Men's Basketball Nov. 16-18 [All times Eastern]
Friday, Nov. 16
UIC vs. #rv/rv New Mexico 4 p.m. CBS Sports Network
Loyola vs. Western Michigan 5 p.m.
North Carolina A&T at Wright State 7 p.m. HLN
Saint Francis (Pa.) at Youngstown State 7:05 p.m. HLN
Green Bay vs. Southern Utah 11:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 17
UIC vs. George Mason/Mercer TBA
Old Dominion at Cleveland State 2 p.m. HLN
Drake at Detroit 7 p.m. HLN
Loyola at South Florida 7:30 p.m.
Davidson at Milwaukee 8 p.m. HLN
Green Bay at Nevada 9 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 18
UIC vs. George Mason/Mercer TBA
Loyola vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore 12:30 p.m.
Valapraiso at Kent State 2 p.m.
Green Bay vs. Cal State Fullerton 4 p.m.
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Horizon League will combine for 15 men's basketball games over the next three days, with all nine member schools represented.
UIC kicks off the action on Friday afternoon from the U.S. Virgin Islands, facing New Mexico in the Paradise Jam, a contest that will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network. The Flames will play every day this weekend as the remarkably young team leans on the senior leadership of point guard Gary Talton, who scored 10 points while dishing out seven assists (with no turnovers), pulled down six rebounds and collected a career-high four steals in a 59-52 season-opening win over UC Riverside. In that game, Division I transfers Josh Crittle and Joey Miller combined for 29 points.
An hour after their inter-cities rivals tip-off, the Loyola Ramblers will face Western Michigan at Tampa, Fla., in the USF Invitational. The Ramblers have jumped out to a 2-0 start this season, the 50th anniversary of their 1963 NCAA Championship. Loyola is led by senior forward Ben Averkamp, the 39th player in school history and 141st in League history to reach the 1,000 career points plateau. Averkamp is also one of 30 national candidates for the Senior CLASS Award.
On HLN, Wright State and Youngstown State will be making their home debuts within five minutes of each other.
The Raiders tip-off at 7 p.m. ET against North Carolina A&T, looking to improve upon their first 2-0 start since the 2007-08 season. For the second straight year, Wright State is the sixth-youngest team in the country. While the Raiders will look to senior point guard Reggie Arceneaux for leadership, freshman JT Yoho has thus far proven to be Wright State's most efficient player after scoring 17 and 14 points, respectively, in his first two career games, posting a 0.485 eff/poss rating.
Five minutes later, the Penguins face off against Saint Francis (Pa.) and will also look to improve upon a 2-0 start. On Monday, Youngstown State recorded its first-ever victory over an SEC opponent with a 68-56 win at Georgia. Preseason All-Leaguer Kendrick Perry recovered quickly from a bout of food poisoning to hang 23 points on the Bulldogs. Perry, who won't turn 19 until December 23, is one of the youngest juniors in the country.
Rounding out Friday night's action will be Green Bay against Southern Utah in the World Vision Classic from Reno, Nev. The 1-0 Phoenix, like UIC, will play all three days this weekend and, on Tuesday, will stop off in Idaho for a return game, bring their total to four games in five days. The heavy schedule could be taxing for Green Bay, which will have just 10 players available. As a result, preseason All-League forward Alec Brown and Horizon League Player of the Week Keifer Sykes will be relied upon heavily to provide consistency and leadership.
Three of Saturday's six games will be carried on HLN, including appearances from Cleveland State, Detroit and Milwaukee.
The 2-1 Vikings will host Old Dominion at 2 p.m. ET in a rematch of a classic BracketBusters contest that saw Cleveland State alum and current Miami Heat guard Norris Cole go off for 41 points. If history is any indicator, head coach Gary Waters will have his team focused of the defensive side of the ball. Last season, the Vikings ranks fifth nationally in turnover percentage as CSU earned the ball on 25.3-percent of their opponents' possessions. According to KenPom.com, the Vikings have ranked no lower than 63rd nationally for the past four seasons.
In a prime time HL-MVC matchup, Detroit will host Drake at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Titans are 1-1 and looking to bounce back after falling 77-74 at St. John's during ESPN's Tip Off Marathon. Preseason All-League guard and preseason Player of the Year Ray McCallum led the Titans with 21 points in the loss, and a put-back bunk by senior forward Doug Anderson was that day's top play on the nightly edition of SportsCenter.
The final HLN game on Saturday features two former "Cinderellas" meeting, with Milwaukee hosting Davidson in the Panthers' regular-season return to the Klotsche Center on campus. Milwaukee has drained 27 3-pointers in two games this season while holding opponents to just 3-of-32 shooting from behind the arc. In a loss to South Carolina on Sunday, the Panthers forced the GameCocks to go 0-for-11 from 3-point range.
The game will serve as a good gauge for the Panthers, as Davidson is pegged as the top team in the Southern Conference and an early-season mid-major darling.
Also on Saturday, Loyola faces host South Florida and Green Bay takes on Nevada. In the Virgin Islands, UIC will face either George Mason or Mercer. Whichever school the Flames don't see on Saturday will be who they face off against on Sunday to wrap up their three-games-in-three-days marathon. Meanwhile, Loyola will meet Maryland-Eastern Shore and Green Bay will face Cal State Fullerton.
The final Horizon League team to make a weekend appearance will be Valparaiso. The Crusaders fell to 2-1 on the season after a missed-opportunity loss at Nebraska on Wednesday night, but Valpo will look to rebound on the road against Kent State. With all five starters returning from a year ago -- and led by preseason All-Leaguers Ryan Broekhoff and Kevin Van Wijk -- it would appear no slump will be long-lived for the Crusaders.
