#HLMBB News & Notes (Nov. 18)

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Nov. 18)

Upcoming Games
• Several Horizon League teams will wrap multi-team events this week:
     o Oakland continues its time away from home, traveling to Conway, S.C., for the Mainland edition of the Maui Invitational. The Golden Grizzlies will face Louisiana on Nov. 23 before a game versus Coastal Carolina or St. Francis (N.Y.) on Sunday.
     o Wright State will host Manchester in its lone home game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic before traveling to Mobile, Ala., for games against Houston Baptist and South Alabama.
     o Cleveland State will play at Eastern Michigan as part of the Keightly Classic before hosting Robert Morris as part of the event on Saturday.
     o Detroit will host a subregional of the 2k Classic benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project, welcoming Florida Atlantic, Toledo and Stony Brook to Calihan Hall.

The Week That Was
• Horizon League teams have played seven teams receiving votes or appearing in the top 25 this week:
     o Green Bay led for much of the second half, but missed on a chance to tie at the buzzer, falling to #20/19 Wisconsin, 69-66, in front of 9,906 at the Resch Center.
     o Oakland played three games on the west coast, all against teams in the top 25 or receiving votes. After losing at #24/24 UCLA, 91-60, the Golden Grizzlies held a late lead at #--/rv California before falling, 64-60. Oakland closed the trip with an 82-67 loss at #15/15 Gonzaga.
     o Wright State fell at #rv/rv Georgetown, while Valparaiso had three cracks at a late lead against #--/rv Illinois before losing, 64-52.
     o Detroit opened the 2k Classic benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project with a 101-55 setback to #19/20 Connecticut.
• Milwaukee went 4-0 on the week, capturing the Northern Illinois Invitational with a 3-0 mark in DeKalb, Ill. The Panthers knocked off San Jose State, James Madison and the host Huskies. The tournament championship was the second for a Horizon League team this year, as Youngstown State captured the Kennesaw State Tournament, going 3-0 with wins over Kennesaw State (73-57), Florida International (74-72) and Eastern Kentucky (75-67).

Cleveland State Vikings (2-1) -- Keightly Classic: at Eastern Michigan (11/18), Robert Morris (11/23)
• Sophomore Bryn Forbes tied his career-high with 24 points in Friday’s win at UT Arlington. It was his sixth career 20-point game and second in three games this year. Forbes has hit all 14 of his free throws this year, including all 12 on the roadtrip.
• CSU held UT Arlington to 73 points in Friday’s win, the lowest point total of the year for UTA who came in averaging more than 95 points per game.
• CSU’s 82 points in Wednesday’s setback at San Francisco were the most in a CSU loss since an 86-84 setback to Milwaukee on Feb. 14, 2012. The Viking bench contributed 41 points against San Francisco.
• Sophomore Anton Grady had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in his first game back from last year’s knee injury. Grady earned a repeat selection to Sports Illustrated’s “Breakout Sophomore Formula” team, as compiled by Luke Winn.
• Cleveland State was one of two Horizon League programs to take part in a foreign tour in the offseason. The Vikings went 5-0 against competition in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Forbes averaged 22.8 points per game across the trip.
• Effective field-goal percentage defense has been a telling stat during Waters’ tenure. When the Vikings have held opponents to a 47.7-percent mark or worse, they have finished with four 20-plus win seasons, going a combined 96-44. When the mark has been above 51.3 percent, the Vikings have gone 40-56.

