Tonight the Badgers men’s basketball team (4-1) will welcome in-state rival Wisconsin-Green Bay (2-3) to the Kohl Center for the two schools’ annual contest. During the ’90s, Green Bay was often the state’s most successful team, but lately the Phoenix have struggled to rise to prosperity from its historic ashes. Last year, the Badgers helped Green Bay break in the newly constructed Resch Center with a 17-point Wisconsin victory — though the game was closer than the score indicated.
Green Bay hails from the Horizon League and has been picked to finish seventh out of nine teams in the conference’s preseason poll. The Horizon is considered one of the top mid-major leagues in the nation after the repeated national success of members such as Butler and UW-Milwaukee.
Last year, in head coach Tod Kowalczyk’s maiden voyage, the Phoenix fought through a tough 10-20 season, but did manage to upset NCAA tournament-qualifying Austin Peay in the Oneida Bingo & Casino Classic.
In Kowalczyk’s second year at the helm, Green Bay is in full rebuilding mode, and he is starting to bring in the personnel to fit his system. Kowalczyk employs the same high-intensity strategy as his mentor, Marquette head coach Tom Crean, and he now has the talent to do so after revamping a roster largely devoid of talent, which he inherited from former head coach Mike Heideman. Though the Phoenix lost three key players in center Greg Babcock, forward Aaron Jessup, and guard Brandon Hansen and have posted just a 2-3 record on the year, Green Bay looks like a vastly improved team with a roster featuring eight newcomers. Not surprisingly, though, consistency has been the Achilles heel of the Phoenix thus far.
The Phoenix have struggled to put together two solid halves of basketball, with its comeback falling short at Southeast Missouri State and blowing a halftime lead in Indianapolis against the feisty IUPUI Jaguars in the season’s first two games. Green Bay has responded by winning two of its last three contests, defeating Western Illinois and Chicago State at home but being blown out by Big Ten foe Iowa.
Green Bay’s youth movement is led by sophomore guard Terry Parker, Jr. Parker looked out of control at times last season, but he improved down the stretch and has carried that momentum over to this year. Though he has cooled in Green Bay’s last two games, the Stone Mountain, Ga., native is still pacing the Phoenix in scoring at 13.0 points per contest. More importantly, Parker has only turned the ball over four times in five games this year and is flashing a vastly improved three-point shot, hitting 45.5% thus far.
When Parker has struggled, fellow guard Brandon Morris has picked up the slack, chipping in 10.8 points and 2.8 assists per game. Morris, a Kenosha native, comes to Green Bay this year as a junior after transferring from Iowa Western Community College.
Rounding out the Phoenix’s starting backcourt is last year’s leading scorer and Weyauwega native Matt Rohde. Rohde had a breakout season a year ago, but this year he has struggled mightily. After averaging 12.8 points per game and shooting at a 39 percent clip from the three-point line, Rohde has managed just 4.4 points per game and is shooting just 20 percent from behind the arc. Rohde may have woken up from his nightmarish start against Chicago State, tallying 14 points. The Phoenix lack any experienced backcourt depth, with only slick-passing junior Javier Mendiburu, a teammate of Badger Zach Morley at Indian Hills Community College, and freshman Ryan Evanochko contributing off the bench.
The frontcourt that Wisconsin will have to contend with possesses a nice mix of youth and experience and has the most depth of any spot on Green Bay’s team. Senior Mike King and freshman Josh Lawrence are the likely starters, but backups Kevin Hughes and Tyler Koenig will see significant playing time.
King brings plenty of experience, both on the college and international level. The Guelph, Ontario, native played on Canada’s Olympic qualifying team this summer and has started since his freshman year. King is the unquestioned emotional leader of the young Green Bay team.
Lawrence is 6-foot-7 and possesses good leaping ability, giving the Phoenix a legitimate shot blocker for the first time in some years. Hughes, a senior from Brookfield, isn’t seeing as much playing time as in past years, but has a surprisingly deft shooting touch for a big man. Koenig is a freshmen loaded with talent who has made the most of his opportunities this year. In just 14 minutes per game this year, Koenig is averaging 6.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest.
With all this inexperience, UWGB will bring a youthful exuberance into the Kohl Center, hoping to reverse its fortunes against the Badgers. Wisconsin leads the all-time series 9-0.