Hall of Fame
The Phoenix opened the season at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, with a five-point loss to Purdue (who finished in the Elite Eight that season), a 20-point win over NC State and an overtime defeat at the hands of Wake Forest. The results and effort put forth by Green Bay during that tournament would be a forecast of the unprecedented success to come that season, which included victories over Marquette and Oregon.
Sophomore Jeff Nordgaard, current Athletics Hall of Fame member, would prove to be the team’s go-to player, scoring double-figures nearly every game that year. The Phoenix entered the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament with a conference record of 15-3 and 23-6 overall, earning the No. 1 seed. Senior Logan Vander Velden would play a big role for the Phoenix in the Mid-Con Tournament, scoring 17, 10 and 14 points respectively in the team’s tournament title run. Green Bay would take down UIC in the Mid-Con Tournament Championship Game 61-56, but the biggest victory in program history was yet to come.
Jason Kidd and 16th-ranked California would be the draw for the Phoenix in the 1994 NCAA Tournament, which was given a No. 12 seed for its impressive 26-6 record entering the tournament. Kidd and Lamond Murray, both NBA lottery picks that year, would combine to go just 10-for-38 from the field and only 1-for-14 from three-point range against the stifling Phoenix defense highlighted by lockdown defender Gary Grzesk, who drew the roll of guarding Kidd and played a team-high 37 minutes. Senior John Martinez, current Hall of Fame member, recorded a career-high six steals, dished out seven assists and knocked down three three-pointers, while Nordgaard led the scoring efforts with 24 points.
Green Bay would go on to win the game 61-57, giving the program its first and only win in the NCAA Tournament. The win is regarded by many as the best in the program’s storied history and helped put Green Bay Basketball on the national map. Led by Hall of Fame coach Dick Bennett, the Phoenix roster that season was as follows: Ben Berlowski, Gary Grzesk, Eric Jackson, Eric LeDuc, Jeremy Ludvigson, John Martinez, Jeff Nordgaard, Logan VanderVelden, Jeff Zavada, Luke Madsen, Sam Maddox, Rico Rondorf and Pete Wade.
The most successful men’s basketball team in the institution’s proud 50-year history, the 1993-94 team, is the first Phoenix team to be inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame.
