Men's Basketball Notebook (Dec. 24)

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Dec. 24, 2012)

On the Schedule [all times ET] 
Friday, Dec. 28
Detroit at #rv/rv Temple⁹, 3 p.m.
Rio Grande (Ohio) at Cleveland State, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 29
Ohio Dominican at Milwaukee, 1 p.m. – Horizon League Network
Loyola at DePaul, 2 p.m. – ESPN3/Full-Court
UIC at Toledo, 2 p.m.
Marygrove at Youngstown State, 2:05 p.m. – Horizon League Network
Canisius at Detroit⁹, 3 p.m. – Horizon League Network
Valparaiso at Murray State, 3 p.m. – ESPN3

Sunday, Dec. 30
Mount St. Joseph at Wright State, 2 p.m. – Horizon League Network
Illinois-Springfield at Green Bay, 7 p.m. – Horizon League Network

On the Horizon

• At the Point: Four Horizon League point guards were among the candidates named for the Bob Cousy Award, annually given to the nation’s top collegiate point guard by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
  Detroit’s Ray McCallum, Loyola’s Cully Payne, Youngstown State’s Kendrick Perry, and Green Bay’s Keifer Sykes were named to the list. McCallum reached the final 20 candidates last season.
  McCallum, Sykes and Perry rank first, second and fifth, respecitvely, in scoring in the Horizon League, while Payne’s 4.5 assists per game is fifth in the conference.
  Other notable point guard play in the Horizon League includes UIC’s Gary Talton, who holds an assist rate of 32.8, trailing only Payne’s 33.5 mark, and Cleveland State’s Charlie Lee, who ranks third in the League with a 4.6 assist per game average.
• Depth Charge: Picked seventh, eighth and ninth in the Horizon League preseason poll, Loyola, UIC and Wright State presently are a combined 26-10.
  UIC has improved 159 places in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings this year, from 289 to its present ranking of 130. The jump is the ssecond-largest improvement of any team in the country.
  Loyola has already surpassed its win total from last year after beating Saint Peter’s last Saturday.
  Wright State’s four road wins are tied for the most in the Horizon League; last Saturday, the Raiders led No. 11/11 Cincinnati, 30-22, early in the second half before suffering a 68-58 setback.
• On Fire: Despite two losses last week, UIC is off to a 9-3 start for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign, when the Flames went 24-8 and captured the Horizon League Tournament Championship en route to a berth in the NCAA Tournament. UIC already owns notable wins over Colorado State (64-55), Northwestern (50-44), Iona (86-81) and Mercer (62-36).

• Horizon League teams will be off until Friday, Dec. 28, when Detroit resumes the Chevrolet Gotham Classic at Temple. The Owls knocked off then-No. 3/3 Syracuse on Dec. 22, just after the Titans fell by 4 points to the Orange.
• In the final full week of non-conference games, Valparaiso will travel to Murray State on Saturday, Dec. 29; ESPN3 will have exclusive coverage of the game (3 p.m. ET).
• Loyola’s intra-city duel with DePaul will also be carried on ESPN3 (2 p.m. ET) on Saturday.

• With its 54-49 win at Saint Peter’s, Loyola eclipsed its win total from the 2011-12 season. In head coach Porter Moser’s first year, the Ramblers went 7-23; in Moser’s second season, Loyola sits 8-3 heading into Saturday’s game at DePaul.
• Green Bay’s 72-55 win over South Dakota marked the Horizon League’s 53rd Division I victory of the year. Last year, the 10-team Horizon League had just 52 wins. The 9-team Horizon League is 63-46 overall in non-League games.
• Hosting Marquette for the first time, Green Bay stifled the Golden Eagles with a 1-2-2 zone, outlasting Marquette, 49-47, on Wednesday. The win was the first for Green Bay head coach Brian Wardle, a Marquette alumnus, over his former team.
• Detroit nearly came back to spoil Jim Boeheim’s first attempt at career win No. 900 before falling to then-No. 3/3 Syracuse, 72-68, at the Carrier Dome.

• As of Dec. 24, the Horizon League is ranked 11th by Jeff Sagarin. The conference checks in 12th in the Ken Pomeroy (KenPom.com), Basketball State (BBState.com) and RPI (RPIRatings.com) indexes. Up from its preseason rank of 15th in Pomeroy, the conference is one of the biggest climbers of the year.