Detroit Titans (1-2)  -- at James Madison (11/19), Florida Atlantic (11/22, HLN), Toledo (11/23, HLN), Stony Brook (11/24, HLN)
• Detroit saw both ends of the scoreboard this week, rolling past UM-Dearborn by 55 points, but losing at No. 19/20 Connecticut by 46.
• Juwan Howard, Jr., tallied his second consecutive double-double against UM-Dearborn, finishing with 22 points and 10 boards.
• Howard Jr. has scored Detroit’s first 8 points in all three games this season.
• Youth dots the Detroit roster, with senior Evan Bruinsma and junior Juwan Howard, Jr., representing the bulk of minutes returning to the Titans. Of the 2,065 minutes returning to the Titans (31.3 percent of last year’s minutes), Bruinsma and Howard account for 72.3 percent of that court time (1,492 minutes).
• In each of head coach Ray McCallum’s five seasons, Detroit’s adjusted offensive efficiency has increased, moving from 88.8 (324th nationally) in 2008-09 to 112.5 (23rd) last season.
• Ray McCallum is the fourth player from the Horizon League to be selected into the NBA Draft since 2010, joining Gordon Hayward (Utah), Norris Cole (Miami via Chicago) and Shelvin Mack (Washington).

Green Bay Phoenix (1-1) -- Minnesota-Duluth (11/23, HLN)
• Green Bay-Wisconsin was played in front of 9.906 fans at the Resch Center, a sellout and program record for attendance.
• Green Bay blocked nine shots for the second-straight game to open the season. Jordan Fouse blocked three shots, extending his streak to 25 consecutive games with a blocked shot; also grabbed 12 rebounds, extending streak of 5-plus to 21 games.
• Keifer Sykes’ career high 32 points against Wisconsin gives him 916 points in 66 career games; Sykes is 84 points shy of becoming the program’s 26th member of the 1,000-point club. Sykes has posted three 30+ point games in career, including two in past 4 games.
• Fouse led the team in rebounding with 12, extending his streak of games with 5 or more rebounds to 21 consecutive games. Last year, Fouse became the first freshman to lead the Horizon League in rebounding since 1996, breaking the program’s freshman records for rebounds and steals in a season and landing on both the conference’s All-Newcomer and All-Defensive teams.
• Green Bay was one of two teams, along with Cleveland State, to go on a foreign tour in the offseason. The Phoenix went 3-0 in its trip to the Bahamas, playing without Alec Brown. In his stead, Keifer Sykes scored 20 or more points in all three Bahamas contests, including 26 each in the final two wins to average 24 points per game.
• Green Bay is the lone team returning multiple all-league honorees from the 2012-13 season. Sykes (first team) and Brown (second team) form the Phoenix’s potent inside-outside combination. The duo begins this season with a combined 2,092 career points.
• Brown, who competed at the adidas Nations camp in the offseason, will be in a group by himself as the nation’s only active player with 1,200-plus points, 600-plus rebounds and 200-plus blocks. The 7-foot-1 versatile post player is only the second player in Horizon League history to accumulate those career numbers and is on pace to be the first league player to finish his career with 1,500 points, 750 rebounds and 250 blocks.

Milwaukee Panthers (4-1) -- DePaul (11/19, HLN), at Tennessee Tech (11/23)
• Milwaukee won an in-season tournament title for the first time since December of 2002. Matt Tiby and Jordan Aaron each made the all-tournament team.
• The Panthers have now won four-straight games after not winning more than two in a row a season ago. UWM also is now 4-1 outside of Milwaukee and 2-1 in true road games this season. Last year they were 1-17 outside of Milwaukee and 1-15 in true road contests.
• Seven different players have posted at least one double figure performance for the Panthers this season.
• With senior Thierno Niang sidelined by concussion-like symptoms over the weekend, the Panthers’ starting five for all three games at Northern Illinois included 3 sophomores.
• UWM’s 4-1 start equals its start from the 2011-12 campaign. The Panthers eventually started 8-1 that year. Those 2 years with 4-1 starts after 5 games are the best since Milwaukee won its first 6 in the 2004-05 season.
• Tiby has put together a pair of impressive performances to open his Panther career. After scoring 21 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists in the season opener at Loyola, Tiby tallied 21 points and nine rebounds in the win at Davidson.
• With its 81-77 win at Davidson, the Panthers became the first time to defeat the Wildcats in their home opener in 20 years.

