The Horizon League championship game matchup is now set, and it has a familiar look to it.
Tag: Wright State
Bracket Buster: Northeastern Shuts Down Wright State
In this game of two defensive-minded teams, Wright State succeeded in shutting down Northeastern’s two top scorers, but their whole effort sprung a leak as Chaisson Allen exploded for 22 points and Eugene Spates had a career day, as the Huskies defeated Wright State 69-57.
UIC Flames at Wright State
Tonight Wright State held University of Illinois-Chicago to just five buckets in the second half and a school record 31 points in the game as the Raiders win 57-31.
Wright State Shuts Down Loyola
Another day, another defensive gem for the Wright State Raiders as they held Loyola to 29.4 percent shooting for the game and 15.4 percent in the second half to get a homecourt win, 68-47.
Horizon Notebook – CSU Loses Wisconsin Two-Step for the Two-Seed
Coming into the weekend just past, with Butler a perfect 5-0, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin-Milwaukee each had one loss, Cleveland State had two, and Wright State had three. And predictably, Butler stayed perfect, taking care of business this weekend in Chicago, beating Loyola and Illinois-Chicago; also predictably, Wright State took care of business in its lone game at Detroit, still stuck on three losses. So there was Cleveland State on its annual brutal trek through Wisconsin, needing two wins to be tied for second and a split to stay close; it got neither.
Horizon Notebook: Great Week Clarifies Horizon Race – or Does it?
By late Friday evening I was pretty sure what I was going to write in this space. With Wright State still playing without injured star Vaughn Duggins, 20th ranked Butler had no trouble dispatching the Raiders at home on Thursday night, 64-48. Remarkably (truly remarkably), Loyola-a team that I said elsewhere with some hyperbole does not have a true Division I player on its roster–removed Wisconsin-Green Bay from the ranks of conference undefeated, upsetting the Phoenix 62-60 on Monday night on Chicago’s north side.
Butler Fends Off Wright State
It is a typical year in the Horizon League, the tenth ranked conference according to the RPI rankings. Butler is rolling along coming into the game 12-1 and a perfect 3-0 in Horizon League play.
Horizon Notebook: Brownell Leads Wright State Back Into Race
There are some really good coaches in the Horizon League. Jimmy Collins was really good back when I was on a staff that faced him in the late 90s, and has been to 3 NCAAs and an NIT since. Homer Drew is a legend at Valpo (and could pass for a man twenty years his junior). Brad Stevens at Butler appears to be the best young coach in the country.
Wright State Rides Defense for First Horizon Win
It took their patented defense in the first half and an offensive explosion in the second half, to give Wright State their first league win of the season, at home, over Cleveland State 71-62.
Horizon League Notebook – Scheduling Issues and Cupcakes
If you’re inferring some annoyance on the part of this writer with schools scheduling “cupcakes,” well, you’re inferring correctly. In addition to Detroit’s game this past week with Aquinas, Jimmy Collins’ vaunted UIC team played D-II Lewis College (a school I’d never heard of), and on its upcoming three-game home stand, Cleveland State will play both D-III La Roche College and D-III Notre Dame College (that’s not the Notre Dame we all know and love – the one CSU should be playing). If any of these schools find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble for an at-large NCAA bid (or for an NIT bid), they need look no further than their own schedules to learn why.
