GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) --- Making the long trek to the Pacific Northwest for its next three upcoming games, Green Bay will take part in the 2K Empire Classic Subregional round, hosted by Eastern Washington in Cheney, Wash., starting on Friday evening. GB will face the hosts on Friday night, and will then face either UMKC or Morehead State on Saturday depending on results from Friday. The winners from Friday's games will play for the subregional championship on Saturday, while the losers from Friday will play for the consolation title. 

GB (1-2) battled for 40 minutes in its last outing on the road at Iowa this past Sunday, before eventually falling 93-82. The Phoenix kept things interesting throughout, but couldn't overcome the 45 free throw attempts by the Hawkeyes. 
 
CATCH THE ACTION: 
Friday, Nov. 16  - 6:45 p.m. CT // Cheney, Wash. (Reese Court)
Saturday, Nov. 17 - 3:05 p.m. CT // Cheney, Wash. (Reese Court)

Matchup: Green Bay Phoenix (1-2) at Eastern Washington Eagles (0-2)
All-Time: Green Bay leads 3-1

Buy Tickets: Visit Here

Game Promotions/Giveaways: N/A

Where to Watch: WatchBIGSKY

Where to Follow: StatBraodcast Live Stats

Where to Listen: The Fan WDUZ 107.5 FM (no online stream)

Game Notes: GB at Eastern Washington | Eastern Washington Game Notes

For Live in-game updates, follow the Phoenix on social media: Twitter - @gbphoenixmbb, Instagram - @gbphoenixmbb
 
IOWA RECAP

• GB led by 8 points midway through the first half
• Iowa took the lead for good at 19:24 of the second half
• Sandy Cohen and Manny Patterson finished an identical 7-for-12 from the field, each scoring 17 points
• Cohen has now reached double-figures in 9 of his last 10 games
• GB was called for 30 fouls, leading to 45 free throw attempts for Iowa
• Trevian Bell was  perfect 4-for-4 from the field, scoring 10 points off the bench
• GB trailed by only 3 points with 9:24 left in the game
• The 82 points scored by GB are the most against a B10 team since it scored 88 against Wisconsin in its OT win in 2009
• The Phoenix scored 46 points off the bench

CAPTAIN COHEN
Senior Sandy Cohen III has now scored in double-figures in 9 of his last 10 games dating back to last season, and leads the team in scoring with 15.0 PPG this year.  Cohen was tabbed Horizon League Preseason First Team All-League, and so far as lived up to that billing. The Seymour, Wis., native is also making his teammates better, as he set a career-high in assists with eight in his last game at Iowa. Cohen has 17 assists this season already, eight more than his next closest teammate. Through a young season of three games, Cohen is averaging 15.0 PPG, 5.7 APG, 5.3 RPG, 2.0 SPG and 1.3 BPG. The team captain is averaging 36 MPG as well over his last two contests, both competitive games. 

HE'S THE MANNY
Sophomore Manny Patterson is certainly not playing into the sophomore slump notion, as the Chicago native has scored in double figures in all three games this season. Patterson dumped a career-high 17 points on Iowa in his most recent game, and now sits second on the team in scoring with 13.7 PPG. The big man leads the team in rebounding, grabbing 6.7 RPG through those three games. He also leads the team in both free throw makes and attempts, getting to the charity stripe six times a game. The Phoenix needs Patterson to continue this play, giving them a strong presence on the inside to open up the perimeter. 

BRINGING THE BENCH
The Phoenix has received a nice lift when turning to the bench through three games this year, averaging 47.7 points off the bench per game. Head coach Linc Darner saw his bench score 46 points at Iowa, over half the team's production in that game. The teams opened the season with 64 bench points against WLC, again over half the team's total point total. The style with which GB plays needs to see that success off the bench, and through three games, it has. 

TURNING THEM OVER
GB continued its trend of forcing turnovers at Iowa, coaxing the Hawkeyes into 17 turnovers on Sunday. Through three games, GB has forced its opponent into an average of 22 turnovers per game. Turnovers are key to transition baskets, as evident by GB's 29.7 PPG off turnovers. As of Thursday, GB ranked 6th in the NCAA in steals per game with 12.67, picking up another nine steals at Iowa. 

AGAINST THE FIELD
GB has had a fair amount of success against the three teams taking part in the 2K Empire Classic Subregional at Eastern Washington, going a combined 8-4 against those teams all time. GB is 3-1 against Eastern Washington, 2-0 against Morehead State and an even 3-3 against UMKC. The Roos actually knocked off the Phoenix in the First Round of the CBI back in the 2016-17 season. GB beat Morehead State in back to back years, including Darner's first season with the Phoenix. This will be the first time GB has played at EWU since the 1985 season.

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. 

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.

REDSHIRTING
Green Bay will have three redshirts this season, as Tyrone Powell, Bansi King and Will Chevalier will all save this season of eligibility by redshirting. 

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