Oakland Golden Grizzlies (0-4) -- vs. Louisiana (11/23), vs. Coastal Carolina/St. Francis (N.Y.) (11/24)
• Oakland is currently in the midst of a 7-game road swing. The Golden Grizzlies’ first home game will be on Nov. 30, when they host Rochester.
• Both Travis Bader and Kahlil Felder played 40 minutes in each of Oakland’s last two games. Oakland played at Cal and at Gonzaga with just eight players available.
• Bader knocked down five 3-pointers in each of his last three games, pushing his streak to 57 consecutive games with at least one triple. Bader is now the 10th player in OU history to go past 1,700 career points.
• Oakland has made a 3-pointer in 723 consecutive games, the seventh-best streak in the country.
• The Golden Grizzlies have faced ranked teams in three of their first four games. The Golden Grizzlies have faced a ranked opponent in every season except one (2005-06), posting an overall record of 2-33.
• Oakland joins the Horizon League after 14 seasons in the Summit League. The Golden Grizzlies took three Summit League Tournament titles and have played in a postseason tournament in five consecutive seasons. Oakland is 22-47 all-time versus Horizon League opponents, going 1-1 against the conference last season.
• Oakland will play fast. In the past four years, the Golden Grizzlies have played at an adjusted tempo no slower than 69.7 possessions per game.
• Bader will take aim at J.J. Redick’s all-time 3-point record this season. Bader, who knocked down a school-record 139 3-pointers in 2012-13, sits 82 from breaking Redick’s NCAA record.

UIC Flames (1-2) -- Northwestern (11/20, HLN, ESPN3)
• Junior Marc Brown is the lone player in the Horizon League with three 20-point outings this season and paces the league with a 21.7 per game scoring average. Brown scored 20 points against Eastern Illinois on Saturday.
• Senior Kelsey Barlow has three-straight games with five assists or more and leads the league with a 6.3 per game average.      
• UIC is coming off an 18-win season, the most victories for the program since the 2007-08 campaign. WIth its 10-win improvement from the previous year, the Flames had the 12th-largest turnaround in the country in 2012-13.
• One of the main reasons for UIC’s jump in wins? Improved defense. The Flames posted top-100 effective field-goal percentage (46.7 - 93rd) and two-point field-goal percentage (44.8 - 74th). The previous season saw UIC rank 279th (51.8 eFG%) and 241st (49.8 2P%) in 2011-12.
• The Flames return eight letterwinners from the 2012-13 season, including starters Hayden Humes and Brown. Eight newcomers (five scholarship players) join the ranks, including transfers Barlow and Jordan Harks (Central Arkansas). Barlow averaged 8.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 24.3 minutes per game during his junior year at Purdue, while Harks averaged 8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 58.6 percent from the field for Central Arkansas.
• Humes and assistant coach Donnie Kirksey took part in the Global Sports Academy’s tour of Belgium, England and Holland in August. The traveling team played five games on an exhibition tour. In Belgium, the squad competed in Antwerp, Brussels, Bruges and Ghent, while also playing one contest in Amsterdam. In addition, the group took a tour of London along the way. Detroit’s Juwan Howard, Jr., was also on the team.

