Horizon League Notebook
by Cory Eve
After another hard-fought week in the Horizon League, the conference standings have flip-flopped more than someone walking along a sandy beach. Last week saw Wright State leading the way, but after the Raiders lost a tough game at Wisconsin-Milwaukee 73-69 (proving once again how difficult conference road wins are to achieve) they have fallen to second place. By dropping a game, the Raiders (12-8, 5-2) left the door open for the No. 11 Butler Bulldogs to grab the Horizon League reigns.
Butler had two punishing wins at home over the past week against Youngstown State and Wisconsin-Green Bay. Pete Campbell led the way against Youngstown State, scoring a season-high 17 points, including 5-7 from three-point range. The Bulldogs were 14-24 from three as a team, and even had a stretch of hitting seven consecutive from behind the arc in the first half against the Penguins. Mike Green also contributed to Butler’s 67-39 win over Youngstown State last Wednesday, scoring 16 points and grabbing ten rebounds. Butler also had an impressive 80-59 victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Saturday. The Bulldogs’ win over the Phoenix marked the return of leading scorer A.J. Graves to the starting line-up, and he did not disappoint, scoring 28 points. After their two wins this past week, Butler moved to 17-2 overall and to 5-1 in the conference, putting them atop the Horizon League.
Don’t look now, but last year’s league champions, Loyola, Ill., are making a run. After a win at Detroit last Wednesday, the Ramblers have moved themselves into third place in the conference with a 4-3 record, and they are only a game and a half out of first place. Their next game is a big one at home against Butler on Thursday. If Loyola, Ill. can hold serve at home against the Bulldogs, they would only be a half game out of first with 4 out of their next 5 games at home. Could the Ramblers be poised to make another run at the regular season conference championship?
After impressive wins over Butler and Loyola, Ill., Illinois-Chicago dropped two in a row to Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Detroit. The Flames moved from second the league to fourth over the past week. The good news for Illinois-Chicago is they are still 4-3 in the conference, and they have one game remaining with each of the top three teams in the league. The bad news, however, is that two of those games are at Butler and at Loyola, Ill.
Conference News and Notes
- After going 9-9 from the free throw line in Butler’s win over Wisconsin-Green Bay, A.J. Graves has now hit 63 straight from the charity stripe, which is the nation’s longest consecutive free throw streak.
- The Bulldogs 17-2 record is the school’s best 19 game start since 1928-29.
- Butler’s win over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Saturday was their 19th straight home victory.
- After scoring 26 against Cleveland State on Thursday and 21 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday, Wright State guard DeShaun Wood has overtaken the conference scoring lead from Butler’s A.J. Graves. Wood is averaging 19.4 points per game, including 91 percent from the free-throw line and nearly 44 percent from three.
