Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Jan. 31)
Horizon League TV Schedule, Week of Jan. 31 (all times ET)
Thursday, Feb. 3:
#-/rv Valparaiso at #rv/rv Cleveland State, 7 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
Loyola at Wright State, 7 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
Butler at Youngstown State, 7:05 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
UIC at Detroit, 7:30 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
Saturday, Feb. 5:
Butler at #rv/rv Cleveland State, 12 p.m. -- ESPN2
Loyola at Detroit, 2 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com (Horizon League Game of the Week)
Green Bay at Milwaukee, 3 p.m. -- ESPNU
UIC at Wright State, 7 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
#-/rv Valparaiso at Youngstown State, 7:05 p.m. -- HorizonLeague.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- With the road teams having made it to their destinations in spite of the inclement weather that swept the Midwest, several key Horizon League matchups are on tap for the weekend, beginning with a first-place showdown on Thursday night.
At the Wolstein Center, first place is on the line when Valparaiso (16-6, 8-2 Horizon) meets Cleveland State (20-3, 9-2 Horizon). The Crusaders took a thrilling 85-79 victory over Butler last Saturday to position themselves for the battle for first, while the Vikings methodically worked past UIC and Loyola, becoming the first team in the League to reach 20 victories this season.
The battle of the backcourts features two players vying for Horizon League Player of the Year honors, as Norris Cole faces off with Valpo's Brandon Wood. Cole paces the League in points (20.1 ppg), assists (5.2 apg) and steals (2.4 spg), while Wood is fifth in scoring (16.0), seventh in assists (3.5) and third in steals (1.8). A victory by the Crusaders would give them a half-game lead over the Vikings but would more importantly, give them the season sweep of CSU for any tie-breaking purposes.
Youngstown State (7-14, 1-10 Horizon) welcomes Butler (14-8, 6-4 Horizon) to the Beeghly Center on Thursday, looking to get over the hump after a narrow 84-79 loss in January. The Penguins matched a new school record with 14 three-pointers in that contest, one of the reasons they pace the League with 7.8 triples per game.
Sitting right behind Youngstown State in that category is Butler, who knocks down 7.4 three-pointers per game. Shelvin Mack enjoyed one his finest performances of the season against the Penguins on Jan. 9, connecting on 5-of-9 attempts from beyond the three-point arc en route to a season-high 28 points. Matt Howard posted 26 points in the victory for the Bulldogs, who are just 3-6 on the road this season.
Butler and Valparaiso will pass each other in the night, with the Bulldogs meeting Cleveland State in a nationally televised contest on ESPN2 at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, while the Crusaders and Penguins will tip at 7:05 p.m. ET on Saturday evening.
Two games out of first and looking to position itself for a bye in the Horizon League Tournament, Wright State (14-9, 7-4 Horizon) plays host to Loyola (13-9, 4-7 Horizon) at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams split their contests a weekend ago, with the Raiders narrowly falling a point short of a sweep in Wisconsin, while the Ramblers were victimized by turnovers in their Saturday loss to Cleveland State.
Wright State, despite missing two starters due to injury, have relied on the combination of Vaughn Duggins, N'Gai Evans and stingy defense to overcome the loss of both Troy Tabler and Cooper Land. Evans lifted the Raiders to a win at Green Bay with a layup with 4.1 seconds left, while Duggins matched his career-best with 26 points in the one-point loss at Milwaukee. Averaging 22.5 points on the week, Duggins earned Horizon League Player of the Week honors.
Loyola started slow in League play, but has won three of its last four conference clashes. The inside-outside duo of Ben Averkamp and Geoff McCammon has lifted the Ramblers of late; McCammon has put himself squarely into consideration for Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year, leading Loyola with 14.0 ppg off the bench. Averkamp has blossomed in his sophomore year, putting up 13.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 1.6 bpg over his last 10 games.
After a lost weekend in Wisconsin, Detroit (11-12, 5-6 Horizon) will look to bounce back on Thursday night when they host UIC (6-16, 1-9 Horizon) at Calihan Hall. UIC will not lack confidence, as they led Detroit for 30 minutes before falling, 72-69, in a thrilling Horizon League Game of the Week on Jan. 8. Moving Corey Gray to the point and sliding Robo Kreps to shooting guard seemed to help the Flames go 1-1 last week, as they fought tooth-and-nail with Cleveland State on Thursday before rolling past Youngstown State on Saturday.
The Titans fell below .500 with two losses in Wisconsin last week, losing a late lead at Milwaukee before suffering a late closing burst from Green Bay that sent them to seventh in the League with seven games remaining. Detroit will look to Ray McCallum, Eli Holman and Chase Simon to shoulder the load, as McCallum leads the squad in both scoring (14.5 ppg) and assists (4.5 apg), with Holman ranking among the nation's top rebounders with 10.3 caroms per contest.
Saturday will see Detroit welcome Loyola in the Horizon League Game of the Week, while Wright State hosts UIC at 7 p.m. that evening.
ESPNU will carry the Wisconsin rivalry between Green Bay (12-11, 6-5 Horizon) and Milwaukee (12-11, 7-5 Horizon) live from U.S. Cellular Arena at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. A day before the state comes together for the Super Bowl, the two schools will be looking for a key League win that will help determine tournament seeding down the road.
A Phoenix victory would give them the tie-breaker over the Panthers, as Green Bay recorded a 69-64 triumph on Jan. 8. A Milwaukee win would put the team 1.5 games clear of Green Bay in the League standings.
The Panthers moved into fifth in the League last week by sweeping Detroit and Wright State at home, getting big games out of Anthony Hill both nights. Green Bay will rely on freshman Alec Brown to neutralize Hill, while the backcourt matchup of Milwaukee's Kaylon Williams and Tone Boyle versus the Phoenix's Rahmon Fletcher and Bryquis Perine may well decide the contest.
