Green Bay men’s basketball is rolling, winning back to back games, taking down IU Indy and UC Santa Barbara with just one last non-conference game left.
The Phoenix started the winning ways with a conference win over the IU Indianapolis Jaguars to wrap up the early portion of the conference season. The two teams battled early, trading baskets in the early going, as the Jaguars grabbed an early advantage. A Justin Allen long ball put the Phoenix in front at 14 to 11, giving Green Bay its first lead in the game. The lead would be short lived as IU Indy grabbed the advantage back, holding a narrow lead ahead of the under 12 timeout. Back to back made threes by Cade Wilkins and true freshman Keegan Van Kauwenberg put the Phoenix back in front, but once again the lead would not last long. IU Indy built its lead to as high as 6, marking its highest advantage of the game, before Green Bay closed the half on a 5-2 run, going into the break trailing 36 to 33.
After each team traded baskets to start the half, CJ O’Hara scored 6 straight points to put the Phoenix in front. IU Indy briefly tied the game at 41 to 41 before Preston Ruedinger and Mac Wrecke each hit a three later in the half to lead a 9-0 Phoenix run, giving Green Bay an advantage it would not lose for the remainder of the game. LeBron Thomas and Ruedinger kept the foot on the gas for the Phoenix throughout the latter part of the half, and got clutch free throw shooting to close the game. Green Bay would build the lead as high as 11 points, and go on to win 85 to 75. Three players, Ruedinger, Thomas, and O’Hara, each scored 20 points to lead the Phoenix in the win.
Green Bay returned to the Kress Center after nearly a week off to host one of the better mid major programs in the country, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. The Phoenix opened the game on an 8-0 run after a pair of threes by Marcus Hall and Ruedinger, and a layup by Hall. Another Hall bucket and a Wilkins triple gave Green Bay a 13 to 4 lead, prompting the game’s first media break when the Gauchos called timeout. The Phoenix continued the three point shooting onslaught through the half, making 10 of 17 deep balls, including 6 of 7 by Hall. Van Kauwenberg added a pair of triples in the half, his first in front of the home crowd in his college career. Green Bay’s sharpshooting gave the Phoenix a 42 to 30 lead at the break.
The game tightened up in the second half, as UCSB locked in defensively and found its rhythm on offense. The Gauchos took Green Bay out of rhythm, forcing the Phoenix to the free throw line early and often. Green Bay was held to just one made field goal in the opening four minutes of the half, and just three made field goals in the first 13 minutes. In that time, the Gauchos closed the gap down to a single possession at 54 to 52 with 6:18 remaining in regulation. A 7-0 run by the Phoenix, sparked by another Hall three, and layups from Allen and Wilkins put Green Bay back in the driver’s seat at 61 to 52 with the final media timeout looming.
UCSB had one last rally left in them, going on a 10-2 run capped off by a CJ Shaw three, to bring the game back within a single point at 63 to 62 with 0:53 left in regulation. Hall would hit a layup with 0:29 left, answered by a layup by Aidan Mahaney with 0:10 to close the gap back to one point. With a tick over 0:07 remaining the Gauchos sent Ruedinger to the line, where he hit both free throw attempts to give the Phoenix a 67 to 64 lead. On the ensuing inbound, Green Bay elected not to foul but dug in defensively, and caused enough chaos to prevent UCSB from getting off a potentially game tying shot, giving the Phoenix the win.
Green Bay was led by Hall’s game high 25 points, the only double digit scorer for the Phoenix in the contest. After the game, Hall joined coach Doug Gottlieb in the postgame press conference, where Gottlieb made the emotional announcement that he was stepping away from his national radio show, to fully focus on his team.
You can catch the full press conference here. Green Bay will look to get back to .500 in its final non conference game of the year, when it travels to face former guard Jeremiah Johnson and the Campbell Camels on December 23rd, with an 11 AM CT tip off.
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