Go figure that the week that we put out our Horizon’s Gonna Horizon t-shirts, the Horizon doesn’t really Horizon. Arguably all of this week’s movement was the result of another two games worth of info as to how Green Bay plays without soon-to-be All-League guard Noah Reynolds. In other words, the one drastic move that occurred this week could be undone if Reynolds return to the lineup and dominates on the road in Green Bay’s last two contests.
With that said, this week could easily serve as a precursor to an all-timer Horizon’s Gonna Horizon moment. There’s a non-zero chance that a team that’s still mathematically in the hunt for a share of the Horizon League regular season title and a team that would be the 7-seed if the Horizon League Tournament started today could wind up tied in the standings.
But the Power Rankings aren’t the spot to think about that possibility, so let’s jump into them while you wait for that article:
Team | Rank | Previous | Change |
---|---|---|---|
Oakland | 1 | 1 | – |
Wright State | 2 | 3 | +1 |
Youngstown State | 3 | 4 | +1 |
Northern Kentucky | 4 | 5 | +1 |
Milwaukee | 5 | 6 | +1 |
Cleveland State | 6 | 7 | +1 |
Purdue Fort Wayne | 7 | 8 | +1 |
Green Bay | 8 | 2 | -6 |
Robert Morris | 9 | 9 | – |
Detroit Mercy | 10 | 10 | – |
IUPUI | 11 | 11 | – |
Oakland came into Sunday with an overtime road loss at Northern Kentucky as its only blemish in a month. The Golden Grizzlies proceeded to lay an egg, falling at home to Wright State 95-76. Still, the overall run that OU has been on — including Thursday’s 63-43 win at Robert Morris — means the top spot is safe this week. Additionally, the Golden Grizzlies backed into at least a share of the Horizon League title with only a game against Detroit Mercy between the team and the outright championship. Trey Townsend averaged 18.0 points and 15.5 rebounds for Oakland.
Wright State‘s dominant win over Oakland was its third blowout victory in a row, coming just three days after the Raiders went to Detroit Mercy and won by a similar 93-78 margin. Winners of five of their last six — with the only loss coming in the other game against Oakland — it looks like Scott Nagy’s crew might be heating up at exactly the right time. Brandon Noel averaged 20.5 points and 12.5 rebounds, continuing a run of pretty consistent stat-stuffing performances that began in late January and is likely to make him an All-League performer this year.
Youngstown State went to Wisconsin and came away with an 84-80 overtime win in Milwaukee on Friday and a 71-59 win at Green Bay on Sunday. The Penguins are in a weird spot as the lone team in the league to lose a game against Green Bay with Noah Reynolds sidelined, but move up a spot here after avenging that loss and adding a quality road win. Ziggy Reid continued his quest for All-League honors, averaging 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game on the road.
Northern Kentucky is a difficult team to figure out in the Power Rankings. The Norse won 75-73 at home against Cleveland State on Thursday, then easily put away IUPUI 80-64 on Sunday. As a result, NKU has won five of its last six games and the only loss was a buzzer beater on the road at Milwaukee. Normally that would garner a ton of credit, as a one-point road loss against a solid team shouldn’t ding you too badly. But the Norse’s only wins that weren’t also nailbiters in that stretch were against IUPUI and Detroit Mercy, and that one-point win at a Noah Reynolds-less Green Bay doesn’t feel like it should give much of a boost right now. As a result, NKU is in fourth right now with the potential to move if some blowouts happen in either direction this week. L.J. Wells was NKU’s unsung hero, being overshadowed by star Marques Warrick in the scoring column but averaging 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds for NKU on the week.
Milwaukee followed up Friday’s home loss to Youngstown State by doing an excellent job of closing out Purdue Fort Wayne 96-88 after falling behind by 10 early in the second half on Sunday. The Panthers stay ahead of Cleveland State with the road win at CSU doing enough to serve as a tiebreaker for right now, but the margin is razor thin. B.J. Freeman had an amazing week for the Panthers. He scored 38 points against PFW and averaged 25.0 points, 6.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game for the week.
Cleveland State moves up a spot in the Power Rankings after splitting a pair of close road games, following up its loss at Northern Kentucky with a 73-71 win at Robert Morris. The road loss to a team higher than the Vikings in the Power Rankings doesn’t hurt them, and a road win at a team that’s going to be the 9-seed in the Horizon League tournament doesn’t do a whole lot to help them. The Vikings move up a spot due to some unique circumstances, but that’s about it this week. Unsurprisingly, it was Tristan Enaruna’s 24.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game that nearly led CSU to a pair of huge victories last week.
Purdue Fort Wayne — like Northern Kentucky above it — might not be getting enough credit for its road win at Green Bay. That’s especially the case for a team in the bottom half of the Power Rankings that went on the road and put an end to the contest by halftime before winning 85-59 over the Phoenix on Friday. Where this starts to become an indictment of Green Bay without Noah Reynolds instead of a serious boost for PFW is when the Mastodons turned around and lost to Milwaukee in a game that was reasonably comfortable down the stretch for the home team. Anthony Roberts averaged 22.0 points and 5.5 rebounds, with an impressive 31-point outing on Friday.
Green Bay is an enigma in this week’s Power Rankings. Despite second place still being in play for the Phoenix, the team is eighth in the rankings because of a three-game skid at home. With that said, two of the three games came with shoo-in First Team All-League performer Noah Reynolds sidelined with an injury. If Reynolds comes back this week, Green Bay should obviously be higher. If not, another two losses isn’t out of the question and the Phoenix could potentially fall even lower. With Reynolds out, Elijah Jones stepped up as Green Bay’s most consistent player. Jones had 12 points and five rebounds in both games for the Phoenix this week.
Robert Morris is now in a four-game slide after the home losses to Oakland and Cleveland State. The fall will prevent the Colonials from contending for a spot better than ninth in the standings, but isn’t a dealbreaker in the Power Rankings. One spot behind a team that’s on a three-game home skid and has to finish its season on the road, there’s a real chance that the 9-seed Colonials could finish the regular season above a team currently contending for a share of the Horizon League regular season crown. There’s also a chance that Noah Reynolds comes back, dominates, and RMU stays put in the rankings. Alvaro Folgueiras scored nearly a quarter of RMU’s points on Thursday and made key plays down the stretch to give the team a chance on Sunday.
Detroit Mercy lost its only game of the week at home against Wright State in what was probably the Titans’ glimmer of hope for a regular season win after how close the game at WSU was. The Titans are still protected from a drop as long as IUPUI doesn’t shock the world, and could be able to move up on if by some miracle they’re able to spoil things on the road next week against current Horizon League leader Oakland or current runner-up Youngstown State. Jayden Stone continued to be the bright spot for the Titans. Stone scored an efficient 25 points along with 4 rebounds for UDM in the loss.
IUPUI definitely needs a win to get out of last with Detroit Mercy having the head-to-head win so recently. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, they weren’t close to one this week. After avoiding this slot thanks to the winless Titans all season, it’s starting to seem like IUPUI might end the year last in the Power Rankings. While nobody had two consecutive high-level performances for the Jaguars this week Vincent Brady’s 11.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game were all above his season average.