Green Bay Geared Up for Conference Play

GREEN BAY, Wis.–

It’s about that time in the college basketball season where teams are preparing to open their in-conference schedule and put their true colors on display against fierce rivals two or three times a week for the remainder of the season. The Green Bay men’s basketball team wrapped up the non-conference portion of their schedule on New Year’s Eve, knocking off Chicago State by only four points. I say “only” because Green Bay had ten wins before their fourteenth game of the season, that being Wednesday’s game against the Cougars. The Cougars only had four wins, their only impressive win coming over the University of Omaha, 69-66 in Chicago just two nights earlier.

The Cougars weren’t an easy team to prepare for, having 18 members on their team and changing the starting lineup every game throughout the season. Despite the tough time scouting, all Green Bay needed to do was play fundamental basketball, and with their talent, it should’ve been an easy win. I’m not throwing shots at Chicago State, because they have some great potential and a great coaching staff, but the talent that Green Bay has is tournament-worthy.

Green Bay has learned 14 games into the season they’re not a very good free throw shooting team. Head coach Brian Wardle knows that, and seniors Keifer Sykes and Alfonzo McKinnie know that. The Phoenix are shooting .596% from the line this season, and that is concerning. When I asked McKinnie what his biggest takeaway from the non-conference portion of the schedule was, he told me, “I think the biggest takeaway is our free throws. I thought we started out shooting good but as the season progressed we’ve had a little downfall.”

Sykes went a different route with the same question, telling me, “I think defensively, the way we lost Alec Brown, we thought it would be tough to make stops, and I think we’ve responded pretty nicely and that’s been our biggest takeaway.”

Coach Wardle even went a different and more generic route, telling me, “The biggest takeaway is we can get better. We’ve played really well, and people have seen how good we can be. We’ve had some rough games where we let our offense dictate our D a little bit. We’re an emotional group and we can’t let our emotions play the game for us.”

On Monday, the Phoenix begin their long journey as they look to repeat as regular season Horizon League champions, as a 9-6 Wright State team comes to town and looks to add onto their already 1-0 record in the conference. The Raiders topped Detroit 70-57 on Friday to open up the Horizon League schedule.

When I asked Green Bay coach Brian Wardle what he expects going into conference play, he was very straightforward, telling me, “We’re going to get zoned. I know that. We’ve pretty consistently seen zone defenses, although we haven’t really been beaten by a zone defense, it’s slowed us down at times.”

It’s going to be fun to see the adversity and challenges the Phoenix will overcome throughout the remainder of their schedule. Without a defensive anchor like Alec Brown, it will be interesting to see guys like Kenneth Lowe and Alfonzo McKinnie step up and create challenges for opposing offenses. The journey to the tourney begins on Monday for the Green Bay men’s basketball team, as they’re working for their ultimate goal during their final season with the reigning Horizon League player of the year, Keifer Sykes.

~Alex Strouf (@LetsGoAlex)