It’s safe to say that very few people people feel bad for the Green Bay Phoenix. Go on any social media site, and the jokes, jabs, and haters are everywhere. The latest round of internet comments came after head coach Doug Gottlieb was in New Orleans Wednesday and Thursday, doing his radio show from Radio Row, despite a lengthy losing streak.
While the naysayers on the outside have been incredibly vocal, athletic director Josh Moon has too, just on the other end of the spectrum. Moon told the Green Bay Press Gazette “I get that people are piling on, but I think the whole point here is that the whole method of what actually makes a successful program, the norms of what works in college athletics doesn’t exist anymore.” Of course, one of the reasons that Gottlieb was able to make the trip was due to an extra off day, a result of Academic Progress Rate violations under former head coach Will Ryan.
It wasn’t a vacation for Gottlieb down in the Big Easy, telling the Press Gazette: “It’s not like I’m drinking a hurricane on Bourbon Street.” It was a business trip. Besides the radio show and podcast, Green Bay’s coach was recruiting, negotiating a buy game, and even talking to Packers officials to try and package some weekend games with the “other team” in town.
On the court, the record is what it is. 20 straight losses is a program record that no one wants. Following a loss to IU Indy, which Gottlieb said felt like a stepback, Green Bay hit the road for 5 straight contests. It started with a tough task, a matchup against the Horizon League leading Cleveland State Vikings. After getting the basket to the proper height, the Phoenix gave the Vikings a tough test for 35 minutes.
The two teams battled back and forth in the first half, and answered every punch in the first half. Late in the first, Cleveland State had a chance to blow the game open, going on 12-0 run to grab Green Bay’s slim lead back, and built up a 25-17 advantage. Then the Phoenix fought back. With 1:14 left in the opening half, Ben Tweedy hit a 3 to tie the game, and with 26 seconds in the half, Preston Ruedinger made a layup to give Green Bay the lead. It would be the Vikings though, that went into halftime with the momentum. Tevin Smith was able to convert a 3 point play with 3 seconds left in the half and after grabbing a steal was fouled just before the buzzer but missed both shots to extend the lead beyond the 34-33 advantage.
After halftime, it was more of the same for the large part of the half. Cleveland State built onto the lead, just for Green Bay to battle back. Once again though, the young Phoenix squad just ran out of gas. The Vikings held a 64-62 lead with 5:38 left in regulation and closed the game out on a 17-4 run, putting Green Bay away, despite Yonatan Levy scoring 19, and getting double digit scoring efforts from Ryan Wade and Foster Wonders off the bench.
Green Bay’s annual trip to the Detroit Metro Area, came next, starting with Oakland on Thursday night. Once again, a strong start from Green Bay kept the Greg Kampe-less Golden Grizzlies at bay, and went into the locker room at halftime all squared up at 29-29. Unfortunately the momentum did not carry to the second half as Oakland started the frame on a 16-1 advantage before Green Bay finally made its first field goal of the half, a 3 from Wonders with 13:07 left in regulation. The Phoenix were able to bring the deficit down to 10, but couldn’t cut into it any further, losing 68-54. Green Bay got 16 points from Wonders, leading the team in scoring in the absence of Marcus Hall, after being forced to miss the game due to injury.
On the back end of the trip, Green Bay squared off with the Detroit Mercy Titans, the team closest to Green Bay in the conference standings. Similarly to their matchup against league leading Cleveland State, the lead changes and ties were steady in the early part of the half, with the score knotted up at 25-25 coming out of the under 4 minute media timeout. Detroit Mercy then went on an 8-0 run to build up to a 33-25 lead, until Preston Ruedinger hit a 3 in the final seconds of the half to trail by 5.
Green Bay struck first in the second stanza, a Jeremiah Johnson jump shot to slice the lead back to a single possession. Once again though, the Titans were able to answer and built the lead throughout the half. The Phoenix didn’t have enough to catch the Titans, who delighted the hometown crowd with a 67-57 win.
Thanks in part to Green Bay’s scheduling efforts, the Phoenix got a full week off of games to go with Gottlieb’s radio schedule, before finishing the road game spree with Purdue Fort Wayne. The Mastodons, looking to keep ground with Cleveland State atop the conference standings, had work to do. With 7:43 left in the first half, Tweedy split a trip to the free throw line, as Purdue Fort Wayne maintained its lead at 26-25. Over the rest of the half, the Mastodons outscored Green Bay 24-10, jumping to a 50-35 halftime lead.
Despite the disadvantage, Green Bay was going to give up. Despite trailing by as much as 21, the Phoenix fought back to keep the second half even, typing Purdue Fort Wayne 39-39 in the half, but ultimately losing 89-74, for its 20th straight loss. On a positive note, freshman Jeremiah Johnson dazzled in the game, scoring 20 points, 1 short of his brief but impressive, career high.
Brighter days may be ahead. A program is being built on and off the floor. The Phoenix are playing upwards of 6 freshman in rotation in some games, experience that those cheering for the program hopes will pay off soon. The team is also winning in the classroom, posting a 3.32 GPA, the second highest in program history and a massive jump from the sanctions coaches Gottlieb and Wicks had inherited when they took the reigns in Titletown.
Green Bay finally gets a home game, its first since January 22nd, this coming Friday February 14th, when the Phoenix hosts Northern Kentucky. Tip off is set for 6pm at the Kress Center on campus.
