GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay men's basketball team is back to playing non-conference games this weekend when they travel to Kansas City on Friday, followed by a Sunday showdown with Kansas State.

View Game Notes for the Weekend here.

Friday, Dec. 10 – 7 p.m. CT – Kansas City, Mo.
Green Bay vs. Kansas City
Links: Listen | Watch | Live Stats
 
Sunday, Dec. 12 – 4 p.m. CT – Manhattan, Kan.
Green Bay vs. Kansas State
Links: Listen | Watch | Live Stats
 
ABOUT KANSAS CITY
Coming into the matchup on Friday, Kansas City sits at 4-4. Two of the Roos losses have come to Big Ten opponents, Minnesota and Iowa. Kansas City beat Missouri State for their first win of the season 80-66 on Nov. 15, 2021. The Roos are coming off of a 94-32 win over Calvary Bible.
 
They feature a balanced scoring attack, with three players averaging double digits. Evan Gilyard II leads the team with 11.6 points per game, but Josiah Allick and Anderson Kopp are not far behind, averaging 10.6 and 10.5 points per game respectively.
 
ABOUT KANSAS STATE
The Wildcats have started the season 5-3, but are coming off a tight loss to Marquette, 64-63. Kansas State is led by Nijel Pack, who averages 15.8 points on 51.5-percent shooting from the field and 48.6-percent shooting from three.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday's matchup will be the first time the phoenix has played Kansas City. Green Bay has played Kansas State three times. The last time the two teams played, GB won 87-86 in a 2009 overtime thriller in Manhattan, Kansas.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Green Bay is coming off of their opening weekend of Horizon League play. The Phoenix started the conference season with a 70-58 win over Robert Morris before falling 82-58 to Youngstown State.
 
MAKE WAY FOR MANNY
Junior Manny Ansong continues his strong season, and is now averaging a team-leading 13.8 points as well as 5.4 rebounds per game. Ansong had a season-best outing in the Phoenix opener against the Colonials, scoring 23 points with three rebounds on 11-of-15 shooting. Ansong has scored in double figures in all but one game this season (at Wisconsin).
 
ANSONG EFFICIENCY
Ansong currently sits atop the Horizon League field goal percentage leaderboard, shooting 57.7-percent from the field. The next closest is Tanner Holden from Wright State who shoots 52.9-percent from the field.
 
GREEN BAY WAY
GB sports one of the HL's best defenses, allowing only 66.5 points per game. That mark is fourth behind IUPUI, Cleveland State, and Oakland. They also only allow opponents to shoot 43.6-percent from the field, fifth-best in the league.
 
STEADY STIEBER
Redshirt-Freshman Lucas Stieber has proved to be a steadying presence for the Phoenix this season. He's dished out a team-leading 39 assists and has coughed up only nine turnovers. His 4.3 assist-to-turnover ratio is the 11th-best mark in Division 1, and is best in the Horizon League.
 
DONOVAN DON'T MISS
Donovan Ivory is one of the best free-throw shooters in the Horizon League. He's 24-for-26 (92.3-percent) on the season, which is second-best across in the conference.
 
IVORY IMPRESSES
Donovan Ivory has proven to be one of the team's main offensive weapons early in the 2021-22 season. The Kaukauna native averages 11.5 points per game, Ivory also ranks on the team:
2nd in Minutes (26.2 MPG)
1st in FT % (92.3 %, 24-for-26)
1st in Three-point attempts and threes made (12-for-34, 35.3%)
1st in Blocks (1.0 bpg)
2nd in Assists (1.9 apg)
2nd in Rebounds (4.4 rpg)
 
PRESEASON #HLMBB POLL
Pl.  School (1st-place) – Votes
1.    CLEVELAND State (30) – 502
2.    WRIGHT STATE (9) – 463
3.    Northern Kentucky (1) – 406
4.    MILWAUKEE (2)– 396
5.    DETROIT MERCY (2) – 350
6.    OAKLAND – 340
7.    YOUNGSTOWN STATE – 214
8.    UIC – 204
9.    PURDUE FORT WAYNE – 169
10.  ROBERT MORRIS – 157
11.   GREEN BAY – 146
12.   IUPUI - 85
 
RYAN'S RECORD ON STAFF
Will Ryan joined his father's staff at Wisconsin in 2002 and made three more stops before coming to Green Bay. His OVERALL record is an impressive 361-238.
 
Wisconsin: 123-42
North dakota state: 134-84
Ohio: 81-77
Wheeling: 14-13
GREEN BAY: 10-23 

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