CATCH THE ACTION: Monday, January 16 - 7:00 p.m. CT // Valparaiso, Ind. (The ARC)

Matchup: Green Bay Phoenix (11-6, 5-0 HL) at Valparaiso Crusaders (14-4, 4-1 HL)

Where to Watch: Online - ESPN3 

Where to Follow: Live Stats - www.valpoathletics.com

Where to Listen: WNFL - 101.9 FM / 1440 AM

Game Notes: Green Bay  |  Valparaiso

For Live in-game updates, follow: @gbphoenixmbb

Series History

Green Bay leads Valparaiso 29-24 all-time, with the two enjoying intense matchups in recent years. See FAMILIAR FOE note below.

NOTABLES

• Green Bay has started 5-0 in Horizon League play for just the third time in the last 20 years.
• The team is 2-0 in league road games so far this year, winning at Cleveland State and Youngstown State
• Green Bay is now alone in first place atop the Horizon League following Oakland's loss to Detroit Mercy, dropping them to 4-1.
• The Phoenix has not win at Valparaiso since 2011 (0-7since then).
• Green Bay ranks 119 in the NCAA RPI, which is third among HL teams. Oakland (63) and Valparaiso (76) are both ranked ahead of the Phoenix. 
• Head coach Linc Darner has started Trevor Anderson, Khalil Small, Turner Botz, Kerem Kanter and Kenneth Lowe for six-straight games now.

FAMILIAR FOE

The Crusaders have served as Green Bay's arch nemesis in recent years, both on the court in the league standings. Green Bay upset Valpo (99-92, OT) in last year's semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament, eight days after losing at the buzzer in the regular season finale at the Resch Center. The Phoenix has not won in Valpo since Jan. 23, 2011, having lost seven in a row since then at The ARC. The Crusaders have beaten Green Bay twice in the Horizon League Tournament at The ARC during that time, once on a Ryan Broekhoff buzzer-beating 3 (Mar. 9, 2013; 70-69) in the semifinals and the championship game in 2015.

BLOCK PARTY

Green Bay blocked 10 shots against Northern Kentucky, which marked the third time the team has registered double-digit team blocks this season. It's the third time in five games for the Phoenix, all coming in Horizon League play. Only two other times (2013-14 and 2014-15) in the Division I era has the program recorded 10-plus blocks three times in a season. The 2013-14 team (which had six games of 10-plus blocks) currently owns the record for most team blocks in a season (223) and Alec Brown has the individual record from that season for blocks (94). Never in the history of the program has the team notched 10 blocks or more four times in league play. Green Bay will need one more game (with 13 league games remaining) to be the first ever team to accomplish that feat. Individually, Kenneth Lowe ranks 55th in the country (31 blocks) in blocks and set a career-high with four against NKU. Lowe has six games this season with three or more blocks.

LAST TIME OUT

Green Bay knocked down a season-high and program-tying record 14 3s against Wright State in its 78-61 victory. Warren Jones went 5-for-6 from 3-point land and the team as a whole actually made more 3s than it did field goals inside the arc (10). The Phoenix went on a 12-0 run early in the first half to take a 18-9 lead and would never trail again. The team scored 24 of the first 36 points in the second half to put the game out of reach and earn its widest margin of victory in league play this season. Charles Cooper scored 16 points, while Khalil Small added 11 of his own.

RIDING HIGH

The 17-point win over Wright State gave the Phoenix its fifth-straight win to open Horizon League play, and with Detroit Mercy's win over Oakland, put the Phoenix all alone atop the league standings. Green Bay has started 5-0 in HL play only two other times in the last 20 years (13-14, 03-04) and has only started 6-0 once, when it enjoyed a 7-0 start in league in the regular season championship season of 2013-14. The Phoenix leads the Horizon League in scoring offense, total rebounds, turnovers forced and ranks second in steals, turnover margin and free throw attempts.

