Standings In Flux On Thursday Night

Men’s Basketball Schedule (Feb. 1)
Wright State at Butler, 7 p.m. ET – Horizon League Network
Detroit at Valparaiso, 7:30 p.m. ET – Horizon League Network | FS Detroit
Youngstown State at UIC, 8 p.m. ET – Horizon League Network

With 25 days left in the Horizon League regular season, three teams stand tied with 6-5 records in conference play. All three are in action on Thursday night, giving each one a chance to solidify positioning for the League Tournament.

At Hinkle Fieldhouse, two of those 6-5 teams will square off, with Butler (12-11, 6-5 Horizon) looking to bounce back against Wright State (11-12, 6-5 Horizon). The Bulldogs return home after a four-game road trip saw them drop three of four games to slide down the League ladder; meanwhile, the Raiders defended their home court last week to climb back above .500 in conference play and move into a three-way tie.

The first meeting between the teams saw one of the 22 Horizon League games to be within a possession in the final minute of regulation, as the lead seesawed in the final two minutes, with Ronald Nored’s free throw with two seconds left proving to be the difference as Julius Mays’ shot at the horn rimmed out.

Mays finished with a game-high 24 points and serves as the focal point for both Wright State’s offense and Butler’s defensive efforts. On the year, the junior is averaging 14.4 points per game, and in 10 conference games has bumped his work up to 17.5 ppg.

Not to be missed in the first meeting was the performance of Andrew Smith. Smith’s two three-pointers late in the game helped salvage a dreadful night behind the arc for the Bulldogs and helped lift them to the win. On the evening, Smith had 19 points; the big man will be looking to bounce back from a swing through Wisconsin that saw him score just 14 points total.

There should be a buzz in Hinkle Fieldhouse throughout the evening; with the Super Bowl just days away in Indianapolis, plenty of visitors to the venue should be in attendance. Among those visitors will be at least seven bus loads of Wright State fans, who always make their presence felt.

Up I-65, the last of the three 6-5 teams, Detroit (12-11, 6-5 Horizon) will look to stay hot against an opponent that has had its number of late in Valparaiso (15-8, 8-3 Horizon). The Crusaders have won four straight against the Titans and seven of their last 10 meetings.

The last of those contests came on Jan. 6, when Erik Buggs’ dash to the hoop and layup at the horn gave Valparaiso a 73-71 win at Calihan Hall. That loss dropped Detroit to 1-4 in Horizon League play, but since then the Titans have regrouped, going 5-1 over the last three weeks.

A key to the resurgence has been Ray McCallum. The preseason player of the year in the Horizon League, McCallum has averaged 17.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 4.7 apg over his last six games, earning player of the week accolades for the first time last week. In the teams’ first meeting, McCallum paced Detroit with 22 points.

The second key to Detroit’s run of success has been a commitment to defense. The Titans have put the clamps down defensively during this stretch, allowing just 61.8 points in the five wins. Detroit held Wright State to 53 and squandered only a season-low 52 to Loyola during that run.

The defense will be tested against a Valparaiso squad that is averaging 71.3 ppg, the second-best rate in the Horizon League this season. The Crusaders continue to dominate the competition inside the three-point arc, shooting 55.8 percent from two-point range. Kevin Van Wijk and Ryan Broekhoff remain the key cogs in that attack, with Van Wijk hitting on 61.3 percent of his attempts, good for ninth in the nation.

Broekhoff’s inside-outside game has allowed him to average 14.7 ppg, third in the conference and ranking just behind Van Wijk’s team-leading 15.4 ppg. Where the junior has excelled has been on the glass, where his 8.8 rpg average paces the Horizon League. The Aussie had just 14 points against Detroit the first go-round, while Van Wijk recorded 17 in just 23 minutes.

The key for Valparaiso in the Jan. 6 win may have been Will Bogan, who kept the Crusaders in the game by going 7-for-8 from three-point range en route to 23 points. Without Bogan, Valpo shot 4-for-19 in the first half, but the junior was 6-for-7 from the floor, including a 5-of-6 mark from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

After notching a key win on Tuesday, Youngstown State (12-9, 7-4 Horizon) looks to keep its historic run going at UIC (6-15, 2-9 Horizon). The Penguins’ seven wins in conference play match its most since joining the Horizon League.

With three road games this week, Youngstown State rebounded from a disappointing loss to League-leading Cleveland State with a 73-65 win at Milwaukee, the ‘Guins fifth road win of the year. Kendrick Perry, the lone YSU starter not to collect a player of the week accolade this season, got off to a stellar start, posting a career-best 30 points in the victory.

The Penguins will be out for a season sweep of the Flames, whom they defeated, 71-50, at the Beeghly Center behind an aerial assault from behind the three-point arc. Senior Ashen Ward scored a season-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor, including four 3-pointers. Perry had 14 points and six assists while Damian Eargle and Blake Allen added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

YSU knocked down nine three-pointers in that win, just as they did in Tuesday’s victory at Milwaukee. On the year, the Penguins are leading the Horizon League in three-point shooting, hitting nine threes per game and hitting 38.1 percent of their attempts from three-point range.

UIC, after two narrow defeats, returns to the comforts of the UIC Pavilion, where the Flames have gone 6-4 on the season. The Flames, with several newcomers to the roster, have been in 11 games decided by six points or less, including six times during Horizon League play. UIC is 3-8 in those contests, including losses last week at Wright State and Detroit. Additionally, the Flames have held second-half leads in eight-of their 15 losses this season, and have come up short in two overtime decisions.

As those games indicate, Howard Moore’s squad has shown plenty of promise this year, beginning with the backcourt tandem of Gary Talton and Daniel Barnes. Talton (11.3 ppg) and Barnes (10.9) have combined for 26 of UIC's 53 double-digit scoring performances this season, and are the respective 13th and 15th leading scorers in the Horizon League. The duo also ranks fifth (34.1 mpg) and eighth (33.5), respectively, in minutes played during League games.

UIC will look to Darrin Williams to control the glass against a YSU squad that is 8-0 on the year when winning the battle of the boards. Williams enters the night sixth in the League with 6.6 rpg, while Eargle leads the Penguins with a 7.4 rpg mark. The Flames have largely won that battle this year, ranking fifth in the League with a +1.8 rebounding margin.