GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) --- Taking to the road for the first time this young 2018-19 season, Green Bay will travel to Iowa for a 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon tip time at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The game starts a part of a four-game series that GB will play as part of the 2K Empire Classic, also traveling to Eastern Washington for two games and playing at Oregon.
GB (1-1) fell at home to Indiana State 78-74 on Friday afternoon, and now faces the tall task of a road game against a B10 opponent in the Hawkeyes (1-0), who beat UMKC 77-63 in their home-opener this season. Iowa is now 52-4 in its last 56 non-conference home games, dating back to 2012.
CATCH THE ACTION: Sunday, November 11 - 2:00 p.m. // Iowa City, Iowa (Carver-Hawkeye Arena)
Matchup: Green Bay Phoenix (1-1) at Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0)
All-Time: Iowa leads 2-0; last meeting in 2003
Buy Tickets: Order Here
Game Promotions/Giveaways: Military Appreciation Game
Where to Watch: BTN2GO ($)
Where to Follow: StatBraodcast Live Stats
Where to Listen: The Fan WDUZ 1400 AM
Game Notes: GB vs. Iowa |
Iowa Game Notes
For Live in-game updates, follow the Phoenix on social media: Twitter - @gbphoenixmbb, Instagram - @gbphoenixmbb
INDIANA STATE RECAP
- GB led by 10 points just over 4 minutes into the game
- The two teams combined to shoot 68 free throws, on a total foul count of 55
- Sandy Cohen III filled up the stat sheet with a team-high 16 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks
- GB took a brief 68-67 lead on a Cohen 3-pointer with 4:20 left, before Indiana State scored the next five points and led for the remainder of the game
- Seven GB players scored at least 7 points in the game
- Manny Patterson nearly recorded his first double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds
- Indiana State had two players score 20-plus points
CARRIED BY COHEN
Senior
Sandy Cohen III has now scored in double-figures in 8 of his last 9 games dating back to last season, after opening with 12 points against WLC and scoring a team-high 16 points against Indiana State. Cohen was tabbed Horizon League Preseason First Team All-League, and hit a 3-pointer late in the game against the Sycamores to give his team the lead. Cohen also grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists against ISU, while also swatting a pair of shots.
LAST B10 ROAD WIN
Despite its geographic location, Green Bay hasn't played a non-Wisconsin Big Ten team since the 2007-08 season. GB played at Ohio State and at Michigan State that year, but has only played its in-state foe Wisconsin since that time. This year, the Phoenix will take trips to Iowa and Michigan State, and will travel back to Wisconsin again next year after not facing them this season. GB has not beaten a B10 opponent on the road since it upset head coach
Linc Darner's Purdue team 69-53 on Dec. 7, 1991, in the championship game of the Boilermaker Invite. Tony Bennett led GB with 20 points in that game.
TURNING THEM OVER
Through two games, GB has forced their opponents in 33 and 16 turnovers, respectively, averaging 24.5 turnovers forced per game. GB scored 18 points off the 16 ISU turnovers on Friday, and prides itself on the pressure defense in an effort to create scoring opportunities through its defense.
SEASON-OPENING REVIEW
The Phoenix won by 56 points to open the season against WLC in a field trip day game, never trailing and leading for all but 1:08 of the game. Seven players scored in double-figures, led by a pair of 14-point performances from
TJ Parham and
Manny Patterson. GB scored 55 points off 33 WLC turnovers and 66 of the 110 points scored came in the paint. All 12 players to dress in the game scored.
STEALING THE RECORD
GB racked up 26 steals against WLC, besting the previous single game program record of 22 steals, which happened on two separate occasions. Five different players notched at least 3 steals and 11 total players had at least one. The Phoenix is trying to get back to it successful ways via the theft, after the team led the NCAA in steals per game in 2015-16. GB stole the ball and stole the show at Motor City Madness that year, winning four games in four days en route to the NCAA Tournament.
SEEING THE CENTURY MARK
Under Darner's lead, the Phoenix has now scored 100 or more points eight times, including the 110 point effort on Tuesday. In fact, four of the top 13 scoring games in program history have come in the last four seasons under Darner. Before Darner's arrival, GB last scored 100 points in 2005. The team has now done it eight times in only three full seasons and one game.
EXHIBITION RECAP
After trailing for much of the first half and early into the second half, senior
Sandy Cohen III proceeded to take over the game and show just why he is believed to be a strong Player of the Year candidate. Cohen went 6-for-6 from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 28 points, including 20 points in the second half alone. He was one of four players in double-figures, as
JayQuan McCloud (12 points),
ShanQuan Hemphill (10 points) and
Manny Patterson (10 points) each provided a boost. GB forced 16 turnovers and knocked down 13 3s in the win.
SEASON-OPENERS
GB is now a perfect 7-0 when playing its regular season-opener at home over the past 11 seasons, and as Darner was able to a enjoy season-opener at home for just the second time in his four-year tenure as head coach. Last year the Phoenix fell at Northern Illinois and also lost an overtime thriller at Stanford in his first season, sandwiching between that a dominating win over Northland to open the 2016-17 season. The team will play its first two games at home for the first time since the 2013-14 season, the year the team captured the HL regular season championship.