League Rankings (Pomeroy)              League Rankings (Sagarin)                  League Rankings (Basketball State)
1. Big Ten                               .8611      1. Big Ten                               83.58      1. Big East                              84.930
2. Big East                              .8318      2. Mountain West                82.70      2. Mountain West                83.713
3. ACC                                    .7847      3. Big East                              81.62      3. Big Ten                               83.508
4. Big 12                                 .7754      4. Big 12                                 80.82      4. ACC                                    81.070
5. Mountain West                .7691      5. Pac-12                               80.73      5. Pac-12                               79.926
6. Pac-12                               .7596      6. ACC                                    80.48      6. Big 12                                 79.280
7. SEC                                     .7348      7. Atlantic 10                        78.41      7. SEC                                     76.453
8. Atlantic 10                        .7053      8. SEC                                     78.35      8. Atlantic 10                        75.746
9. Missouri Valley                 .6715      9. Missouri Valley                 77.79      9. Missouri Valley                 75.340
10. West Coast                     .6332      10. West Coast                     75.98      10. Conference USA            72.819
11. Conference USA            .5501      11. Horizon League             74.63     11. West Coast                     72.762
12. Horizon League             .5205     12. Conference USA            74.05      12. Horizon League             70.030
13. WAC                                .5009      13. WAC                                73.18      13. WAC                                66.963
14. MAAC                              .4793      14. Big West                          72.61      14. MAC                                 66.032
15. MAC                                 .4533      15. MAC                                 72.18      15. Ohio Valley                     65.500
16. Colonial                           .4324      16. MAAC                              72.11      16. Sun Belt                           65.181
17. Patriot                             .4224      17. Sun Belt                           70.84      17. MAAC                              64.939
18. Big West                          .4145      18. Colonial                           70.65      18. Patriot                             64.743
19. Sun Belt                           .3996      19. Patriot                             70.56      19. Southland                       63.124  
20. Ivy League                      .3916      20. America East                  70.26      20. America East                  62.926
21. Ohio Valley                     .3728      21. Ohio Valley                     70.14      21. Big West                          62.876

• For the first time since joining the Horizon League, Valparaiso was tabbed the preseason favorite in the Horizon League.  The defending regular-season champions, Valparaiso earned three points in the Associated Press preseason poll.
• The Horizon League is the lone conference in the country returning its entire All-League First Team from a year ago.
• The Horizon League is building off a 2011-12 season that saw a record five teams earn postseason bids.  Detroit represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament, while Valparaiso and Cleveland State each went to the NIT. Butler and Milwaukee participated in the CBI.

• Head coach Gary Waters won his 300th career game in Wednesday’s victory over Notre Dame College. He has 129 wins at CSU after winning 92 games at Kent State and 79 at Rutgers.
• Freshman Junior Lomomba made his first career start in Wednesday’s game against Notre Dame College. Lomomba followed it up with a 16-point effort versus Akron on Sunday.
• Cleveland State had its 11-game win streak against opponents from the Mid-American Conference snapped with Sunday’s loss at Akron. Prior to Sunday, the Vikings last loss to a MAC school came on Dec. 29, 2007.
• Freshman Bryn Forbes has scored in double figures in five of the last six games after a 13-point effort at Akron.
• Sophomore Marlin Mason scored a career-high 19 points in Wednesday’s win over Notre Dame College, adding a career-best four blocked shots.

• Detroit has started the same five players all season and now all five average in double figures in scoring. The five starters are also responsible for 85.2 percent of the Titan scoring. All five starters scored in double figures in the win at Alcron State.
• Ray McCallum currently leads the Titans in three categories this season scoring (19.4 ppg), assists (4.8 apg) and steals (1.7 spg) and is also climbing up the career record board in all three. McCallum has 1,195 points (24th), 353 assist (9th) and 128 steals (14th) in his career. The last Titan to rank among the top-10 in all three of those categories was Rashad Phillips. Phillips finished his career with 2,319 points (1st), 548 assists (4th) and 190 steals (2nd). McCallum needs 407 points and 12 steals to catch Phillips.
• McCallum was named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list. The list recognizes the top-returning players in all of college basketball. McCallum, the Horizon League preseason Player of the Year and first team selection for the second-straight season, was named the Horizon League Tournament MVP last year.

