Wright State vs. Green Bay

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About Wright State: The Raiders have won four of their last five games. Their 9-4 start is their best since the 2009-10 season when they also started 9-4. The last time they had a better record through 13 games was 1989-90 when they were 10-3. ? The Raiders are 5-0 at home. Six Horizon League teams are unbeaten at home, and the conference?s overall home record is 47-4. ? Junior forward Jerran Young made his first start of the season Sunday in a 58-49 victory over Mount St. Joseph. He scored 24 points and is averaging a team-best 19 points and 7.3 rebounds over the last three games. ? Coach Billy Donlon said there?s a good chance junior forward AJ Pacher will play. He has missed the last three games with a foot injury.

About Green Bay: After a 3-7 start, the Phoenix have won three games in a row, beating Marquette, South Dakota and Illinois-Springfield. ? Idaho is the only common non-conference opponent for Green Bay and Wright State. The Raiders won 80-70 at Idaho, and Green Bay lost 72-62 at Idaho. ? Coach Brian Wardle is in his second season. Green Bay finished 15-15 overall and 10-8 in the Horizon League last season after winning eight of its last games. ? It was picked to finish third this season in the preseason poll. Brown was named to preseason first team, and Sykes was named to the second team.

Coach Billy Donlon on Green Bay: ?Their schedule was really hard. They went out to Nevada to play a tournament. They played Wisconsin and Marquette. Brennan Cougill is one of their best players and has been suspended for the last four or five games. They?ll have a full arsenal for our game. Keifer Sykes is as good as any guard in our league. Brown, Cougill and Sykes are three very good players.?

 

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Starting this week, Wright State finally gets a chance to prove the naysayers wrong.

The Raiders were picked to finish last in the Horizon League in the preseason poll because no one knew what to make of this team. While a 9-4 start has done much to erase the doubts, coach Billy Donlon knows the story of his team?s season will be written in Horizon League play.

Wright State will play 16 conference games in the next two months, beginning with a 7 p.m. game today against Green Bay (6-7) at the Nutter Center.

?I?m pleased with a lot of the things we?ve accomplished through the first 13 games,? Donlon said. ?Ultimately, we?re 0-0 in what matters. Your non-league schedule only matters if you do some damage in your conference play. We?ve got to defend our home court against a very good Green Bay team.?

For now, at least, the league race is wide open. A college basketball blog, Big Apple Buckets, simulated the conference schedule 10,000 times, and Valparaiso, the preseason favorite, won the outright title 31 percent of the time. The simulation showed eight of the nine Horizon League teams, Milwaukee being the lone exception, have at least a small chance to win the outright.

The computers gave Wright State a 3 percent chance of winning the title outright or an 8 percent chance of tying for the title.

While the Raiders have some good wins, they don?t have a signature win as some Horizon League teams do. Valparaiso (10-4) won at Murray State (9-3). Green Bay beat Marquette (10-3). Illinois-Chicago (9-4) beat Northwestern (9-4). Loyola (9-3) beat DePaul (9-4).

?Valparaiso is still the lead dog in the hunt in my opinion,? Donlon said. ?Certainly, Detroit has great ability and talent. Loyola and UIC have done some great things. Green Bay is better than their record indicates. Youngstown has two of the best guards in the league. Gary (Waters) is battling some injuries at Cleveland State, but no one can argue with what he can do as a coach.?

Green Bay?s losing record is deceiving because it has played a tough schedule: losing at Nevada, at Virginia and at Wisconsin. Two weeks ago, it beat Marquette 49-47, and it has now won three games in a row.

Green Bay also has played the last four games without one of its top players, 6-foot-9 forward Brennan Cougill, who was suspended for three games and reinstated before Sunday?s game against Illinois-Springfield. He didn?t play in that game, but he?s expected to play tonight. If he does play, he?ll be the only senior in the game for either team.

Both teams should expect a close game. The last four regular-season games between the Raiders and Phoenix have been decided by an average of 2.8 points.

Green Bay swept the series last year, 57-56 and 53-48. In the first game, Wright State blew a 17-point lead in the first game, and Green Bay?s 7-foot-1 center Alec Brown blocked 11 shots.