By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Monday's victory over Wright State marked the beginning of Horizon League play for the Green Bay men's basketball team, but the contest was also game No. 15, marking the midway point of the season's schedule.

Green Bay is coming off one of its most impressive offensive outputs of the 2014-15 season, a 79-55 win over Wright State on Monday night. Senior Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) scored 23 of his season-high 28 points after halftime, and junior Jordan Fouse (Racine, Wis.) nearly had a triple-double with 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists.

However, it has been the defense that fans and opponents have come to expect under head coach Brian Wardle that has been a near constant for a Phoenix team that is 12-3 through 15 games.

In the past two seasons under Wardle, the 2014 Horizon League Coach of the Year, Green Bay is 36-10 due in large part to allowing only 62.1 points per game.

Green Bay is getting used to life without reigning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year Alec Brown, but the Phoenix is making things even more difficult for the opposition.

This season, Wardle's team is allowing only 57.2 points, good for 22nd nationally and the lowest total since 1998-99. In 10 games this season, the Phoenix has kept its opponents to below 60 points. In nine of the games, the Green Bay opponent has shot 40 percent or less from the field.

Among Horizon League teams, Green Bay is ranked first in scoring defense and three-point field goal percentage defense (29.5), second in field goal percentage defense (38.1), rebounding margin (+2.8) and blocked shots (4.9), and third in steals (7.4).

Individually, two-time Horizon League All-Defensive Team selection Jordan Fouse (Racine, Wis.) ranks second in steals per game (1.9), fourth in rebounds per game (7.5) and tied for fourth in blocks per game (1.0).

Also among the league's steals leaders, Sykes is third in steals per game (1.7) and junior Carrington Love (Milwaukee, Wis.) is tied for seventh at 1.5.

Five of the top-15 players among the conference's blocks leaders don a Phoenix uniform, with sophomore Henry Uwadiae (Benin City, Nigeria) ranking third despite averaging only 5.7 minutes per game.

Team Notes

• Green Bay is 18-0 in the past three seasons when Sykes and Fouse score in double figures.
• The Phoenix improved to 7-0 at the Resch Center, where the Phoenix has a scoring margin of 19.1 points.
• Under head coach Brian Wardle, Green Bay is 54-13 at home in five seasons.
• Green Bay was 7-1 on the road in the Horizon League in 2013-14 and has won 10 of its past 11 road contests in league play.
• Since joining the Division I ranks, Green Bay is 17-16 in league openers.
• The Phoenix is now 12-0 this season when holding its opponents to 70 or less points and 31-2 in the past two seasons. Green Bay is 22-0 since the beginning of 2013-14 when allowing 60 or less points.
• Green Bay is 12-0 this season when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent.
• With a margin of 47-29, the Phoenix had its best rebounding margin of the season on Monday.
• In the mid-major polls, Green Bay ranks fourth in the College Insider Top-25 and eighth in the Mid-Major Madness Top-15.
• Green Bay was 7-1 on the road in the Horizon League in 2013-14 and has won 10 of its past 11 road contests in league play.

Individual Notes

• Sykes is now tied for fourth in program history in career points (1,751), matching Ron Ripley (1975-79).
• The guard has now scored in double figures in 27-straight games against Horizon League opponents.
• Overall, Sykes has reached double figures in 54 of the past 56 games, and since the beginning of his sophomore season, the senior has scored 10-plus points in 74 of 79 games.
• After averaging 13.5 second-half points in 2013-14, Sykes scored 23 second-half points on Monday.
• In seven home games, Sykes is averaging 19.6 points per game on 53.5 percent shooting from the field and 46.9 percent from long range.
• Sykes is the only player in the nation with 1,700-plus points and 400-plus assists.
• Fouse is shooting a career-high 55.2 percent from the field, ranking third in the conference.
• The junior also ranks fourth in rebounds (7.5), second in steals (1.9), tied for fourth in blocks (1.0), tied for seventh in assist-to-TO ratio (1.0), fifth in offensive rebounds (2.3), fifth in defensive rebounds (5.3) and tied for 11th in assists (2.9).
• Fouse fell just one assist shy of a triple-double on Monday, tallying 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists.
• Fouse's 15 rebounds tied his career high, also set against Wright State back on Feb. 7, 2013.
• In Green Bay's three-game winning streak, Fouse is averaging 12 points, 10.7 rebounds and six assists per game.
• With 613 career rebounds, Fouse is just 40 boards shy of joining the program's top-10 list.
• Fouse also ranks in a tie for third all-time in blocks (112) and seventh all-time in steals (152).
• Senior Greg Mays reached double figures for the 29th time in his career with 10 points against Wright State.
• Mays blocked a career-high five shots against the Raiders.
• Freshman Daeshon Francis scored eight points and tallied career highs in minutes (22), rebounds (7) and blocked shots (3) in the win over Wright State.

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