By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Led by a quartet of seniors from Chicago, Green Bay (21-7, 10-4 HL) will play its final road Horizon League game of 2014-15 on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at UIC (7-22, 3-11 HL). The Phoenix is hoping to bounce back from a stinging overtime loss to Cleveland State last Friday night and looking to lock in the best possible seed for next week's Horizon League Championship.

Seniors Keifer Sykes, Greg Mays, Alfonzo McKinnie and Josh Humphrey all hail from the Windy City and will be playing their final collegiate game in their hometown. The Phoenix has won four-straight games in the series, including last year's meeting at the UIC Pavilion.

In the first meeting of 2014-15, Mays (20) and Sykes (19) combined for 39 points as Green Bay posted a 78-55 victory at the Resch Center on Jan. 20. That duo was impressive for the Phoenix last week as well, averaging 47 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds on 52.4 percent shooting from the field and 42.9 percent from long range.

GREEN BAY PROBABLE STARTERS
G – #24 Keifer Sykes, Sr., 6-0, 180
G – #12 Carrington Love, Jr., 6-1, 171
F – #4 Jordan Fouse, Jr., 6-7, 225
F – #15 Greg Mays, Sr., 6-9, 222
F – #34 Alfonzo McKinnie, Sr., 6-8, 215

LIVE COVERAGE: Thursday night's game can be watched on ESPN3. Fans can also tune into WNFL 1440 AM and 92.1 FM, where Matt Menzl (play-by-play) and Andrew Gavin (analyst) will bring fans a radio broadcast of the game.

242K: Sykes needs just 19 more points to join all-time leading scorer Tony Bennett (2,285) as the only Phoenix players to score at least 2,000 career points. He would also become the 10th player in Horizon League history to reach the mark and the lone player in league history to accumulate 2,000-plus points, 400-plus rebounds and 400-plus assists.

LEADING THE WAY: Sykes has been the starting point for the Phoenix for the past four seasons, starting 120 times entering Thursday night. Last week, Sykes was named one of 17 finalists for the 2015 Bob Cousy Award, handed out annually to the nation's best point guard. Sykes joins Cleveland State's Norris Cole (2011) and Ray McCallum (2012, 2013) as the lone league players with the honor.

20-20: Green Bay has won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2008-09 and 2009-10 and 10 or more league games for the first time since 1997. With 45 wins the past two years, the Phoenix has the most combined wins in consecutive seasons since 1994-95 and 1995-96. Brian Wardle has 92 career wins, the most by any Phoenix coach in his first five seasons in the Division I era.

DYNAMIC DUO: Mays and Sykes combined for 57 points last Wednesday night against Detroit, the most in a single game by Phoenix teammates in the program's Division I era. The last time two Green Bay players combined for at least 57 points was on Dec. 23, 1971, when Dennis Woelffer (32) and Leon Mitchell (27) totaled 59 in a win at Chicago State. Sykes and Mays rank second and fifth, respectively, in the Horizon League in scoring in league play. 

BOUNCIN' BACK: Green Bay's 96-76 win over Detroit continued an impressive streak of bounce back performances by the Phoenix. With the win, head coach Brian Wardle's team has now won 17-straight games following a regular season defeat. The team has won each of its six games in 2014-15 following a loss.

REACHING FOR THE SYKES: With 1,981 career points, Sykes trails only former Phoenix standout and current Virginia head coach Tony Bennett (2,285) on Green Bay's scoring list. The senior guard ranks 11th all-time in Horizon League history after passing Anthony Bonner (Saint Louis, 1,972) and Norris Cole (Cleveland State, 1,978). With his next 11 points, Sykes will move into the top-10 past Kendrick Perry (Youngstown State, 1,991). Sykes will become the first player in league history to total 2,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists.

A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN: Enjoying another impressive season, Sykes finds himself among the nation's best players as a member of the Wooden and Naismith Award Watch Lists for National Player of the Year and as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award. The Phoenix point guard is the lone player on those lists that can boast having 1,500 or more points (1,981), 400-plus assists (508) and 400-plus rebounds (443).

DOUBLE-DIGIT DEJA VU: Sykes had scored in double figures in 37-straight games against Horizon League opponents before seeing his streak come to an end at Valparaiso. The senior has scored in double figures in 66 of the past 69 contests overall, and since the beginning of his sophomore season, he has scored 10 or more in 86 of 92 games. Sykes scored 10 or more just twice in his first 13 career games but has reached the mark 101 times in 109 games since turning 18 on Dec. 30, 2012.

FULL FOUSE: Junior Jordan Fouse (Racine, Wis.) continues to fill up the stat sheet and also climb up the all-time charts for Green Bay. The two-time Horizon League All-Defensive selection is having the best season of his career, averaging 7.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. He now ranks third in Phoenix history in blocked shots (128) and fourth in steals (179). Fouse is now sixth all-time in career rebounds (705) after passing Gordon Patterson, Bryan Boettcher, James Bardney, Randy Berry and Jeff Nordgaard.

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