J0NE$

Warren Jones was on fire against WSU, knocking down a career-high tying five 3s in a 5-for-6 effort from long range. The 19 points is a season-high for Jones and is the second-straight game in double-figures. The sharp-shooter also went 4-for-5 at the free throw line and dished out three assists. The five made 3s ties the most made by a Phoenix player (Trevor Anders vs. SIUE) this season. Jones ranks second in Horizon League play in 3-point field goal percentage at .625 (10-for-16).

LOWE KEY

Kenneth Lowe may have played the best half of basketball by any Phoenix player this season, scoring eight-straight points during a stretch in the second half which catapulted Green Bay on its game-clinching 15-0 run against NKU. Lowe finished with a season-high 13 points on a season-high 29 minutes played. The Little Chute star recorded a career-high four blocks, three steals and five rebounds. He went 6-for-11 from the field and even attempted the first 3-pointer of his career, which nearly went in. Lowe has appeared in every game of his career (116 straight appearances) and has started in 52-straight games. With Green Bay guaranteed a minimum of 15 more games, should Lowe appear in each of those, he will move into a tie for third-place all-time in program history in games played with 131. Jordan Fouse and Carrington Love hold that record with 134 games played each. Lowe also ranks fourth all-time in blocks now with 120, trailing Terry Evans for third-place all-time with 132 blocks.

W-W-W-W-W-W-W

With its convincing win over Wright State, Green Bay has now won seven games in a row, its longest streak since 2013-14 (12 games in a row) and for just the third time since its first season in the Horizon League in 2001-02. Only twice in the last 16 seasons (Horizon League era) has the team won more than seven consecutive games, winning nine-straight in 2003-04 and 12-straight in 2013-14. The seven wins in a row is the longest current winning streak by any Horizon League team this season and is the longest streak of any Horizon League team this season. Green Bay is outscoring its opponents 86.6 to 72.7 during this stretch and is enjoying a plus-4.4 turnover margin, while registering 11.1 steals per game and 6.6 blocks per game. Four players are averaging in double figures during this stretch, led by Charles Cooper's 15.5 and the team is shooting 46.5 percent.

CARRIED BY COOPER

Senior guard Charles Cooper totaled 16 points against WSU, giving him his fifth-straight double-figure scoring output and 12th game this season finishing in double-figures. Cooper leads the Phoenix in scoring with 14.1 points per game overall and 18.0 PPG in Horizon League play. Cooper also leads the team in rebounding in league play with 7.0 RPG and is shooting 51.9 percent (28-54) from the field. The Gary, Indiana, native also leads the team in steals with seven and is second in assists with 12 over the last five games.

TEAMING UP

Through 17 games this season, Green Bay has enjoyed a balanced attack in multiple games. In 11 of 17 games this year, the Phoenix has had four players or more record double-figures in points. In the last 10 games alone, there have been four or five players in eight of those games to notch double-figure scoring outputs. Four of the last 10 games have seen five players in double figures, with the Phoenix going 5-2 in those games. Overall, Green Bay is 8-2 when four players or more reach 10-plus points.

LEADING THE LEAGUE

When Green Bay meets Valparaiso, it will be a battle of the top two teams in the Horizon League over the last four seasons. The Phoenix and Crusaders have each gone 42-13 over that stretch. The Phoenix has finished fourth or better in the League in each of the last three seasons and has won 20 or more games overall in each of those years as well. At least one of the two programs has appeared in the tournament championship game in three of those four seasons, with Green Bay winning one title and Valpo winning two.

BENCH BARRAGE

The Phoenix bench has now scored 40 or more points in five out of the last seven games, giving Linc Darner the option to play multiple players throughout the game. In Horizon League play alone, the Green Bay bench production has exceeded 40 points in three of the five games. On average, the Phoenix is averaging 41.2 PPG off the bench, led of course by Charles Cooper and Warren Jones of recent.

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