Road Awaits for Horizon League Teams This Weekend
Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Dec. 9, 2011)
Men's Basketball Schedule, weekend of Dec. 10 - for video and stats links to all 10 games, click here.
Saturday, Dec. 10:
Butler at Ball State, 2 p.m.
Akron at #rv/rv Cleveland State, 2 p.m. (HLN)
Milwaukee at #rv/rv Northern Iowa, 2 p.m.
Loyola at Toledo, 3 p.m.
Northern Illinois at UIC, 4 p.m. (HLN)
Wright State at Miami, 3:30 p.m.
Youngstown State at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Bowling Green at Valparaiso, 8:05 p.m. (HLN)
Green Bay at #11/11 Marquette, 9 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 11:
Detroit at #16/15 Alabama, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
For seven Horizon League men's basketball teams, the road awaits on Saturday and Sunday. On seven occasions, the Horizon League will meet members of the Mid-American Conference, while Milwaukee, Green Bay and Detroit all meet teams appearing in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Polls.
Butler (4-5) gets the seven-game slate against MAC opponents rolling at 2 p.m., when the Bulldogs head to Ball State looking to snap a two-game skid.
While the Bulldogs have featured some of the inconsistency that accompanies youth, some of those same young Bulldogs have lited the team of late. Roosevelt Jones made it three straight games in which a freshman has recorded a double-double, collecting 10 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's loss to Xavier.
The previous two games, Kameron Woods had tallied double-doubles, putting up identical 10-point, 11-rebound efforts against Oakland City and Valparaiso.
After a seven-game road trip, Cleveland State (9-1) returns to the Wolstein Center for the first time since Nov. 18, when the Vikings host Akron at 2 p.m. in another Horizon League-MAC contest. The game will be carried live on the Horizon League Network.
The Vikings will be less than 48 hours removed from a 62-58 win at Robert Morris on Thursday night. In that game, Trey Harmon shook off a scoring slump, erupting for 24 points as Cleveland State built a 16 point second half lead before having to hold on down the stretch.
One of the keys to CSU's success on the road was in defending the three-point arc. Over the seven games, the Vikings limited the opposition to 14-for-82 shooting from three-point range. Akron enters the game hitting 37.6 percent of it attempts from long distance.
Also at 2 p.m. comes the middle of a strenous three-game stretch for Milwaukee (8-1), who head to Northern Iowa. The game can be seen on ESPN3.
The Panthers knocked off DePaul on Monday, burying the Blue Demons under a flurry of three-pointers. Both Paris Gulley and Tony Meier were 5-for-5 from long distance as Milwaukee led comfortably most of the night.
The Saturday afternoon tip against Northern Iowa will be a homecoming of sorts for Kaylon Williams, who grew up an hour away from UNI's Cedar Falls campus.
Northern Iowa enters the game averaging better than 68 points per game and has scored at least 79 points in three of its last four outings. Conversely, Milwaukee's defense is near the top of the Horizon League, allowing just 57.7 ppg and holding opponents 39 percent shooting.
Heading on the road for the seventh time this season, Loyola (1-7) will be after its first road win of the season at Toledo.
Loyola will try to channel the energy from its second half comeback against DePaul, in which the Ramblers outscored the Blue Demons by 19 points over the game's final 20 minutes. Leading that charge was Walt Gibler, who poured in 29 points, setting a career and League high in the process.
In their last two games, the Ramblers have finished with a flourish, out-scoring their opponents, 76-47, and connecting on 54 percent of their field goal attempts, including 33 percent (4 for 12) from three-point land. Loyola nearly overcame deficits of 23 and 33 points respectively versus Green Bay and DePaul.
The Horizon League Network's second men's basketball game of the day features UIC (2-5) engaging Northern Illinois in an intrastate showdown.
The Flames will be playing their first game in a week after narrowly missing out on a win at Milwaukee last Saturday. With one of the youngest teams in the country, Howard Moore's squad missed out on a 2-0 start to the year by a collective five points, dropping a 71-68 decision at Green Bay prior to the two-point, overtime loss to the Panthers.