Valparaiso Crusaders (2-2) -- at Evansville (11/20), James Madison (11/23, HLN)
• Freshman Alec Peters recorded his first career double-double on Sunday, posting 16 points and 13 rebounds at Ohio. Peters is the first Valpo freshman to start a season opener since Erik Buggs and D’Andre Haskins in the 2008 opener.
• Head coach Bryce Drew becamse the quickest to 50 wins in program history (50-20) after beating Murray State, 77-74, on Nov. 8.
• On Nov. 10, Valpo’s 113-50 win over North Park was the fourth largest in program history. The Crusaders shot 70.2% against North Park, their best shooting percentage in at least 20 years.
• Valpo has ranked among top-5 teams in nation in 2-point field goal perceantage in each of the last three years, besting 55 percent in all three seasons. Through two games this year, the Crusaders are hitting at 60.5-percent clip inside the arc.
• A year after returning all five starters, Valparaiso does not bring back a single starter from last season’s Horizon League championship team. Among the seniors who have moved on are a pair who have signed professional contracts: Ryan Broekhoff (Besiktas JK, Turkey) and Kevin Van Wijk (Oviedo CB, Spain).
• Of the 6,825 minutes played last year, the Crusaders return 1,649, 24.1 percent of available minutes. Among Valpo’s four returning letterwinners, LaVonte Dority, Bobby Capobianco and Jordan Coleman occupied 88.1 percent of those minutes. In all, only 22.8% of the scoring, 27.3% of the rebounding from last year’s squad return in 2013-2014.
• Valparaiso will be breaking in seven newcomers onto its roster, including Saint Louis transfer Keith Carter, who will join the program at the semester.
• A talented group of five freshmen join the Valpo program this year as well. Alec Peters finished fifth in Illinois Mr. Basketball voting in 2013, while Clay Yeo was a member of the Indiana All-Star Team. Jubril Adekoya was a Third Team All-State selection in Illinois, Nick Davidson was tabbed the NWI Times Area Player of the Year as a senior and Lexus Williams earned All-Conference honors as a senior.

Wright State Raiders (1-2) -- Manchester (11/18, HLN), vs. Houston Baptist (11/22), at South Alabama (11/23)
• Wright State is finally rounding into health. Both Reggie Arceneaux and Cole Darling both played significant minutes at DePaul for the first time this season.  Arceneaux finished with 7 points in 26 minutes, while Darling had 9 points in 12 minutes of action. Both players saw limited minutes in Wednesday’s loss at Georgetown.
• Sophomore JT Yoho has quietly turned into Wright State’s go-to offensive player. The Solsberry, Ind.-native has finished in double figures in each game, including a team-high 13 points on Saturday.
• A year ago, Wright State returned just 36.9 percent of its scoring; this season, the team brings back 97.2 of its points from a year ago (2,171 out of 2,233). The Raiders also return 91.7 percent of its minutes from last season, turning what was one of the youngest teams in the nation a year ago into one of the most experienced squads in the country.
• Wright State is not going to play fast, typically, as its adjusted tempo have never been quicker than 63.2 possessions per game. But what the Raiders will do under Billy Donlon is force turnovers. In each of Donlon’s three years, Wright State has ranked in the top 15 nationally for defensive turnover percentage, per KenPom.com. Last year’s rate of 24.3 percent was 15th in the country.
• Wright State will welcome Chrishawn Hopkins to the rotation at the semester. Hopkins played at Butler University for two seasons, averaging 9.1 points in 37 games for the Bulldogs his sophomore year.

Youngstown State Penguins (4-1) -- Thiel (11/20, HLN), Westminster (11/23, HLN)
• Senior Kendrick Perry became YSU’s career leader in steals with 185 after collecting four against Massachusetts.
• Perry also moved into 14th place on the YSU career scoring list with 1,407 career points. He is the 15th player in school history to score st least 1,400 points in a career.
• Youngstown State’s 104-point effort against Warren Wilson marked the most for the Penguins since scoring 106 versus Slippery Rock on Dec. 3, 2003.
• The victory gave YSU a 4-0 mark at the Kennesaw State Tournament and the de facto championship.
• Sophomore Bobby Hain posted consecutive double-doubles on the week, starting with an 18-point, 13-rebound effort versus Warren Wilson. Hain posted 14 points and 10 boards at Massaschusetts.
• Sophomore Ryan Weber scored a career-high 18 points in YSU’s 73-57 win over Kennesaw State on Nov. 8. For the week, Weber averaged 15.3 points, 5 rebounds and shot 52 percent from 3-point range.
• Weber went 11-21 from behind the arc. Last season, he made just eight 3’s.
• Senior Kamren Belin made the most of his return home, knocking down the game-winning jumper in YSU’s 74-72 overtime win versus Florida International. Belin scored nine of his 17 points in the overtime, converting a 4-point play, a 3-pointer and the game-winning 15-footer with three seconds to play.