Green Bay (4-16, 3-8 Horizon League) currently sits at 10th in HL standings after dropping two games on the road last week.
As has been the story for much of the season, the Phoenix have continued to play incredibly short handed for a multitude of reasons. Green Bay currently has just 10 scholarship players on the roster, one of which is red-shirted, and two others that have missed significant time due to injury.
On Thursday, the Phoenix lost on the road to Youngstown State 63-50 in a game the Penguins controlled pretty handily from the jump. It wasn’t the best night defensively for Green Bay – they allowed Youngstown to shoot 48.2% from the floor.
The Phoenix were led by double digit scoring efforts from Kamari McGee and Japannah Kellogg who each scored 10 points. Cade Meyer also chipped in 8 points and hauled in a career high 10 rebounds.
On Saturday, Green Bay lost a back and forth contest on the road against Robert Morris 62-60.
The class of 2021 paced Green Bay in scoring against the Colonials. Cade Meyer continued his impressive stretch of play with a 16 point, 8 rebound performance on 6-of-10 shooting. Additionally, Kamari McGee added 15 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.
The difference in this game was the rebounding battle. Robert Morris out-rebounded Green Bay 43-40, and the offensive rebounding battle a disturbing 17-5. It’s going to be hard to beat anybody when you give them that many extra looks from the floor.
The one positive takeaway was the way they fought, and made a concerted effort to generate post touches. This is something I think needs to become a priority for the program due to their lack of outside shooting presence.
Donovan Ivory Dismissed from the program
I spoke to a source close to the program who stated Ivory’s dismissal was due to conduct detrimental to the team, constant push-back towards the coaching staff, and was even referred to as a “cancer” in the locker-room.
I reached out to Donovan Ivory for comment but didn’t hear back, so this of course is just one side of the story.
The Kaukauna (Wisc.) native led the Phoenix in scoring with 11.9 points per game, free throws made (52), 3PM (22), and blocks (15).
Either way you slice it, it’s a tough loss for a rebuilding program like Green Bay because Ivory was an in-state kid and had arguably the highest ceiling of any player on their roster.
Green Bay will finish their road trip with two away games against Cleveland State (Feb. 4) and Purdue Fort Wayne (Feb. 6).
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