WSU in thick of Horizon League race

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Wisconsin-Green Bay faces Raiders tonight; teams among a cluster tied for 2nd in league.


So far, Butler is keeping its distance from the rest of the Horizon League, but there is a spirited battle just below the 5-0 Bulldogs.

Tonight, Jan. 14, two of the three men?s basketball teams tied for second meet as Wright State visits Wisconsin-Green Bay, both with 4-2 records in league play, the same as Detroit, which WSU visits in 10 days. In between, the Raiders are at Milwaukee on Saturday.

The Raiders had hoped for better, but lost at home to Butler last Friday before beating Valparaiso at home on Sunday on Vaughn Duggins? basket with 4.7 seconds to play.

?I think our guys have bounced back and our spirits are good,? WSU coach Brad Brownell said. ?They?re certainly better than after Butler. We were a little deflated.?

As Brownell watched tape of his team?s last two games, he found plenty to be positive about.

?I know people are disappointed in different things,? Brownell said. ?Now people are disappointed we?re not winning by more. We?re not winning by enough or pretty enough.

?You always look better when you shoot the ball well. It makes up for a lot of other mistakes. I didn?t think we played as poorly (against Valparaiso) as people think we did. We only had 12 turnovers in a 70-possession game. That?s pretty good.

?But we missed a lot of shots. When you don?t make shots, it?s hard to win. I?m trying to be encouraged by that part of it. We won a game by two and had to make a basket with 4.7 seconds to win it. Hey, it doesn?t always make sense. A kid makes a shot and we survive.?

WSU will have a better chance this game since it appears point guard N?Gai Evans has fully recovered from a knee sprain suffered Dec. 8, and senior guard John David Gardner resumed practice after breaking his left pinky finger Jan. 2 at Illinois-Chicago.
 

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About Wright State

May be the toughest challenge of the season for the Raiders, who begin a three-game road trip, the first two at places they rarely win. Although the Raiders did beat the Phoenix at Green Bay in 2006-07, it was their only victory there in the past seven games. On Saturday, WSU is at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where the Raiders have lost 11 straight. ? Todd Brown is inching closer to becoming only the eighth player in WSU D-I history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. He already has 1,298 points and should end up in the top 10 all-time. His 467 rebounds leave him just a few short in that category.


About Green Bay

Green Bay played 12 games from Nov. 13-Dec. 13, the most in D-I, then played just five games from Dec. 14 until today. The Phoenix reached 10 victories earlier than ever before. Guard Rahmon Fletcher, who is second in the Horizon League in scoring, missed two games with a sprained left knee. The Phoenix not only lost both, but averaged 50.5 points in those games (to Oakland and Butler). They average 73.9 with Fletcher in the lineup.


FYI

While the Raiders have played in Green Bay three times in coach Brad Brownell?s tenure, junior guard Vaughn Duggins has only played in one full game there, the one the Raiders won in 2006-07 when Duggins was a freshman. The next season, WSU fell 52-49 when Duggins had to leave the game with a badly sprained ankle. Last season, Duggins was out with a broken finger.


Quote, unquote

?We have some similarities (with Green Bay). They push the ball a little faster than we do, but they guard really hard and they pressure.? ? WSU coach Brad Brownell
 
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