By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)
GreenBayPhoenix.com

GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - The Green Bay men's basketball program gets its second season under head coach Brian Wardle underway on Nov. 11, but first the Phoenix will have a chance to play an exhibition game against Lawrence. Green Bay hosts Lawrence at the Kress Events Center at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Tickets for the contest are just $10 for adults while youth tickets are just $ 7 and the first 750 fans will receive a 2011-12 Not By Bread Alone magnet schedule printed by DigiCopy. Contact the Green Bay Athletics ticket office for more ticket information.

The exhibition game is one of only three times that Green Bay will play at home in the first month of the season. The Phoenix opens the 2011-12 schedule with four of its first six games on the road.

Sophomore Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.), a Preseason All-Horizon League selection, leads a group of three returning starters on one of the most inexperienced teams in the country. Brown averaged 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while starting all 32 games as a true freshman. Senior Jarvis Williams (Milwaukee, Wis.) and sophomore Daniel Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) also started at least 23 games a season ago.

The contest will mark the third time in as many years that Green Bay has played one game at the on-campus Kress Events Center. The Phoenix won an exhibition in 2009 and a regular-season contest in 2010 in the facility.

The Phoenix also played an exhibition game in Wardle's first season, defeating Edgewood College on Nov. 8, 2010 at the Resch Center. Green Bay also hosted Lawrence in an exhibition game in 2007, defeating the Vikings 87-63 on Nov. 5, 2007.

THE LAST MEETING

• Lawrence and Green Bay have met once previously, an 87-63 Phoenix win in an exhibition game on Nov. 5, 2007 at the Resch Center.
• Then a freshman, recently graduated Rahmon Fletcher scored 20 points for Green Bay in that contest.

LOOK AT LAWRENCE

• Like Green Bay, Lawrence returns three starters from its 2010-11 team.
• Tyler Crisman is the team's leading returning player after averaging 15.4 points per game as a junior.
• Sophomore guard Chris Siebert and junior forward Conor Klusenforf also return after starting all 23 games a season ago.

LAST SEASON'S EXHIBITION

• Green Bay defeated Edgewood 78-55 on Nov. 8, 2010 in its only exhibition of 2010-11. That contest took place at the Resch Center.
• Like Fletcher in his debut as freshman, Brown made a splash in Green Bay's win over Edgewood. Brown scored 17 points in just 19 minutes of action.
• Baker had a team-high seven rebounds as Green Bay held a 40-30 edge on the glass.

AT THE KRESS CENTER

• This will be the third time the Green Bay men's basketball program will play at the Kress Center.
• Green Bay defeated Minnesota-Duluth 75-36 in a regular season contest on Nov. 13, 2010.
• The team's only other exhibition game in the facility was a 71-54 victory over St. Norbert on Nov. 7, 2009.

ON THE TUBE

• Green Bay will appear on television at least 15 times in 2011-12, including nine games on Time Warner Cable Sports32 and five on the ESPN family of networks.
• For TWC Sports32 home games, Chris Roth (play-by-play) and Jeff Nordgaard (color analyst) will be the broadcast team.
• Nordgaard is a Phoenix Hall of Famer and the program's third all-time leading scorer.

ALEC'S EARLY HONORS

• Brown has earned Preseason All-Horizon League honors from a number of media outlets.
• Brown was a second-team selection in the official Preseason Horizon League awards.
• The 7-foot-1 center was also named first-team All-Horizon League by USA Today and Rivals.com.

NEWEST BIG MAN

• Junior college transfer Brennan Cougill (Sioux City, Iowa) should make an immediate impact for the Phoenix.
• The 6-9, 265-pound Cougill played at Kirkwood Community College in 2010-11 after playing at Iowa as a freshman.
• Cougill, the team's lone junior, was named preseason the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year by Rivals.com.

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Season tickets, Pick 5 packages and single-game tickets for both basketball programs are currently on sale with the Green Bay ticket office. For more information, please visit GreenBayPhoenix.com/tickets.

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