Men's Basketball Weekend Preview: Valpo-CSU on ESPN2 on Saturday

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Report (Feb. 8)

Men's Basketball Weekend Schedule (all times EST)
Saturday, Feb. 9
Detroit at Green Bay -- 2 p.m., HLN Game of the Week/ESPN3
Valparaiso at Cleveland State -- 4 p.m., ESPN2
Wright State at Milwaukee -- 8 p.m., HLN
Sunday, Feb. 10
UIC at Youngstown State -- 2:05 p.m., HLN

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Friday night of rest sets up a weekend of exciting matchups in Horizon League men's basketball, including Detroit vs. Green Bay in the HLN Game of the Week and Valparaiso vs. Cleveland State on ESPN2.

The action starts with the Game of the Week. The second-place Titans struggled to stay ahead in Milwaukee on Thursday night, showing once again that road wins aren't easy in the Horizon League. Green Bay, meanwhile, took a double-overtime loss to Wright State.

It was the first home loss of the conference season for the Phoenix and dropped Green Bay into a fourth-place tie with Youngstown State. After it took until the middle of December for the Titans to win a true road game, Detroit has now won four straight Horizon League away games and has a four-game winning streak overall.

The Titans are currently tied with Valparaiso for the most conference wins this season, sitting in second place thanks to one more loss than the Crusaders. Valpo will look to hold onto that lead on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Cleveland State for a nationallly-broadcast matchup on ESPN2.

Valparaiso hasn't played since a 25-point win over UIC on Tuesday, their second-consecutive win since Youngstown State snapped the Crusaders' six-game winning streak during the last week of January. Cleveland State also hasn't played since Tuesday, when the Vikings delivered a six-point victory over regional rival Youngstown State, their second win in a row.

In the final game on Saturday, Wright State looks to complete it's first-ever season sweep of the Horizon League's Wisconsin teams. The Raiders, having already won both games at the Nutter Center, beat Green Bay on Thursday night thanks to T.J. Yoho's 3-pointer in double-overtime. The win moved Wright State into third place in the Horizon League standings going into the matchup with Milwaukee, which battled back against Detroit to erase an early deficit but couldn't close out the game and took its ninth conference loss.

The Panthers will honor basketball alumni, including the 2002-03 team that competed in the NCAA Tournament. The five newest members of the Bud Haidet Athletics Hall of Fame will also be honored.

Sunday's lone game pits UIC against Youngstown State. The Flames will look to recover their defensive identity, which was missing from Tuesday night's loss at Valpo. The Penguins, meanwhile, will look to build off a one-point win over Loyola that saw Blake Allen's game-winning 3-pointer snap a two-game losing streak. It will be the second game of a five-game homestand for Youngstown State.

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