Nine Conference Games to Set Early Season Tone

Thursday, Dec. 1 (all times ET)
#rv/rv Cleveland State at Wright State - 7 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)
Youngstown State at Detroit - 7 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)
UIC at Green Bay - 8 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)
Loyola at Milwaukee - 8 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live | ESPN3)

Saturday, Dec. 3
#rv/rv Cleveland State at Detroit - 2 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)
UIC at Milwaukee - 2 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)
Valparaiso at Butler - 2 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)
Youngstown State at Wright State - 3 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)
Loyola at Green Bay - 8 p.m. (HLN | Live Stats | HLN Live)

The men's basketball season takes a brief dip into conference play this weekend, with the Horizon League Network carrying all nine games across Thursday and Saturday. Fans can watch all the action on their computers or on their iOS devices with the HLN Live app.

Four of the teams pegged in the top five of the Horizon League preseason poll will meet on Saturday, with Detroit (preseason No. 2) hosting Cleveland State (preseason No. 3) and preseason favorite Butler welcoming Valparaiso (preseason No. 5) to Hinkle Fieldhouse. Before those games, however, Thursday night offers four intriguing matchups to start conference play.

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Cleveland State (6-1) continues its tour away from the Wolstein Center, heading across Ohio to meet in-state rival Wright State (2-4). The Vikings are the lone team in the Horizon League to be receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Polls, ranking 33rd and 35th, respectively.

As is the norm, defense has been the key for Gary Waters' team, as CSU leads the Horizon in steals (77) and is second in scoring defense (57.4 ppg). A senior-led team, it has been the re-emergence of D'Aundray Brown and a deeper bench that has helped Vikings stay in the national conversation. Brown, who missed last season due to a finger injury, is third in the League in scoring at 14.9 ppg and third nationally with 3.7 steals per contest.

The sixth-youngest team in the country, Wright State has shown flashes, but struggled with its consistency in Billy Donlon's second season at the helm. Junior Julius Mays has been the Raiders' most consistent player, emerging as Wright State's primary offensive threat after a 21 point effort against Florida and following it up with 25 points in a narrow setback to Charlotte.

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At Calihan Hall, Detroit (3-4) hopes to find comfort at home after a difficult five-game road trip was made tougher by the loss of Nick Minnerath last week. Already playing with a short bench, the Titans will enter Horizon League play with just eight active players on its roster.

In Minnerath's absence, Evan Bruinsma has worked to fill the gap, scoring a career-high 17 points in Detroit's lone win last week, a 94-93 overtime win against Austin Peay. Chase Simon went for 27 on Saturday, but foul trouble forced the Titans' hand in an 81-63 loss at Akron. Still, with Simon, Ray McCallum and LaMarcus Lowe, the Titans can pose problems for nearly any team in the League.

The matchup between Lowe and Youngstown State's (4-1) Damian Eargle will be particularly interesting to watch. While Lowe enters the night ranked 16th in the nation in blocks with 3.1 per game, Eargle is second in the country at 4.6. Threee this year, Eargle has swatted six or more shots, coming within two blocks of a triple-double on Nov. 18. Eargle is supplementing his defensive prowess with 11.2 ppg and 7.4 rebounds per game as well.

Detroit will have to get its hands up on the Penguins' perimeter, as YSU leads the Horizon League with a 40.9 percent shooting clip from three-point range. Leading the charge are Blake Allen and Kendrick Perry, who are knocking down 29-of-61 attempts combined. Between Perry and McCallum, Thursday's game also features two of the League's top young point guards.

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Heading to America's Dairyland, Milwaukee (5-1) will look to continue its strong play when Loyola (1-4) visits U.S. Cellular Arena. The Panthers hope that the return of Tony Meier helps the squad continue its strong early-season form.

Meier, coming off a junior year in which he averaged 12.0 ppg and knocked down 44.3 percent of his three-point field goals, missed the first month of the year due to a calf injury, but is expected to dress for the first time this year on Thursday. In his absence, Milwaukee's defense has been the stingiest in the Horizon League, limiting teams to 55.2 ppg and 37.3 percent shooting.

Both transfers from Evansville, Kaylon Williams and James Haarsma have each sparked the Milwaukee offense, with Williams doing his customary work of handing out assists and Haarsma adding a willingness to crash the glass at all times. Williams is pacing the Horizon League with 6.0 apg in five contests, while Haarsma has collected 9.3 rpg, 29 on the offensive boards.

The last road team to win at The Cell in regular season play, Loyola will try to build on its win from last weekend, in which Denzel Brito built upon his solid play with his first career double-double. In the Ramblers' 64-50 victory over Fordham, Brito finished with 11 points and 10 assists, becoming the only player in the Horizon League to reach the 10-assist plateau this year.

Playing with just eight healthy scholarship players, Joe Crisman (186), Brito (179), and Ben Averkamp (173) have each logged major minutes for Loyola, being on the court for over 170 of the teams' 200 minutes played. A Preseason Second Team pick, joining Milwaukee's Meier, Averkamp is steadily leading the Ramblers with 11.4 ppg and 6.6 rpg. Crisman is belying his youth, starting all five games and averaging 11.0 ppg.

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Up Interstate 43, both Green Bay (2-4) and UIC (2-3) will run youthful squads out on Thursday. The Phoenix enter the game as the 15th-youngest team in the country, while the Flames are 17th in the category.

As could be expected, both teams have undergone some growing pains, with Green Bay and UIC each suffering double-digit losses in its last games. While the Phoenix have struggled away from the Resch Center, they have won both of their games in Green Bay and will be looking to maintain its home-court advantage against a Flames team that is searching for its first win away from the UIC Pavilion.

The game is likely to be decided on the glass, as UIC and Green Bay enter the game ranked first and second in the Horizon League in rebounding; the Flames are grabbing an average of 41.0 rpg, while the Phoenix come in at 40.0. The battle between Alec Brown and Darrin Williams will be key, as Brown laeds the Phoenix with 13.2 ppg and 7.4 rpg; Williams leads the Flames with 9.0 ppg and is averaging 6.0 rpg.

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Saturday will see the defending conference tournament champion Butler welcoming Bryce Drew's Valparaiso squad to Hinkle. Butler (4-3) will have to contend with Valparaiso's (5-2) balance, as Kevin Van Wijk has turned into a load on the block after being unencumbered by back trouble, averaging 14.8 ppg and 7.5 rpg.

Van Wijk's emergence down low has freed up Ryan Broekhoff to further utilize his inside-outside game. The Preseason Second Team pick hasn't found his League-leading form from three-point range yet, but he crashing the glass with abandon this year, corralling 9.3 boards per game to match Haarsma's output for the conference lead. Broekhoff's ability to play in traffic has allowed him to average 14.3 ppg.

Butler will look to utilize its depth to slow a Valparaiso offense that is averaging 73.4 ppg (69.4 ppg versus Division I opponents). Andrew Smith, Roosevelt Jones and Kameron Woods will all likely get shots at stopping Van Wijk down low and making him work on the defensive end of the floor. Both Smith and Woods tallied double-doubles in Butler's rout of Oakland City on Tuesday.

On the perimeter, Ronald Nored will key the Bulldogs' defense. Nored ranks behind only D'Aundray Brown when it comes to thievery, turning in 23 steals already this season. Whether Nored checks Broekhoff off the ball to deny catch-and-shoot chances or Jay Harris (who had 14 points at Butler last year) remains to be seen.