Men's Basketball Weekly Release #3

Release Horizon League · December 2, 2008

Dec. 2, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE

Tuesday, Dec. 2
Valparaiso at Cleveland State, 7 p.m. ... HLN
William & Mary at Loyola, 8 p.m. ... HLN / Lakeshore

Wednesday, Dec. 3
UIC at Vanderbilt, 8 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 4
Valparaiso at Youngstown State, 7:05 p.m. ... HLN / MyYTV #
Butler at Cleveland State, 8 p.m. ... ESPNU
Detroit at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. ... HLN
Wright State at Green Bay, 8 p.m. ... HLN

Saturday, Dec. 6
Cleveland State at West Virginia, 1 p.m.
Wright State at Milwaukee, 3 p.m. ... HLN
Butler at Youngstown State, 7:05 p.m. ... HLN / MyYTV #
Detroit at Green Bay, 8 p.m. ... HLN / MyNEW32
Loyola at UIC, 8 p.m. ... HLN / Lakeshore

All times are Eastern Daylight (EDT)
Rankings are Associated Press first, ESPN/USA Today Coaches second

HLN = Horizon League Network webcast (www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv)
# = Tape delayed at 10 p.m. ET

HORIZON LEAGUE TEAM NOTES

BUTLER BULLDOGS (5-0, 0-0)

Butler has started 5-0 for the third straight year. The Bulldogs are the lone remaining unbeaten Division I team in Indiana.

The Bulldogs have won 20 consecutive games in November, dating back to 2005. Butler's last November loss was to Michigan, 78-74, on Nov. 26 of that year.

Butler is 11-2 in its last 13 games against schools from BCS conferences. The stretch includes wins over Ohio State, Michigan, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Maryland, Florida State, Tennessee, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech.

Butler has held each of its first five opponents below 60 points. The Bulldogs held Northwestern to a season-low 53 and limited Evansville to a season-low 59. BU has led the Horizon League in scoring defense for three straight years.

CLEVELAND STATE VIKINGS (4-2, 0-0)

The three wins in Florida last week allowed Cleveland State to win the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic's Miami Regional. It was the Vikings' third tournament title in school history and their first since 2000-01.

With three wins in the CBE Classic, Cleveland State improved its record to 6-1 in the state of Florida over the past two years. The stretch includes wins over South Florida, Florida State and Florida Atlantic a season ago.

Tuesday's game vs. Valparaiso will mark Cleveland State's earliest start to Horizon League play. The Vikings will also be playing a League game in December for the fourth straight season.

Senior J'Nathan Bullock broke into Cleveland State's top 10 for career scoring with a 16-point effort against Florida International on Wednesday. He now has 1,318 points in three-plus seasons.

DETROIT TITANS (2-3, 0-0)

Detroit improved to 46-11 during its last 57 non-conference home games with a 62-57 win over Saint Louis on Saturday.

Detroit is averaging 35.4 rebounds per game and has outrebounded its opponents in all five games this year. Last season, the Titans averaged just 29.1 boards per contest and were outrebounded in 17 of 30 games.

Detroit has started the year by winning its first two games at home for the first time since 2005-06.

The Titans will look to end a streak of 14 straight Horizon League road losses with games at Milwaukee (Thursday) and Green Bay (Saturday) this week. UDM has not won a conference road game since Jan. 20, 2007.

GREEN BAY PHOENIX (3-2, 0-0)

Green Bay will open its Horizon League slate at home for the first time since 2004-05. The Phoenix faces Wright State (Thursday) and Detroit (Saturday).

Green Bay owns a three-game winning streak -- its longest since winning four straight from Nov. 24-Dec. 6, 2007.

Four Phoenix players are currently averaging double figures in points and eight are seeing double-figure minutes each game.

LOYOLA RAMBLERS (3-4, 0-0)

Loyola is allowing just 52.3 points per game in its three wins this season, but 78.8 ppg in its four losses.

The Ramblers are limiting foes to .338 shooting (52-for-154) from the field in their three victories, but are allowing a .518 clip (118-for-228) in their four setbacks.

Loyola improved to 18-4 (.818) at the Gentile Center vs. non-conference foes since the start of the 2005-06 campaign with a 58-53 victory over Holy Cross on Saturday.

Senior J.R. Blount has started 74 consecutive contests. The guard also moved into 19th place on Loyola's career-scoring chart last week (1,271 points).

MILWAUKEE PANTHERS (3-4, 0-0)

Milwaukee has had eight different players have recorded at least one double-figure point outing in 2008-09.

Milwaukee opens Horizon League play with contests against Detroit (Thursday) and Wright State (Saturday). The Panthers and Titans have played a number of tight contests in recent seasons, while the Raiders have not beaten UWM in Milwaukee since 1998.

Milwaukee will likely be without senior Ricky Franklin at the beginning of League play. Franklin was suspended prior to the Wisconsin game for a violation of team rules.

UIC FLAMES (3-2, 0-0)

Senior Josh Mayo has increased his career scoring total to 1,302, which is good for 10th all-time at UIC. He scored 12 points at Howard on Tuesday and 20 points vs. Central Michigan on Saturday.

Sophomore Tori Boyd scored a career-high 17 points in UIC's win over Central Michigan on Saturday.

UIC heads to Nashville to face SEC power Vanderbilt on Wednesday. The Flames then open Horizon League play against city-rival Loyola at the Pavilion on Saturday.

VALPARAISO CRUSADERS (2-3, 0-0)

Valparaiso will match its earliest start to League play when it battles Cleveland State on Tuesday (Dec. 2, 1999 - Oral Roberts).

Six different Valparaiso players have scored at least 10 points once this season. The total includes three true freshmen and a sophomore who didn't play last year.

Sophomore Benjamin Fumey leads the conference in field goal percentage (.606).

WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS (0-4, 0-0)

Junior Vaughn Duggins dislocated and broke a finger in a practice before the Sam Houston State game on Saturday. The preseason All-Horizon League first-team selection may miss up to three weeks.

In the Sam Houston State game, freshman Kyle Pressley sprained his ankle and could miss at least a week. In addition, sophomore Troy Table dislocated his shoulder and could miss upcoming games as well.

Wright State opens Horizon League play this week at Green Bay (Thursday) and Milwaukee (Saturday). The Raiders are gone 14 of the 31 days in December with stops in Green Bay, Milwaukee, Little Rock (Ark.), Winston-Salem (N.C.) and San Juan (PR).

YOUNGSTOWN STATE PENGUINS (1-4, 0-0)

Junior Sirlester Martin just missed his second double-double of the season with 11 points and nine rebounds against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday.Senior Jack Liles extended his consecutive games streak to 87, dating back to the 2005-06 season.

Jerry Slocum will be coaching in his 1,000th career game against Valparaiso on Thursday. Slocum is in his 34th season and owns a career record of 611-388 (.612).

Since starting the season by making just two of their first 31 three-point attempts (.065), the Penguins have made 25 of their last 58 threes (.431).

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Men's Basketball Weekly Release #3

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