Men's Basketball Weekly Release #3
Dec. 7, 2004
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The Horizon League men's basketball schedule heats up this week with 16 games on tap, including three against nationally ranked opponents on the road. In fact, only four of this week's 16 contests are home games. In games involving ranked foes, UW-Green Bay will play at #24/22 Wisconsin Tuesday, Dec. 7; Detroit at #--/20 Cincinnati Saturday, Dec. 11; and Loyola at #8/8 North Carolina Sunday, Dec. 12 in a game that will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net.
Two Horizon League teams remain undefeated, highlighted by preseason favorite and defending regular-season champion UW-Milwaukee, which is 5-0 following a 75-67 victory over UIC Dec. 4 in the first League game of the season. The other unbeaten team is Cleveland State, which is 3-0 after going 4-25 a year ago, including a 23-game losing streak to end the season.
Home Cookin': Horizon League teams are a combined 21-6 (.778) at home so far this season with five of the nine teams remaining undefeated in their friendly confines. UW-Milwaukee paces the League with a perfect 4-0 record at home. Cleveland State, Butler and UW-Green Bay are all 3-0, while Wright State is 2-0. One of the rare home losses was UIC's near-upset (60-59) of #3 Georgia Tech, last year's national runner-up, in the Flames' season opener.
Panthers on Prowl out of the Gate: UW-Milwaukee's 5-0 start to the season is the Panthers' best since going 8-0 in the 1992-93 season en route to an 18-1 mark. UWM has outscored its opponents by an average of 29.4 points per game (83.6-54.2). That number is even more impressive in that the Panthers edged Air Force 50-45 in a low-scoring affair Nov. 28.
Balanced Scoring Key to Panthers' Success: A balanced attack has been the source of UW-Milwaukee's undefeated start in the young season. Five UWM players currently are averaging 5.6 points per game or more, with three in double figures and ranked among the top 15 in the Horizon League. Senior guard Ed McCants tops the Panthers and is tied for fifth in the League with 15 points per game, while junior forward Joah Tucker is ninth at 14.2 and junior forward Adrian Tigert 15th at 12.4.
Vikings Undefeated To Start Season: Coming off a 4-25 campaign that included a 23-game season-ending lost streak, Cleveland State has rebounded to open the year with three straight wins. The last Viking team to accomplish that feat was the 1985-86 squad which won a school-record four games to start. In addition, the three consecutive victories mark the longest winning streak at CSU since the 2000-01 Vikings claimed seven straight late in the season.
Panthers Get Rare Win at UIC: With a 75-67 win at UIC in the Horizon League opener, UW-Milwaukee has now won at all eight other League arenas under Bruce Pearl, who is now in his fourth season as head coach at UWM. The victory ended a five-game losing streak for the Panthers at the UIC Pavilion and improved UWM's League road record to 16-9 under Pearl.
The Windy City Meets Tobacco Road: Twice in a three-day span in mid-December a Horizon League team from Chicago will face an Atlantic Coast Conference foe from the Research Triangle on national television. Loyola will play North Carolina Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Dean E. Smith Center on Fox Sports Net National. Then, just over 48 hours later, UIC will take on Duke Dec. 14 at 9 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium on ESPN2.
Williams Returns for Flames: UIC senior forward Armond Williams, a Preseason First-Team All-League honoree, made his season debut in the Flames' loss to UW-Milwaukee Dec. 4, scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench. He missed the first four games while finishing coursework for his degree in movement studies. Williams averaged 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last season and was named the Horizon League Tournament MVP after leading the Flames to the tourney title.
NIT Pickin': Wright State's 72-66 overtime victory at Tulsa in the first round of the Preseason NIT Nov. 19 marked the first win by a Horizon League team in the tournament since former member Xavier defeated Louisville 85-83 in 1988. Following the Tulsa game, the Raiders faced #10/11 Arizona on the road, losing 83-66.
Phoenix Whitewashes Weber: UW-Green Bay set a team Resch Center record by shooting 66 percent from the field in an 82-62 win over Weber State Dec. 4. Sophomore forward Josh Lawrence led the way by hitting 10-of-11 field-goal attempts, including 4-of-5 three-pointers. In addition, senior guard Javier Mendiburu had 14 assists to tie for the second-best single-game mark in school history and junior guard Benito Flores set a new school standard with seven steals against the Wildcats.
Loyola Oh So Close: Loyola has lost its last three games after opening the season 2-1 but those three defeats have been by a total of 15 points. (68-64 at Western Michigan, 48-44 at Oral Roberts and 80-73 at home to Northern Iowa.) In fact, the Ramblers four losses this season have been by a mere 4.3 points per game, including a 64-62 defeat at Bradley.
Wood Jumpstarts Raiders: The play of sophomore DaShaun Wood has been a big reason for Wright State's 4-2 start as he is only player to rank among the top 10 in the Horizon League in scoring, rebounding and assists. A 6-foot point guard, he is second in scoring (17.3 ppg), tied for eighth in rebounding (6.0 rpg) and tied for fifth in assists (4.0 apg). Wood has scored 20 or more points three times already this season, highlighted by a career-high 25 in a win over Toledo. Against Northeastern, he had just two points but helped out with a career-best 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Westley Doubling His Pleasure: Cleveland State senior forward Omari Westley, a Preseason First-Team All-League pick, is the only current Horizon League player averaging a double-double with 14 points and a League-leading 12 rebounds per game. His scoring average is tied for 10th in the League, while his rebounding average is more than 3 1/2 better than the second-best mark of 8.2 of UW-Milwaukee's Adrian Tigert.