• Junior Alec Brown had 19 points and 8 rebounds against South Dakota and moved over 500 career rebounds, the 14th Phoenix player to eclipse that mark.
• Green Bay defeated Marquette 49-47 in the Golden Eagles first visit to Green Bay. The 47 points allowed were the fewest since a 57-47 win over Loyola on Dec. 3, 2011.
• Sophomore Greg Mays became the 8th different Phoenix player to reach double figures this season with a season-high 11 against Marquette.
• The Phoenix shot a season-high 55.3 percent from the field against South Dakota, its highest percentage since Dec. 31 at Valparaiso.            
• Brown is the only returning player in the country to have averaged 13+ points, 8+ rebounds and 3+ blocks per game last year.
• With Brown, Fouse and Greg Mays up front, Green Bay poses a sizeable advantage on the boards. Green Bay is allowing an offensive board in just 28.9 percent of its defensive stands, ranking 78th.
• Despite the presence of its front court on the interior, Green Bay owns an effective field-goal percentage of just 45.7 percent, ranking 251st nationally. However, the Phoenix own a free-throws attempted to field-goals attempted rate of 42.8 (50th), cashing in those free throws 75.5 percent of the time.

• This marks only the eighth time in program history that Loyola has opened a season by winning at least eight of its first 11 games.
• Saturday’s win at Saint Peter’s pushed Loyola’s record in non-conference games to 13-3 in its last 16 contests.           
• The Ramblers face long-time city rival DePaul on Dec. 29 and will be looking for their first win over the Blue Demons since Jan. 21, 1989. Loyola has dropped 11 straight games to DePaul.
• Sophomore guard Joe Crisman tallied a season-high 12 points, his most since Feb. 23, 2012, in the Ramblers’ 54-49 victory at Saint Peter’s.
• Senior Ben Averkamp is one of 15 players in NCAA Division I who entered the season with a legitimate chance of topping 1,000 points, 750 rebounds, 100 assists and 100 blocks for his career. Averkamp has recorded 1,168 points, 548 rebounds, 153 assists and 134 blocks. Two other Horizon League players are closing in on those figures - Valparaiso’s Ryan Broekhoff and Green Bay’s Alec Brown.
• Averkamp has been named as one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. The Germantown, Wis.-native was voted Second Team All-League after his junior season, becoming Loyola’s first all-league pick since 2006-07.
• With 16 years of experience spread among 16 players, Loyola ranks as the seventh-youngest team in the nation. Averkamp and Jordan Hicks provide the bulk of experience with seven total years entering the 2012-13 season.

• Milwaukee has lost four straight and nine of its last 10.
• Senior Paris Gulley has now reached double figures in five of seven games since his return from injury, scoring 16 points at Wisconsin.
• With freshman J.J. Panoske reaching double figures in the loss at Madison, the Panthers have now had nine players post at least one double figure outing this season.
• Milwaukee’s 44.0 percent shooting clip at Wisconsin was its best of the season and broke a string of five-straight games below 40 percent.
• After making 34 three-pointers in the first three games of the season the Panthers have made 51 in their last 10 outings.
• Milwaukee is allowing opponents to grab offensive rebounds on 36.3 percent of its possessions, ranking 292nd in the nation. The Panthers’ effective field goal percentage of 42.0 ranks 327th.

• UIC’s 9-3 start is the program’s best since the 2003-04 season, when the Flames went to the NCAA Tournament. The last time UIC won eight consecutive games was also during the 1997-98 campaign.   
• The Flames have held seven opponents under 35 percent shooting (eight under 40 percent), including six of its last eight opponents. UIC has also limited six individual opponents to fewer than 50 points for the first time in more than 60 years.
• Senior Daniel Barnes has scored in double figures in eight-of the past nine games. Over the past nine contests, the senior from Oak Park, Ill., is averaging a team-high 13.2 points per game. He enters Saturday’s game at Toledo with 97 career three-pointers. 
• UIC has started the same five all year - Gary Talton, Barnes, Hayden Humes, Marc Brown and Josh Crittle. That group is currently occupying 77.4 percent of UIC’s minutes played.  Talton (34.2) and Humes (33.9) both rank in the top-6 of the Horizon League in minutes.
• Reserve guard Joey Miller posted double-digit scoring outputs in each of UIC’s road games last week. He scored a game-high 15 points at Western Illinois, and chipped in 11 points at Miami University. Miller enters Saturday’s game at Toledo as the Flames’ sixth-leading scorer (5.8 ppg) - he is shooting nearly 42 percent (.419) from three-point range on the season.
• Talton enters Saturday’s game at Toledo as the Horizon League’s leader in steals per game (1.8), while ranking second overall in both assists (4.8 apg) and assist/turnover ratio (2.6).
• UIC’s stingy defensive effort has been notable early this season. The Flames are holding their opponents to just a 43.4 effective field-goal percentage, the 39th-best mark, nationally. The Flames hold a 95.1 defensive efficiency, 95th in the country, holding opponents to  a 29.1 percent output from three-point range. The Flames are turning the ball over at a 17.7 clip on the offensive end, ranking 38th nationally.
• A year after bringing in nine newcomers to the roster, UIC adds eight newcomers to its ranks.   Overall, UIC returns 65 percent of its scoring from the 2011-12 campaign.

