By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Locked in a three-way tie for first place, Green Bay will battle Valparaiso on Friday night in a rematch of last month's defensive battle at the Resch Center. The winners of a 51-50 final on Jan. 23, the Phoenix will look to complete the season sweep of the Crusaders beginning at 6 p.m. CST in a game televised nationally by ESPN2.

In the first meeting, Green Bay held Valparaiso to just 18.5 percent shooting in the second half to rally from a 10-point first half deficit. Senior Greg Mays (Chicago, Ill.) scored the eventual game-winning basket on a runner with 1:41 to play before the two teams went scoreless the rest of the game.

On Wednesday, head coach Brian Wardle's team rallied from 10 points down midway through the second half, going on a 13-0 spurt and scoring 15 of the game's final 19 points to defeat Youngstown State 63-62. After getting stitches in the first half, senior Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) scored all 11 of his points after halftime, including the game-winning floater with 25 seconds to play.

Senior Alfonzo McKinnie (Chicago, Ill.) who scored 11 points in the first game against Valparaiso, posted his second-straight double-double on Wednesday with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

GREEN BAY PROBABLE STARTERS
G – #24 Keifer Sykes, Sr., 6-0, 180
G – #12 Carrington Love, Jr., 6-1, 171
F – #4 Jordan Fouse, Jr., 6-7, 225
F – #15 Greg Mays, Sr., 6-9, 222
F – #34 Alfonzo McKinnie, Sr., 6-8, 215

LIVE COVERAGE: Friday night's game can be watched on ESPN2 or online on WatchESPN. Mike Crispino (play-by-play) and Sean Harrington (analyst) will call the action. Fans can also tune into WNFL 1440 AM and 92.1 FM, where Matt Menzl (play-by-play) and Andrew Gavin (analyst) will bring fans a radio broadcast of the game.

INSIDE THE SERIES: Green Bay leads the all-time series 28-20 heading into Friday night's 49th meeting. The Crusaders have a 14-9 record on their home floor, including four-straight wins. The two teams are responsible for each of the past three regular season titles in the Horizon League, and Wardle and Valpo head coach Bryce Drew are 5-5 head-to-head.  

WARDLE'S WINS: With Wednesday night's victory, Wardle secured the most wins (91) by a Phoenix coach in their first five seasons in Division I history. The win also gave Green Bay back-to-back 20-win seasons. With one more win, the Phoenix will have the most combined wins in consecutive seasons since 1994-95 and 1995-96. 

REACHING FOR THE SYKES: Against Milwaukee last week, Sykes passed both Jeff Nordgaard (1,911) and Dennis Woelffer (1,916) into second place on the program's scoring list. With 1,933 points, Sykes trails only former Phoenix standout and current Virginia head coach Tony Bennett (2,285). The senior guard ranks in a tie for 14th place in Horizon League history, and with seven more points, the senior will pass former Butler standout Matt Howard (1,939) into 13th place. 

ATTACKING FROM ALL ANGLES: For the first time since the 2011-12 season, Green Bay has had six different players lead the team in points in at least one game, exhibiting the tremendous amount of depth gracing the Phoenix roster in the 2014-15 campaign. This bodes well for Green Bay as it continues to trudge its way through the six remaining regular season Horizon League games.

A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN: Enjoying another impressive season, Sykes finds himself among the nation's best players as a member of the Wooden and Naismith Award Watch Lists for National Player of the Year. The Phoenix point guard is the lone player on those lists that can boast having 1,500 or more points (1,933), 400-plus assists (494) and 400-plus rebounds (424).

242K: Averaging 18.0 points per game, Sykes has scored 451 points in 25 games this season. The senior needs just 67 more points to join all-time leading scorer Tony Bennett (2,285) as the only Phoenix players to score at least 2,000 career points. The senior is also the program's all-time leader in free throws made (524). Sykes also ranks fourth in assists (494), fifth in scoring average (16.2), fourth in field goals made (654) and eighth in steals (143).

DOUBLE-DIGIT DEJA VU: Sykes has scored in double figures in 37-straight games against Horizon League opponents. The senior has scored in double figures in 64 of the past 66 contests overall, and since the beginning of his sophomore season, he has scored 10 or more in 84 of 89 games. Sykes scored 10 or more just twice in his first 13 career games but has reached the mark 99 times in 106 games since turning 18 on Dec. 30, 2012.

SECOND-HALF SYKES: In the second half of the first 11 league games of 2014-15, Sykes has scored 134 points (12.2 per half) and is shooting 50 percent from the field and 86.5 percent from the line. Sykes has reached double figures in the second half of 19 of the last 28 games against league opponents. During conference play in 2013-14, Sykes averaged 13.5 points. 

FULL FOUSE: Junior Jordan Fouse continues to fill up the stat sheet and also climb up the all-time charts for Green Bay. The two-time Horizon League All-Defensive selection is having the best season of his career, averaging 7.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. He now ranks third in Phoenix history in blocked shots (125) and fourth in steals (173). Fouse recently entered the program's top-10 in career rebounds (685) and is now eighth all-time after passing Gordon Patterson, Bryan Boettcher and James Bardney.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Green Bay's league success recently has been built in part on strong play away from home. The Phoenix went 7-1 in 2013-14 in league games on the road. Dating back to the 2012-13 season, Green Bay has won 15 of its past 18 Horizon League road games.

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