Niakate on Point-a-Minute Pace: Cleveland State senior guard Modibo Niakate leads the Horizon League with an 18.3 points-per-game scoring average through three games, including a career-high 31 in a win over Norfolk State Nov. 27. What makes his performance even more impressive is that he is averaging a mere 19 minutes per game, all off the bench. Niakate is averaging nearly a point per minute with 55 points in only 57 minutes. In addition, he ranks third in the League in field-goal percentage at .710 (22-of-31).
Sheets Shines after Surgery: Despite having an emergency appendectomy Nov. 4, Butler junior guard Avery Sheets missed only one exhibition game and has averaged 29 minutes per game this season for the 3-1 Bulldogs. A Preseason Second-Team All-League selection, he is averaging 7.5 points per game and boasts a gaudy League-leading assist-to-turnover ratio of 11.75 with 23 assists (5.8 apg) and only two turnovers in 114 minutes.
UWM's Pearl Nearing 300 Wins: With 296 career wins to his credit, UW-Milwaukee head coach Bruce Pearl is just four victories away from 300 in his 13-year coaching career. He is 65-32 in four years as the Panthers' mentor after posting a record of 231-46, including a Division II national championship, in nine seasons at the University of Southern Indiana. Entering the season, his overall winning percentage of .789 in 12 years as a head coach ranked him behind only Mark Few of Gonzaga and Roy Williams of Kansas on the list of current Division I coaches.
Horizon League Player of the Week - Dec. 6
Josh Lawrence
UW-Green Bay
Forward
Soph.
Ashton, Ill.
Josh Lawrence of UW-Green Bay has been named the Horizon League Men's Basketball Player of the Week for Dec. 6.
Lawrence averaged 22.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of Phoenix wins last week. He shattered the Resch Center shooting efficiency mark by making 10-of-11 (.909) from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range on his way to a career-high 24 points in UWGB's 82-62 victory over Weber State. Earlier in the week, he posted a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 79-71 win at Chicago State.
For the week, Lawrence shot 74 percent (17-of-23), including 8-of-12 from beyond the arc. He is current-ly averaging 15.4 points per game.
Other Top Horizon League Performers - Dec. 6
Zakee Boyd
Wright State, Sophomore, Forward, Newark, N.J.
Boyd averaged 14 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as Wright State went 1-1 last week. He had 14 points and 4 rebounds in the Raiders' 61-54 loss at Ball State and then came back with 14 points and 3 rebounds in a 59-53 win at Northeastern. Boyd also hit 6-of-14 three-point attempts for the week.
Ryvon Covile
Detroit, Junior, Center, Detroit, Mich.
Covile averaged 12 points and 9 rebounds in two games for Detroit last week. He had 11 points and 9 rebounds at Western Michigan, followed by 13 points and 9 boards against Bowling Green. Against the Falcons, he blocked a season-high five shots and tied his career-best with three steals.
DaJuan Gouard
Loyola, Senior, Guard, Danville, Ill.
Gouard averaged 14.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in three contests last week for Loyola. After being held to a season-low six points at Western Michigan, he tallied 10 points at Oral Roberts before exploding for a career-high 27 points and seven rebounds versus Northern Iowa. He buried three consecutive three-pointers in a 16-0 second-half run that erased a 58-42 deficit against the Panthers.
Quin Humphrey
Youngstown State, Sophomore, Guard, Ellenwood, Ga.
In two games at the Price Cutter Classic, Humphrey averaged 15 points and 6 rebounds for Youngstown State. He netted 15 points against both SMS and Southeastern Louisiana. Humphrey shot 10-of-21 (.476) from the floor and 9-of-11 (.818) from the free-throw line.
Raheem Moss
Cleveland State, Sophomore, Forward, Columbus, Ohio
Moss scored a career-high 22 points to go along with six assists, three rebounds and no turnovers in Cleveland State's 91-73 win over Clarion. He scored eight of his points in a decisive 17-0 Viking run in the second half that broke open a tie game. Moss, a transfer from Bowling Green, was 7-of-11 from the field and 6-7 from three-point range.
Adrian Tigert
UW-Milwaukee, Junior, Forward, Oshkosh, Wis.
Tigert averaged 14 points and 8.5 rebounds per game as UW-Milwaukee extended its winning streak to five games with a pair of wins last week. He had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the Panthers' 75-67 win over UIC in the Horizon League opener. Earlier in the week, he had 13 points and seven rebounds in an 89-54 victory over South Dakota State. He shot 65 percent (11-of-17) from the floor for the week.
Karl White
UIC, Freshman, Guard, Omaha, Neb.
White tallied back-to-back double-figure scoring efforts as UIC went 1-1 last week. He had nine of his 11 points in a key first-half run in the Flames' 60-56 win at Illinois State, then backed that up with 11 more points in a 75-67 loss to UW-Milwaukee. For the week, he shot 55 percent (6-of-11) from the floor, 67 percent (2-of-3) from three-point range and 89 percent (8-of-9) from the free-throw line.