• Crusaders lead the Horizon League in rebounding margin and were +20 on the glass versus IUPUI, Valpo’s highest margin since going +23 in a win over YSU on Jan. 7, 2011.
• Senior Ryan Broekhoff scored 17 against IUPUI and has scored at least 15 in 7 of Valpo’s last 8 games. Broekhoff sat out his first career game on Saturday to rest an ankle injury.
• Last Saturday’s win over Missouri State marked the first game Valparaiso had its full complement of players. LaVonte Dority scored 20 points in his first game after transferring. Broekhoff (mono) and junior Bobby Capobianco (hernia) were less than full strength in the first month of the year.          
• Valparaiso’s 53.3 effective field-goal percentage ranks 37th in the country. The Crusaders have been one of the best teams in the nation at getting to the free-throw line, holding a 46.0 FGA/FTA rate. The mark is 21st nationally.
• Broekhoff’s 126.8 offensive rating ranks 23rd among players used on at least 20 percent of the team’s possessions and is 70th overall.
• Senior Kevin Van Wijk serves as the focal point of the Valparaiso offense, being used on 28.0 percent of the team’s possessions. Van Wijk’s 8.2 fouls drawn per 40 minutes is the third-best rate nationally.
• Broekhoff’s 25.3 defensive rebounding percentage ranks 37st in the country, while the Crusaders are allowing offensive rebounds on just 25.5 of possessions, 15th nationally.
• With a turnover percentage of 24.1 on its possessions, Valparaiso ranks 302nd in the country.

• Wright State’s 8-4 start is the program’s best since the 2007-08 season.
• Junior Jerran Young’s 14-point, 10-rebound double-double at Cincinnati was the first by a Wright State player since Cory Cooperwood had 19 points and 12 rebounds against Loyola on January 30, 2010.
• The Raiders held an 8-point, second half lead at No. 11/11 Cincinnati on Saturday, the largest deficit faced by the Bearcats this season.
• The Raiders outscored Miami, 30-11, at the free-throw line on Wednesday night. The 30 points at the stripe were the most by WSU this season.
• The Raiders’ 25.0 defensive turnover rate ranks 21st nationally, while Wright State is holds a defensive efficiency of 93.9, ranking 70th.
• Led by point guard Reggie Arceneaux, Wright State has given up a steal on just 8.3 percent of its possessions, ranking 49th.
• In his two years as Wright State’s head coach, Billy Donlon has hung his hat on defense. Last year, the Raiders were fourth in the country at defensive turnover rate, turning opponents over 25.6-percent of the time. In 2010-11, the team ranked 12th at 24.3-percent, per KenPom.com. Wright State has not been outside the top 20 in the category in each of the last four seasons.
• A season after opening the year as the sixth-youngest team in the country, the Raiders are once again the sixth-youngest team in the nation. Wright State has 15 players with a total of 14 years of collegiate experience. The Raiders are one of a handful of teams to open the year without a senior on their roster.
• Wright State returns just 36.9 percent of its scoring from a year ago; the Raiders return six letterwinners from last year, led by Arceneaux.

• Senior Damian Eargle set a new Horizon League career blocks record with 4 against Kent State, breaking the old mark of 226. Eargle sits at 250 after 4 at Behtune-Cookman.
• Eargle eclipsed 800 career points against Hiram; with 832 points as a Penguin, the center needs 168 to reach 1,000 in his YSU career.
• Junior Kendrick Perry needs just 17 points to reach 1,000 for his career. He also ranks eighth all-time with 298 assists.
• Senior Blake Allen turned in his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 boards at Bethune-Cookman.
• Allen needs 28 more 3-pointers to become the YSU all-time leader. He has 169 in his career.
• The Penguins’ 17.6 turnover rate is one of the tops in the nation, checking in at 36th.
• Last year, Youngstown State was among the nation’s most reliant teams on the three-pointer. 38.1 percent of YSU’s total points came via the three, the eighth-highest mark in the nation. 40.8 percent of the Penguins’ attempts were three-pointers, ranking 28th nationally. To this point in the year, the Penguins are displaying more balance, getting just 35.4 percent of its points from long range and holding a 30.8 percent 3PA/FGA rate.