Junior point guard Gary Talton is beginning to emerge as the Flames' leader on the floor, and one of the top newcomers in the Horizon League. Talton, who has started the past two games, is averaging 12.8 points and 3.3 assists per game over the last four contests; last week, Talton posted 14 points at Green Bay and backed it up with a career-best 18 versus Milwaukee.
After a disappointing offensive output in the thin Colorado air, Wright State (3-6) will try to bounce back in a southwestern Ohio showdown with Miami at 3:30 p.m.
Scoring 34 points on Wednesday, Wright State struggled to knock down shots, going 9-of-46 on the night. However, head coach Billy Donlon was happy with his team's defensive effort, as the Raiders limited Air Force to just 55 points. On the year, Wright State is limiting teams to just 60.4 ppg.
Wright State will turn to Julius Mays against the RedHawks. Mays enters Saturday as the team's leading scorer at 10.4 ppg, the lone Raider in double figures.
Already winners of three road games this season, Youngstown State (6-2) will look to make it four when they head to Buffalo for a 7 p.m. contest with the Bulls.
In its lone game this week, the Penguins breezed past Fredonia State, 69-35. The YSU defense excelled in the game, holding the visitors to 31.9 percent shooting on the night; the 35 points allowed were the fewest for the Penguins since 1970.
The mad bombers of the Horizon League, Youngstown State is averaging 23.6 three-point attempts per game, knocking down just over nine per contest. Blake Allen (26-for-57) and DuShawn Brooks (13-for-28) lead the way for the Penguins from distance, while Damian Eargle (10.3 ppg, 4.4 bpg) holds down the post.
After a disapointing road loss on Wednesday, Valparaiso (6-3) hopes the ARC is more favorable when it hosts Bowling Green at 8:05 p.m. ET. The game can be seen live on HLN.
The last of seven Horizon League-MAC clashes on Saturday, Valpo will be playing a home game for the first time in three weeks. On Wednesday, the rims were friendly to the Crusaders in an 85-76 loss, it was the defense that held Valparaiso back in the defeat. Valparaiso erased a 14-point first-half deficit to take a one-point lead with 14 minutes to play, but IPFW scored the next five points to reclaim the lead for good and rode 60.8% shooting from the floor as the Crusaders fell by a final of 85-76. Four Valpo players finished the night in double figures in the scoring column, paced by 20 points from junior Ryan Broekhoff.
Broekhoff has been a Swiss Army knife for the Crusaders, capable of filling in most everywhere. The junior ranks third in the Horizon League with 14.8 ppg, while his 9.0 rpg pace the conference.
Green Bay's (4-5) week of facing in-state, ranked opponents will get no easier on Saturday night, as the Phoenix head to the Bradley Center to meet No. 11 Marquette at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can catch the game on ESPN3. For Green Bay Head Coach Brian Wardle, the game serves as a homecoming, as he starred at Marquette before embarking on his coaching career.
The Phoenix were able to hang with No. 14 Wisconsin before 32 percent shooting did in Green Bay in an eventual 70-42 loss on Wednesday. Alec Brown was the lone Green Bay player to reach double figures, scoring 10 points.
Brown's continued maturation has helped the Phoenix throughout the year. Anchoring the low post, Brown is averaging 13.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg and 2.6 bpg, ranking him in the top 10 in each category among Horizon League players.
The lone Horizon League game on Sunday will pit Detroit (5-6) at No. 16 Alabama. ESPNU will cover the game, which begins at 6 p.m. ET.
The Titans will enter the contest on a high, having picked up quality wins over St. John's and Western Michigan earlier in the week. In front of a national television audience on Monday, Detroit dedicated "Dick Vitale Court" prior to its 69-63 victory against the Red Storm, then stormed the court afterwards.
Through the year's first 10 games, Chase Simon and Ray McCallum put the Titans on their backs, averaging 31.3 of the team's 74.3 ppg average. With Eli Holman returning to the Detroit rotation on Thursday night, Detroit was able to play its up-tempo pace on again, running past Western Michigan, 92-81. Holman finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.
Tags: All Teams - Men's Basketball
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