Horizon League Ventures To Red Line Opponents Four Times Wednesday Evening

Horizon League TV Listing for This Week (Dec. 22-25):
Dec. 22:
South Florida at #ARV/- Cleveland State, 7 p.m. -- Horizon League Network (all times ET)
Butler vs. Utah, 11 p.m. -- ESPNU

Dec. 23:
Butler vs. Florida State, 10 p.m. -- ESPN2

Dec. 25:
Butler vs. TBD, time tdb -- ESPN2 (Championship or third-place game only)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Horizon League men's basketball squads will meet power conference members on four occasions Wednesday night as part of the seven-game slate.  Both the Cleveland State-South Florida (HorizonLeague.com) and Butler-Utah (ESPNU) contests will be carried live.

Cleveland State (12-1) kicks off the evening by facing its second straight BIG EAST opponent as South Florida visits the Wolstein Center.  The Vikings are coming off a 74-63 loss at West Virginia in which they battled the Mountaineers to the final minutes.  Aaron Pogue stepped up against WVU, controlling the paint in route to a season-high 14 point output.

Nominated for the Bob Cousy Award earlier this week, Norris Cole has been the straw that stirs the drink for the Vikings, leading the League in scoring with 21.1 ppg while dishing out 4.8 assists per game.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, with HorizonLeague.com carrying the game live.

Having toured the Big Island while prepping for the Diamond Head Classic, Butler (6-4) will open the three-game tournament against Utah on ESPNU, with coverage beginning at 11 p.m. ET.  The Bulldogs matched their largest win of the season last Saturday, thumping Stanford, 83-50, before a national TV audience.

Matt Howard has been among the top big men in the country through the season's first seven weeks, averaging 17.9 points and 8.1 rebounds, figures that are both good for second in the Horizon League.  Howard scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in just 29 minutes last week, earning League Player of the Week honors.

The League's hottest team, Wright State (7-5) will look to extend its winning streak to five when they hit the road for a 7 p.m. tip at Charlotte.  The Raiders have been winning with defense, holding each of their last four opponents to 51 points or fewer.  Offensively, the return of N'Gai Evans a month ago has solidified the Wright State backcourt, giving the Raiders a three-headed monster on the perimeter with Evans, Vaughn Duggins and Troy Tabler.

Charlotte is coming off a victory over then #7 Tennessee; tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.

Having already defeated Texas-Pan American once this season, Loyola (8-4) will look to sweep the season series from the Broncos at 8 p.m. ET.  The Broncos and Ramblers met in the teams' third game of the year, a 79-57 Loyola victory.  Losers of four of its last five, Loyola will get a chance to experience the adjustments made during the round robin Horizon League schedule before fully immersing themselves in League play next weekend.

Though the Ramblers lost at DePaul, 81-74, on Saturday, Geoff McCammon came out of his shooting slump in a big way, erupting for 31 points on 11-of-22 shooting.

Detroit (7-5) will seek to win its third straight game and even the Horizon League's record with the Missouri Valley Conference at 8:05 p.m. ET, when the venture to Peoria, Ill., for a meeting with the Braves of Bradley.

In his last three games, Ray McCallum has shown the skills that made him the No. 17 recruit in the country last year, averaging 23.3 ppg while collecting his first career double-double last Saturday in a 75-49 demolition of Central Michigan.  The freshman had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists in the contest, just one week after posting a 31-point, 8-rebound effort at Eastern Michigan.

Wednesday marks a quick turnaround for Green Bay (5-7), who knocked off visiting North Dakota, 72-68, on Monday, and now travel to Laramie, Wyo., for a matchup with the host Cowboys.  The Phoenix will tip at 9 p.m. ET against Wyoming, who enter the night having won three straight games

In a MidMajority.com Red Line matchup, the Phoenix will look to 7-foot-1 center Alec Brown to pick up where he left off on Monday.  Brown recorded a career-best 19 points, but his school-record 8 blocks helped lead the way back from a double-digit deficit against the Fighting Sioux.  The Phoenix's 10 blocks on the night set a new school record as well.

Fresh off its upset of then-#12/14 Illinois in front of a packed and partisan United Center crowd, UIC (5-7) heads west to meet the Pac 10's Oregon State.  Tip-off from Corvallis, Ore., is slated for 10 p.m. ET.

After a team-high 15 points in the win over Illinois, Robo Kreps sits eight points shy of 1,300 points in his career; the senior is also a single assist shy of 200 for his career.  Last year, Kreps posted 19 points, including the game-winning layup with 5.6 seconds to play as the Flames came back to defeat the Beavers at the UIC Pavilion.

Butler will be the only team in action the remainder of the Christmas holiday, competing in the Diamond Head Classic on Thursday, Dec. 23 and Saturday, Dec. 25.