Horizon League Notebook
Player of the Week: Matt Howard, Butler. Howard, a freshman, scored a game-high 23 points and had seven rebounds off the bench in the Bulldogs’ 65-46 victory over Ohio State.
Butler Bulldogs (7-0 overall)
Week record: 1-0
Recap
Dec. 1 vs. Ohio State – W 65-46
Butler rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat the Big Ten’s Ohio State at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs had a rare off-night from behind the three-point stripe, missing their first 15 attempts from there. But they outscored the Buckeyes 45-16 in the second half for the victory, he first over OSU by Butler since 1978.
Matt Howard had a big game for the Bulldogs, scoring a game-high 23 points. Senior Mike Green scored all 15 of his points in the second half, and added a game-high eight assists.
In the second half, Butler was 9-of-14 from the 3-point line, and shot 60 percent overall from the field in the half. A.J. Graves scored 14 points to move into 10th place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,469 points. He has scored in double figures in 15 straight games, and in 82 of his 102 career games.
Butler will return to a house of horrors this week when it plays at Wright State on Dec. 8. The Bulldogs lost the league tournament championship on the Raiders’ floor last season.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 at Detroit
Dec. 8 at Wright State
Cleveland State Vikings (5-3)
Week record: 1-1
Recap
Nov. 28 vs. Cal State Northridge – L 78-68
Dec. 1 vs. Geneva – W 107-51
The Vikings eclipsed 100 points in a game for the first time since 2000 in a 107-51 victory over Geneva. The last time the Vikings scored at least 100 points in a game was against UW-Milwaukee on Jan. 29, 2000 – a span of 222 games.
Five players scored in double figures in that game, led by sophomore Joe Davis with 20 points. CSU shot a season-high 56 percent from the field as well. Junior Cedric Jackson scored 13 points in just 17 minutes of playing time. But against Cal State Northridge, Jackson scored a game-high 24 points. He ranks second in the league in scoring at 19 points per game.
CSU leads the league in rebounding margin with a plus-5.9 edge per game.
The Vikings will have a non-conference game against Chicago State in Chicago before hosting in-state rival Youngstown State to open league play.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 4 at Chicago State
Dec. 8 vs. Youngstown State
Detroit Titans (4-3)
Week record: 1-1
Recap
Nov. 28 vs. Eastern Michigan – W 72-68
Dec. 1 vs. Central Michigan – L 70-66
The Titans rallied from a 12-point second half deficit to knock off local rival Eastern Michigan.
Senior Jon Goode scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half in the loss to Central Michigan. It was Goode’s third 20-point game of the season, and sixth of his collegiate career. He is now averaging 15.1 points per game.
Junior forward Michael Harrington had a collegiate-best 12 points against Eastern Michigan. Harrington came into the game having scored a total of nine points in the first five games.
Senior guard Zach Everingham is turning out to be one of the most dependable ball-handlers in the league. He has dished out 27 assists this season, while only committing four turnovers.
The Titans lead the Horizon League in three-point shooting accuracy at 45.6 percent.
Detroit, who has played eight of its first nine games inside the state of Michigan after this week, has a pair of tough home games this week with Butler and Valparaiso both coming to town. Heading into the week, both teams are a combined 13-1 in the early stages of the season.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 vs. Butler
Dec. 8 vs. Valparaiso
Illinois-Chicago Flames (3-4)
Week record: 1-1
Recap
Nov. 28 vs. Central Michigan – W 65-52
Dec. 1 vs. Illinois State – L 75-47
The Flames completed a five-game road trip with a split this week.
Junior Josh Mayo scored 13 points, and 10 points against Illinois State. He has scored in double figures in at six of the team’s seven games this season.
Junior center Scott VanderMeer collected 17 rebounds in the two games. He had a 16-point, 10-rebound game against Central Michigan. He also has 26 blocked shots this season (3.7 per game), which is more than seven other teams total.
Illinois-Chicago, who hadn’t played at home since Nov. 13 and are 2-0 at home this season, will play league rivals UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee this week at the UIC Pavillion.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 vs. UW-Milwaukee
Dec. 8 vs. UW-Green Bay
Loyola Ramblers (2-4)
Week record: 0-2
Recap
Nov. 28 vs. Bradley – L 64-47
Dec. 1 vs. Northern Iowa – L 61-50
The Ramblers hope a pair of home games will help them break out of a four-game slide.
Last week, Loyola took on a pair of Missouri Valley teams and lost rather convincingly. It is the longest losing streak for Loyola since dropping four straight from Jan. 2-11 in 2006, and much of that could be attributed to a lack of offense. After scoring 73 and 72 points in the first two games, the Ramblers are averaging just 53 points per game during the slide.
Junior J.R. Blount scored 18 points against Bradley, and scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds against Northern Iowa. He has now scored in double figures in seven consecutive games, dating back to last season. He ranks fifth in the league in scoring at 17.5 points per game and has started in 42 consecutive games.
