Sykes, McWhorter and Felder Garner Weekly Honors

Horizon League Men's Basketball Player of the Week Release (Nov. 18, 2013)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Green Bay junior guard Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill./Marshall) and Milwaukee junior guard Steve McWhorter [Racine, Wis./St. Catherine’s (Indiana State)] have been named the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Co-Players of the Week, while Oakland freshman guard Kahlil Felder (Detroit, Mich./Pershing) has been named the Freshman of the Week, for the week of Nov. 12-18. The award is the fifth of Sykes’ career and the first for both McWhorter and Felder.

Milwaukee (4-1) went 4-0 on the week, opening with an 81-77 win at Davidson before sweeping the Northern Illinois Invitational with victories over San Jose State (64-61), James Madison (77-66) and the host Huskies (82-69). Green Bay (1-1) hosted No. 20/19 Wisconsin and had a look to tie before falling, 69-66, while Oakland (0-4) went 0-3 on its trip to the west coast, falling at No. 24/24 UCLA (91-60), No. --/rv California (64-60) and No. 15/15 Gonzaga (82-67).

McWhorter directed an efficient Milwaukee offense, posting a 2.25:1 assist-to-turnover ratio while averaging 11.5 points per game and shooting 18-for-32 from the floor. The junior helped spur the Panthers’ comeback from an 11-point deficit at Davidson, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including the go-ahead layup with 3:10 to play.

At the NIU Invitational, McWhorter handed out five assists to go along with 12 points in the win over SJSU before dishing out six assists the following evening. On Sunday, with the Panthers needing a win to claim the championship, McWhorter scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half when three starters were out due to foul trouble.

In front of a sold out Resch Center, Sykes put Green Bay on his back, scoring a career-high 32 points against the nationally-ranked Badgers. Going 13-of-26 from the field, Sykes eclipsed 30 points for the fourth time in his career and second time in his last four games. The junior’s attempt to tie the game in the final second came up just short of forcing overtime.

With five career player of the week awards, Sykes is now tied for 12th all time in League history. The total also matches the Green Bay program record, set by Jeff Nordgaard.

Felder opened his three-game stretch with 10 points at No. 24/24 UCLA before playing all 40 minutes in each of Oakland’s next two games. At Cal, Felder finished with 13 points and three assists as the Golden Grizzlies narrowly fell by four. At Gonzaga, Felder posted a career-best seven assists, adding seven points.

Milwaukee will host DePaul in its home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 19, with HLN coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET. The Panthers will wrap the week at Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 8 p.m. ET. Green Bay will be off until Saturday, when the Phoenix host Minnesota-Duluth at 8 p.m. ET, live on HLN. Oakland will compete in the Mainland edition of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 23-24, taking on Louisiana at 6:30 p.m. ET before playing either Coastal Carolina or St. Francis (N.Y.) the following day.

Top Performers for the Week:

• Travis Bader, Oakland (Sr., G) - Moved into eighth all-time on the Oakland ledger with 1,750 points after averaging 20.7 ppg over three games. With 376 3-pointers, Bader ranks 21st in NCAA history.
• Marc Brown, UIC (Jr., G) - Brown extended his run of 20-plus point outings to three after recording 25- and 20-point efforts against Roosevelt and Eastern Illinois, respectively. Brown is the lone player in the Horizon League with 20 or more points in every game this season.
• Bryn Forbes, Cleveland State (So., G) - Matched his career high with 24 points in Cleveland State’s win at UT Arlington. The effort was the second time in three games this year Forbes has eclipsed 20 points.
• Bobby Hain, Youngstown State (So., C) - Recorded consecutive double-doubles, posting 18 points and a career-best 13 rebounds against Warren Wilson before a 14-point, 10-rebound effort at Massachusetts.
• Juwan Howard, Jr., Detroit (Jr., F) - With 22 points and 10 rebounds versus UM Dearborn, Howard Jr. posted his second double-double of the season. The junior backed up the performance with 14 points and six boards at Connecticut.
• Marcus Keene, Youngstown State (Fr., G) - In just his fifth collegiate game, Keene finished with a career-high 20 points at Massachusetts.
• Charlie Lee, Cleveland State (Jr., G) - After scoring 15 points at San Francisco, Lee matched his career high with 22 points in Cleveland State’s 83-73 win at UT Arlington.
• Alec Peters, Valparaiso (Fr., F) - The Washington, Ill.-native had seven points at Illinois before collecting his first career double-double with 16 points and 13 boards as Valpo nearly rallied for a win at Ohio.

Men’s Basketball Player of the Week:
Nov. 11: Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State
Nov. 18: Steve McWhorter, Milwaukee
               Keifer Sykes, Green Bay

Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week:
Nov. 11: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Nov. 18: Kahlil Felder, Oakland