By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – After playing six of its first eight games away from home, Green Bay begins a stretch on Saturday of five out of seven games at the Resch Center. The first home test for the Phoenix will be Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. against Drake, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Saturday's contest against Drake is the first Festival Foods Family Game of the season. Fans can take advantage of ticket specials with pricing as low as $9 for adults and $7 for youth and concession prices with $1 hot dogs and $1 sodas. After the game, all youth Phoenix fans are welcome onto the floor for autographs and Free Throws with the Phoenix. For more ticketing information, click here.

Green Bay returns home after posting one of the most historic victories in program history last Saturday at No. 15/15 Miami. The 68-55 victory over the previously undefeated Hurricanes was the first over a ranked opponent on the road in program history. Junior Carrington Love (Milwaukee, Wis.) was spectacular in the win, tallying career highs in points (20), rebounds (9), steals (4), blocks (2) and minutes (36). The Phoenix defense held Miami to season lows in points and field goal percentage.

The early season success for head coach Brian Wardle's team has Green Bay in unchartered territory as the nation's top team in terms of RPI. The Phoenix has wins over three teams - Miami, Florida Gulf Coast and Evansville - in the top-60 in RPI. Those opponents are a combined 24-0 in games not against Green Bay.

GREEN BAY PROBABLE STARTERS
G – #24 Keifer Sykes, G, Sr., 6-0, 180
G – #12 Carrington Love, G, Jr., 6-1, 171
F – #4 Jordan Fouse, F, Jr., 6-7, 225
F – #15 Greg Mays, F, Sr., 6-9, 222
C – #45 Kenneth Lowe, F, So., 6-8, 230

LIVE COVERAGE: Saturday afternoon's game will be televised live nationally on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and can also be found on ESPN3. Chris Roth (play-by-play) and Cordero Barkley (analyst) on the call. Fans can also tune into WNFL 1440 AM and 92.1 FM, where Matt Menzl (play-by-play) and Bill Scott (analyst) will bring fans a radio broadcast of the game.

INSIDE THE SERIES: Saturday's matchup will be the third between Drake and Green Bay, with the Bulldogs holding a 2-0 advantage in the series. On Feb. 23, 2013, Drake defeated the Phoenix 71-54 in a BracketBuster contest in Des Moines. Green Bay has four current players that appeared in that contest while only one Drake player remains. 

DOUBLE-DIGIT DEJA VU: Dating back to last season, senior Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) has scored in double figures in 27-straight games and 48 of his past 49 contests. Since the beginning of his sophomore season, the Chicago native has reached double figures in 68 of 72 games. Sykes scored 10 or more just twice in his first 13 career games but has reached the mark 83 times in 89 games since turning 18 on Dec. 30, 2012.

WARDLE KOMBAT: Green Bay continues to hang its hat on its defense. The Phoenix leads the Horizon League in field goal percentage defense (38.7%), three-point field goal percentage defense (28.5) and blocks per game (5.1) and held four teams below 35 percent shooting.

HOME SWEET HOME: With two early wins at the Resch Center, Green Bay has now posted a 49-13 home record in four-plus seasons under head coach Brian Wardle. Last season, the Phoenix went 13-4 at home but actually lost its final two games at the Resch Center. Five of Green Bay's next seven games are at home, including the Horizon League opener on Jan. 5 against Wright State.

MOVIN' ON UP: With 1,627 career points, Sykes is currently ranked eighth in program history. Sykes needs 51 more points to pass three players - Mike Schactner (1667), Rahmon Fletcher (1678) and Alec Brown (1678) - into fifth place on the all-time scoring list.

2K24: Averaging 18.1 points per game, Sykes has already scored 145 points in eight games this season. The senior needs 290 points to move into second place on the scoring ledger. With 373 more points, Sykes will join all-time leading scorer Tony Bennett (2,285) as the only Phoenix players to score at least 2,000 career points. The senior point guard is also currently sixth on the program's career assist chart.

AMONG THE NATION'S BEST: As the nation's only active player with 1,500 career points and 350 career assists, Sykes has been recognized this season with numerous national accolades. In addition to earning a spot on the Naismith Award Watch List and the John R. Wooden Award Watch List as one of the top-50 players, the Chicago native is on the Bob Cousy Award Watch List as one of the nation's top point guards.

SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS: The Phoenix has secured four victories over Division I teams this season, and each of the four has occurred in the Sunshine State of Florida. Green Bay won three games in three days to win the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero before returning to Coral Gables 10 days later and defeating No. 15/15 Miami.

EARLY EXCELLENCE: Green Bay's 6-2 record is the best start for the program since 2009-10. With wins in five of its first six games, the Phoenix also posted the best record through six games since 1990-91. The success comes despite Green Bay playing one of the toughest schedules in the country. The team's six Division I opponents have combined for a 41-11 record.

PHO SLAMMA JAMMA: Last season, Green Bay tallied 97 dunks in 31 games, an average of 3.1 per contest. In 2014-15, the Phoenix has 27 dunks in eight games (3.4), with Mays tallying 12 and Sykes flushing nine eight dunks. Mays has 84 career dunks and the 6-foot Sykes has 45. The high-flying Phoenix was dubbed Pho Slamma Jamma by the Anchorage Daily News during the 2013 Great Alaska Shootout.

HOT STARTS: In each of its four wins in Florida, Green Bay jumped out to quick starts and used excellent first-half defense to build halftime leads in every game. Against East Carolina and Florida Gulf Coast, Green Bay held the opponent without a point for nearly eight minutes of action. The three opponents averaged 22.3 points on 27.8 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes of action.

DOMINANT D: Green Bay held Florida Gulf Coast to just 45 points and 27.3 percent shooting, both season lows for a Phoenix opponent. It was the lowest field goal percentage allowed by head coach Brian Wardle's team against a Division I opponent since March 5, 2013 (Milwaukee, 26.8%). In Wardle's career at the helm, the Phoenix has held 16 opponents to below 50 points and seven opponents have failed to shoot 30 percent from the field.

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