Primarily a collection of news links about all 11 Horizon League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.
Two of the four Horizon League openers last night went into OT. Recently, we talked about Steven Davis’ potential to lead Wright State to league success, but today he underperformed (13 points, 5-14 FG) in a 81-62 loss to Oakland. To compete with a Sherron Dorsey-Walker (25 points) and a good Golden Grizzlies’ team, he needed to be better. Green Bay fell behind Cleveland State but managed to pull out a win in OT behind Charles Cooper’s 19 points. Youngstown State survived against Milwaukee in OT thanks to Cameron Morse’s 33 points.
Valparaiso Crusaders (10-3) at UIC Flames (7-6), 5 p.m. (ESPNU)
Alec Peters and the Horizon favorites head west to UIC Pavilion to take on a Flames squad that’s improving, but limited due to Dikembe Dixson’s knee injury.
Horizon League: The man on the bench changes, but Valparaiso is still a contender and right now looks like the team to beat. Wright State, Green Bay and Oakland have done well against good schedules, while Northern Kentucky has a nice record against a weak schedule.
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Big South, Horizon, Northeast, Southland and Summit all get heavy into league play, with perhaps the best game featuring surprising Wright State at Oakland.
Green Bay at Cleveland State, 7 p.m., ESPN College Sports Extra
Wright State at Oakland, 7 p.m., ESPN College Sports Extra
Milwaukee at Youngstown State, 7 p.m., ESPN3
Northern Kentucky at Detroit, 7:30 p.m., ESPN College Sports Extra
5. There will be tons of great individual matchups this winter
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UIC: Tai Odiase has a challenger for his Horizon League blocks title, and his name is Isaiah Brock. The Oakland freshman is averaging 2.0 blocks per game in only 19.5 minutes, while Odiase is averaging 2.5 rejections in nearly 28 minutes. They’ll face each other on Jan. 8 and Feb. 19.
Another good one for the Flames is a battle between the conference’s two prominent freshman point guards: UIC’s Godwin Boahen (9.2 ppg, 3.7 apg) and Cleveland State’s Kasheem Thomas (7.1 ppg, 3.9 apg). With Horizon League Freshman of the Year potentially on the line, they’ll go head to head on Jan. 12 and Feb. 11.
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12. Tai Odiase will continue his run toward shot blocking history
Photo: UIC Athletics
It’s becoming less and less likely, but Odiase still has a chance to become the first player to ever lead the nation in blocks in three separate seasons. The 6’9″ junior led Division I last year, but so far this year he is only tied for 27th with 2.5 per game.
The blocking title is not out of reach, but Odiase will need a monstrous Horizon League season to get there — we’re probably talking at least 4 blocks per game. Odiase averaged 3.8 blocks in conference play last year, so it’s not unreasonable.
Even if Odiase does not make a comeback in the national race, he’s leading Oakland’s Isaiah Brock in the conference race. Other players have led the Horizon League in blocks three times, but no one has ever been in the conference’s top two for all four years.
Barring a big drop-off over the rest of this season and next, Odiase should complete that feat.
Also, with 177 blocks entering conference play, Odiase will easily move into the top five all time in the Horizon League before the season’s end. Former Butler center Rolf van Rijn is 5th with 203 rejections.
Even if Odiase averages just 2.5 blocks for the rest of his career and UIC does not win a Horizon League Tournament game or make a postseason, Odiase would finish third all-time in the conference with 304 career blocks, only five shy of the record held by Alec Brown and Damian Eargle.
2. UWGB men make NCAA tournament for first time in 20 years
The Phoenix made Linc Darner’s first season as coach a success, advancing to the Big Dance in March for the first time since 1996. It did so by winning four games in four days at the Horizon League tournament at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, including a 78-69 victory over Wright State in the title game. It came one game after an upset over No. 1 seed Valparaiso.
UWGB lost to Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAAs and finished 23-13.
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4. UWGB women earn trip to NCAA tournament
The Phoenix enjoyed another big season, advancing to the NCAA tournament in March after surviving a double-overtime game against Northern Kentucky in the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament and beating in-state rival UW-Milwaukee in the title game.
UWGB was beaten 59-53 by Tennessee in the first round of the NCAAs. It finished the season 28-5.
10. Do a little dance, make a little love, get your first D1 win tonight (Jan. 30)
In Steve McClain’s first year, UIC still had not defeated a Division I opponent with February nearing. The Flames had their best chance on Jan. 30 with Cleveland State visiting.
UIC came back from down nine points to force overtime. With two seconds left in OT, forward Najeal Young knocked down a mid-range jump shot to give the Flames their first D1 win in dramatic fashion.
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15. Dikembe Dixson drops a 40 burger on Youngstown State (Feb. 16)
It took a few overtimes to get there, but scoring 40 points in any scenario is a huge accomplishment, especially for a freshman.
Equally as impressive, Dixson played all 50 minutes of the double overtime defeat, taking 39 shots to reach his 40 points. He also had 17 rebounds.
This was a game UIC should have won, as it held six-point leads late in regulation and in the second overtime. Dixson, winded from the long night, missed two crucial free throws at the end of the second overtime and Matt Donlan’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left gave Youngstown State a 92-91 victory.
Despite his small size at 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, Felder's play on the basketball court is massive. The Detroit native and former Detroit Pershing standout dropped 24.4 points per game as a senior at Oakland University in the 2015-16 season, ranking 3rd in all of Division I basketball, while leading the nation with 9.3 assists per game. Thanks to Felder's game, the Golden Grizzlies went 23-12 last season, reaching the Vegas 16 championship game. All of that led Felder to get drafted 54th overall in June's NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Felder is averaging 9.2 minutes per game in 12 games with the defending champion Cavs, averaging 3.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
UIC ended a two-game home losing streak with victories against Northern Arizona and Roosevelt last week. Freshman guard Godwin Boahen recorded the program’s first triple-double in the latter.
Santa Clara earned the biggest win of Herb Sendek’s first year there, going across country and stunning Valparaiso 87-80 in two overtimes. In a game matching the Broncos’ Jared Brownridge (30 points) against Valpo’s Alec Peters (35 points, 13 rebounds), it was Brownridge who got more from his supporting cast and SCU earned a huge road win. That’s a terrific win for the Broncos.
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Georgia is at Oakland, a nice home get for the Golden Grizzlies and an opportunity for a quality win for a Horizon League team.
Georgia Bulldogs (8-3) at Oakland Golden Grizzlies (9-3), 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
Last season, the Bulldogs only defeated the Golden Grizzlies by four in Athens. This time around, Georgia will play Oakland off a heartbreaking loss to Northeastern and road setback at Michigan State.
