.com carrying the contest.  The Penguins continue to chuck the ball from long distance, knocking down 14 triples in a five-point loss at Butler on Sunday and launching 33 attempts in an 86-51 win over Wilberforce on Tuesday night.