UWGB at Valparaiso: What to expect

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UWGB update: The Phoenix beat the Crusaders 51-50 in the first meeting of the season. It trailed by as much as 10 points in the first half but held Valparaiso to just 18.5 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes. Senior guard Keifer Sykes and junior guard-forward Jordan Fouse led UWGB with 11 points each. ... "We have nothing to lose," Wardle said about Friday's game. "The pressure has been on us all conference, every game. This is the first one I feel. ... I told the team we have no pressure. We are going in there to play. We are going to go in there and be aggressive. They have pressure. They have to win this game at home." ... UWGB is averaging 68.4 points and allowing 59.7 a contest. It is shooting 46.7 percent overall, 30 percent from 3 and 62.4 percent from the line. Opponents are shooting 40.2 percent overall, 32.8 percent from 3 and 65.3 percent from the line.

Valparaiso update: The Crusaders have won four straight, including an 82-76 win over Oakland on Sunday. Six players scored in double figures for Valparaiso, led by a season-high 16 from guard-forward E. Victor Nickerson. ... Standout forward Alec Peters, who is averaging 17.3 points per game, is on pace to become the first sophomore in program history to reach 1,000 career points. He has 882 points entering Friday and needs to average 19.7 points a contest in the final six guaranteed games for the Crusaders. Peters has scored 20 or more points 10 times this season. ... The Crusaders have gone 11-1 at home.

 

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Valparaiso and Green Bay ready for nationally-televised clash




When a team has been sitting at the top of the Horizon League for as long as Valparaiso and Green Bay have been over the last four years, there?s bound to be some big games that have come across the schedule.

The latest ?biggest? game of the year for both schools comes tonight and neither Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew or Green Bay coach Brian Wardle are buying into the hype that the 2014-15 season hangs on the outcome of tonight?s game at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

?We?re excited for every game that we play,? Drew said. ?We know that every team we play has the ability to beat us.?

?We?ve been in these types of games before,? Wardle said. ?We?ve got veterans who have the experience. We both know that anything can happen in between those two hours. It?s all how you react and adapt.?

The Horizon League co-leaders met last month at Green Bay and played an intriguing game that featured a combination of outstanding defense and subpar offense. One certainly had to do with the other and despite missing 16 straight shots in the second half, the Crusaders never trailed by more than two possessions for the entire game. Valparaiso ultimately fell 51-50 when E. Victor Nickerson?s shot fell off the rim near the end of regulation.

?I?ve moved past it,? Nickerson said earlier this week. ?I?m not down about it. We moved on to the next game and we won. We?ve won our games since (Green Bay).?

The fact that Nickerson was able to be on the court at the end of the game, let along the one taking the final shot, has been something of a surprise since the season began. The Charlotte transfer is coming off double hip surgeries and Drew remarked that they?d be cautious and ease Nickerson into action as the year went on. Playing double digit minutes in games would often require surrendering practice time. Time that became more precious when starting point Keith Carter went down with an injury in the second conference game of the season.

Nickerson has filled in admirably and he led the Crusaders in scoring at Green Bay before coming back and leading six players in double figures with 16 points in last Sunday?s win over Oakland. While getting another shot at Green Bay is important to the Crusaders, it?s hardly the first thing Nickerson will be thinking about when he takes the floor tonight.

?I?m excited to touch the floor every time I get the chance to, especially after two hip surgeries,? Nickerson said. ?Anytime I can shoot, dribble, walk, it?s great. I love to practice now.?

Nickerson will likely be counted on to play heavy minutes again ? he logged 29 minutes at Green Bay earlier this year ? as it?s unclear if Carter will return. Drew said earlier this week that the junior has begun ?doing a little,? but even the fourth-year coach was unaware if Carter could play against the Phoenix.

Regardless of who takes the backcourt for the Crusaders, they?ll be dealing with preseason Horizon League Player of the Year Keifer Sykes. The Wooden Award nominee is averaging 18 points and four assists a game and he knocked down a game-winner Wednesday night to beat Youngstown State on the road.

?This game means a lot,? Nickerson said. ?You play the game to compete and it?s fun to compete (at this level), especially against a player like (Sykes). He?s quick. He?s just a player. We?re going to need to dig deep and guard him.?

 

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Valparaiso will win if: The Crusaders need to find a way to penetrate Green Bay's defense. Valparaiso struggled to get into a rhythm in last month's 51-50 loss at the Resch Center, missing 16 straight shots in the second half. The Crusaders are undefeated when Alec Peters (17.3 ppg) reaches double figures and the sophomore figures to be a big part of the game plan tonight.

Green Bay will win if: The Phoenix get more offense than just Keifer Sykes. The senior point guard is arguably the best player in the Horizon League but Green Bay has struggled at the ARC when the Chicago native is the sole provider of points. Last season, Sykes had a team-high 19 points at the ARC but Green Bay didn't have another player in double figures. The Phoenix never led in the final 38 minutes.