#HLMBB Weekly Notebook – First Round

#HLMBB Weekly Notebook – First Round

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INDIANAPOLIS – The 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship begins on Tuesday with first-round action as three teams look to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal games hosted by the top four seeds.

#HLMBB NEWS & NOTES

  • Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis is looking to become the most prolific scorer in NCAA history. The Horizon League Player of the Year sits second all-time with 3,604 points, 63 away from Pete Maravich’s NCAA record of 3,667. He is the NCAA record holder with 142 consecutive games in double figures and on Jan. 14 broke the NCAA’s all-time 3-point record with a school-record 11 triples and sits at 578 3-pointers in his career. He is also just the second player in NCAA history to amass 3,000 points and 500 assists. On Dec. 1 he became the Horizon League’s all-time leading scoring, surpassing the previous record of 2,914 points set by Loyola’s Alfredrick Hughes (1981-85) and then on Dec. 10 became the 11th player in NCAA history to surpass 3,000 career points.

  • Davis currently leads the nation in scoring (28.1), total points (870), total 3-pointers (149), 3-pointers per game (4.83) and total field goals (282). His 28.1 points per game would be a Horizon League record, breaking the 27.6 by Loyola's Alfredrick Hughes in 1983-84. He also broke the program’s single-season marks in points and 3-pointers. This year, he has a League-best 26, 20-point games, 13, 30-point outings and four 40-point outbursts, with the four 40-point games the most since Campbell's Chris Clemons had four in 2018-19. The graduate student finished #HLMBB play averaging a League-best 30.1 points with 11 30-point games to go along with 3.8 assists, good for fifth in the HL.

  • Davis has been named to eight national awards including the John R. Wooden Award® Late Season Watch List comprised of 20 student-athletes who are front-runners for the sport's most prestigious honor. Other lists this season include: John R. Wooden Award Midseason and Preseason Top 50 Watch List, Naismith Award for the Player of the Year, Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason, the Bob Cousy Award for the nation’s top point guard and the Lou Henson National Player of the Year.

  • No. 6 RMU will host a game in the #HLMBB championship for the first time since joining the Horizon League prior to the 2020-21 season and look to advance out of the first round for the second-straight season. RMU has won four out of its last five contests entering postseason play and is 7-3 at home this season in HL play. The Colonials are the No. 2 scoring defense during Horizon League action allowing 67.0 points per game and also second in blocks with 4.5 per League contest.

  • The Colonials placed two players on All-Horizon League teams led by Kahliel Spear on the All-League Second Team and All-Defensive Team and Enoch Cheeks on the third team. Spear is tied for the League lead with eight double-doubles and is averaging 17.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game during League play and is also No. 2 in field-goal percentage shooting 54.7 percent from the floor vs. HL opponents. Cheeks leads the Colonials in scoring at 16.0 points per game and steals with 55, while also second on the team with 99 assists and 36 blocks. Cheeks ranks ninth in #HLMBB in scoring, 12th in field goal percentage at (46.1) and assists (3.41), third in blocks (1.24) and fourth in steals (1.90).

  • No. 7 seed Wright State looks to defend last year’s tournament title by making it to the quarterfinals or better for the sixth season in a row. The Raiders are the No. 2 scoring offense in the Horizon League and are just one of 23 teams in the country averaging more than 80 points a game. WSU is also one of the most efficient offenses in the country as it is one of only three teams nationally shooting 50 percent or better as a team.

  • WSU’s Trey Calvin is a member of the All-Horizon League First Team for the first time in his career after averaging 21.1 points, third-best in the HL, on 48.4 percent shooting with 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game during League play. Brandon Noel became the first Raider to earn Freshman of the Year since Loudon Love and was the only player to average a double-double during League play with 13.4 points and a League-best 10.1 rebounds per contest. Noel also led all players during HL play in field goal percentage at 60.0 to go along with 1.2 blocks per game.

  • No. 8 Detroit Mercy will host a first round game for the third consecutive season as it ended Horizon League play as the No. 3 scoring offense leading the HL in 3-pointers and 3-point shooting percentage.

  • No. 9 Purdue Fort Wayne is 1-0 in first round games since joining the Horizon League for the 2020-21 season.

  • Purdue Fort Wayne’s Jarred Godfrey earned a spot on his third All-Horizon League team of his career, coming in on the second team this season, averaging 19.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game in League play, all top-20 rankings, while shooting 90 percent from the foul line. He has set a pair of program records this season as he is now the all-time leading scorer with 2,157 points and is the career leader in games played with 152. He is the only active player in Division I with 2,000 points, 600 rebounds, 400 assists, 200 3-pointers and 200 steals.

  • No. 10 Green Bay will be on the road for the first round for the second year in a row and look to pick up its first victory in the championship since the 2019-20 season.

  • No. 11 IUPUI placed three players on All-League teams with Jlynn Counter being named to the All-League Third Team, while Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson were named to the All-Freshman Team. Counter averaged a team-high 14.2 points per game during the regular season while contributing 3.9 rebounds and a team-high 3.3 assists per game. Brady earned four #HLMBB Freshman of the Week Awards this season and averaged 10.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while leading the team in made threes (56) and steals (29). Jackson collected three #HLMBB Freshman of the Week Awards this season and finished with 9.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the field.

  • There have been 36 40-point performances in Division I this season and the Horizon League boasts seven of them. No other conference has more than two. Detroit Mercy’s Davis leads the way with four, posting a season-high 42 twice this season. NKU’s Warrick is tied for the fifth-highest scoring mark this season with 45 against Tennessee Tech followed by Wright State’s Calvin with 44 at Youngstown State and YSU’s Cohill registered 41 on the road at Wright State.
RESULTS
DATE GAME RECAP
Tuesday, Feb. 21 RMU 83, Youngstown State 64 Box Score
Thursday, Feb. 23 Oakland 75, Wright State 68 Box Score
Northern Kentucky 67, Detroit Mercy 64 Box Score
IUPUI 81, RMU 75 Box Score
Milwaukee 96, Purdue Fort Wayne 94 Box Score
Cleveland State 76, Green Bay 65 Box Score
Saturday, Feb. 25 Wright State 82, Detroit Mercy 71 Box Score
Northern Kentucky 78, Oakland 63 Box Score
Purdue Fort Wayne 78, Green Bay 61 Box Score
Youngstown State 93, IUPUI 79 Box Score
Milwaukee 81, Cleveland State 72 Box Score

NIKE #HLMBB PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (all times ET)
Tuesday, Feb. 28
No. 6 RMU vs. No. 11 IUPUI, 7 P.M. ET (ESPN+)
No. 7 Wright State vs. No. 10 Green Bay, 7 P.M. ET (ESPN+)
No. 8 Detroit Mercy vs. No. 9 Purdue Fort Wayne, 7 P.M. ET (ESPN+)

Thursday, March 2
No. 4 Northern Kentucky vs. No. 5 Oakland, 7 P.M. ET (ESPN+)
No. 1 Youngstown State vs. Lowest-remaining seed , 8 P.M. ET (ESPN+)
No. 2 Milwaukee vs. Second lowest-remaining seed, 8 P.M. ET (ESPN+)
No. 3 Cleveland State vs. Highest-remaining seed, 8 P.M. ET (ESPN+)

Monday, March 6
Semifinal No. 1, 7 P.M. (ESPNU)
Semifinal No. 2, 9:30 P.M. (ESPN2)

Tuesday, March 7
Championship Game, 7 p.m. (ESPN or ESPN2)