Leon Young scored 16 points against Northern Iowa after scoring 10 points, along with pulling down eight rebounds against Bradley.
The Ramblers have the two league members from Wisconsin coming into the Joseph J. Gentile Center this week with Green Bay and Milwaukee.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 vs. UW-Green Bay
Dec. 8 vs. UW-Milwaukee
UW-Green Bay Phoenix (5-2)
Week record: 2-0
Recap
Nov. 27 vs. Eastern Illinois – W 63-47
Dec. 1 vs. South Dakota State – W 88-81
The Phoenix have won three games in a row. Against South Dakota State, freshman guard Rahmon Fletcher scored a collegiate-best 29 points, including hitting four 3-pointers. Mike Schachtner added 19 points in the game as well. Schachtner leads the league in scoring at 19.7 points per game.
Green Bay hits the road for two games in Chicago this week. A victory against Loyola on Dec. 6 would give the Phoenix their longest win streak since winning six straight in the 2004-05 season.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 at Loyola
Dec. 8 at Illinois-Chicago
UW-Milwaukee Panthers (3-4)
Week record: 0-2
Recap
Nov. 27 vs. Sam Houston State – L 81-77
Nov. 30 vs. Marquette – L 100-65
Yes the Panthers have dropped four games through this week, including three straight. But the combined record of the four losses (Northern Iowa, Drake, Sam Houston State and Marquette) is 22-3.
Paige Paulsen registered a double-double with a 25-point, 10-rebound effort against SHSU. Paulsen is among the league’s best at 14.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this season.
Torre Johnson added 17 points and 11 rebounds in the loss to SHSU. Johnson leads the league in rebounding (8.6 per game).
Junior Ricky Franklin was the lone bright spot in the Panthers’ 35-point loss to crosstown rival Marquette, scoring 14 points.
Marquette and UW-Milwaukee, only separated by about 10 minutes, played for the first time in men’s basketball since 1998.
UW-Milwaukee heads to Chicago for a pair of league games with Illinois-Chicago and Loyola this week. Both places are usually tough places to play for the Panthers.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 at Illinois-Chicago
Dec. 8 at Loyola
Valparaiso Crusaders (6-1)
Week record: 2-0
Recap
Nov. 28 vs. Western Michigan – W 77-65
Dec. 1 vs. Ball State – W 71-58
The Crusaders are off to a 6-1 start for just the third time in Homer Drew’s 19 seasons at Valparaiso. They reached that plateau by beating two Mid-American Conference foes last week.
Adding to their fast start, the Crusaders have won 10 straight home games, and are 152-27 at home in the past 15 seasons (85 percent).
Shawn Huff led the way in the two games with 36 points total. He leads the team in that category on the season at 12.4 points per outing.
Against Ball State, the Crusaders held the Cardinals scoreless from three-point range (0-for-16). Opponents are shooting just 22.5 percent from 3-point range against the Crusaders this season.
Valparaiso will play its first Horizon League contest Dec. 6 against defending league tournament champion Wright State.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 at Wright State
Dec. 8 at Detroit
Wright State Raiders (2-1)
Week record: 1-1
Recap
Nov. 28 vs. Marshall – W 77-70
Dec. 1 vs. Marist – L 79-64
The Raiders will have to rebound from a tough loss in a hurry with two tough opponents coming to town this week.
Against Marshall, the Raiders got 21 points from Vaughn Duggins to improve his average to 14.7 points per game. Against Marist three days later, sophomore Todd Brown, who has led the Raiders in each of their three games thus far, scored 23 points. He ranks third in the league in scoring (18.3 points per game).
Wright State is the league’s best at the free throw line, shooting 80.5 percent.
But this week will be a test with Valparaiso and Butler coming to town. The Raiders have won 14 straight home games. The Butler game will be a rematch of last year’s Horizon League tournament championship game in which Wright State beat the favored Bulldogs, who will enter the game ranked in the top 15 in the country.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 6 vs. Valparaiso
Dec. 8 vs. Butler
Youngstown State Penguins (3-3)
Week record: 1-1
Recap
Nov. 28 vs. St. Francis (Pa.) – W 70-65
Dec. 1 vs. Eastern Kentucky – L 61-50
The Penguins got a collegiate-best 21 points from Byron Davis in the their victory over St. Francis. Then against Eastern Kentucky, he dished out a season-high six assists to go along with eight points.
Junior Jack Liles notched a double-double against Eastern Kentucky with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The 18 points – all of which came in the second half – matched his collegiate high.
John Barber scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in the victory over St. Francis. For the year, he is averaging a respectable 13.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
The Penguins play a pair of in-state games this week against nonconference foe Kent State and at Cleveland State to begin league play.
Upcoming games:
Dec. 5 vs. Kent State
Dec. 8 at Cleveland State