SANDY SENIOR SZN
Sandy Cohen III will enter the 2018-19 season as the lone senior on the Phoenix roster, but also carries the talent and pedigree to chase Horizon League Player of the Week honors. The nearby Seymour-native started in 22-straight games to end the season last year, after becoming eligible in December. In those 22 games, Cohen was second on the team and sixth in the HL in scoring with 16.1 PPG, registering five double-doubles during that stretch. He was named to the Horizon League Preseason All-League First Team and was named on various basketball platforms as a player to watch in the league. He also led the HL in steals last season with 1.8 SPG in league play, while scoring in double-figures in 16 of those 22 games played.
FIVE FOR FIGHTING
The Horizon League polls tabbed Green Bay fifth in their preseason poll, which is voted on by coaches, media and sports information directors. Five other media outlets (Athlon Sports, midmajormadness.com, Street & Smith, Blue Ribbon, three-man-weave.com) picked GB fourth, with all polls having some sort of Wright State, Northern Kentucky and UIC coming in the top three. The Phoenix finished seventh last year, but the returning talent and trust in Coach Darner and the program have those picking the Phoenix a bit higher this season.
THREE'S COMPANY
Green Bay made 9.6 3-pointers per game in Horizon League play last season, which led the entire league. Additionally, the team was third in the HL in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting just over 37 percent. The team found its shooting touch towards the end of last season, making 11 or more 3s in six of its final seven games, including a season-high 15 3s in an upset win at Oakland on Feb. 22, 2018. The top two three-point makers from a year ago are gone to graduation (
David Jesperson and
Khalil Small), but back are the likes of
Kameron Hankerson, Cohen,
PJ Pipes and TJ Parharm, all of which made 26 3-pointers or more. The welcoming of
Cody Schwartz, who went 7-for-8 from 3-point range in the team's scrimmage, will immediately help the team's perimeter presence.
NO SMALL REPLACEMENT
The team will be tasked with replacing its leading scorer and defensive stalwart in
Khalil Small, who has taken his talents overseas to Finland upon graduation. But head coach
Linc Darner will look to a core of turned sophomores, which saw significant playing time as freshmen last year.
PJ Pipes started in all 18 games as a true freshman, while
Manny Patterson started in nine of 14 before suffering an injury. Also playing in valuable minutes as freshmen were
Hunter Crist and
Trevian Bell, who will surround Cohen and Hankerson once again in 2018-19.
AERIAL ARTISTS
All the talk about the team's newcomers centers around their ability to play above the rim.
ShanQuan Hemphill,
Jevon Smith and
Josh McNair are each capable of making eye-popping dunks at any point in the game, and also bring some athleticism to the defensive end of the court. Add in sharpshooter and slasher
JayQuan McCloud, and Darner is armed with a quartet of talent and experience, to join a healthy returning roster.
FOURTH TIME'S A CHARM
Darner's track record of his team's performance in his fourth season at a school bodes well for Green Bay. In his fourth season at Saint Joseph's in 2005-06, Darner led his team to a 31-3 record and a trip to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. In his fourth season at Florida Southern, Darner led the Mocs to a 25-5 record and another trip to the NCAA Tournament. In each of those seasons he won his conference's regular season championship. Enter 2018-19, where Darner will lead Green Bay in his fourth season, seeking that same fourth-year turnaround success.
RESCH RELATIONSHIP
The Phoenix will continue to call the Resch Center its primary home. The six-year agreement the two sides reached continues a partnership that dates back to the 2002-03 season, when GB began playing its home games at one of the premier facilities in the state which opened prior to that season. The partnership states that all GB men's basketball home games, with the exception of non-counting games and one "homecoming" game during the Horizon League portion of the season, be played at the Resch Center. A non-counting game is a game where GB plays a non-division 1 opponent or hosts an exhibition game.
WALKING ON
Green Bay will have a pair of walk-ons on the roster this season, returning
Tyrone Powell as a sophomore and welcoming freshman
Bansi King.
QUOTABLES
Darner on Hankerson: Kam is still young, last year was really his first year playing. The biggest thing for him now is just that level of consistency. He goes out and scores 36, but the next night has five. It's about getting to where he's scoring 15, 18, every night.
Darner on Pipes: PJ has worked extremely hard and gotten himself into tremendous shape. We're hoping he'll grow from his freshman year. He had some very good moments and then also had some moments that a typical freshman will have. We need him to be very good for us to have a chance to compete for a championship.
Darner on Cohen: The big thing for us is just having Sandy out there from the beginning of the season. I think Sandy has a chance to be one of the top players in the league. He can do a lot of different things: he can score, he can rebound, he handles the ball well, he'll get steals and block shots. He'll be up near the top of the league in a bunch of categories.
Darner on this year's schedule: We feel that we have put together a very challenging, but balanced schedule for this upcoming season. Our schedule during the Horizon League season has spread out well this year, never having to play on the road in back to back weekends. I also believe our non-conference schedule will prepare us for the always tough months of league play, facing a run of very talented high-major teams as well as a few quality mid-major opponents.
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