Elijah Jones' tip-in gets UWGB men's basketball back on track. Next up is a road game at No. 11 Oklahoma.
GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team finally woke up again.
The Phoenix might have celebrated its win over in-state rival UW-Milwaukee on Dec. 2 for a bit too long after following it up with losses at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville last Wednesday and against Western Illinois at home on Saturday.
The players didn’t seem to bring the type of energy, or the juice as first-year coach Sundance Wicks calls it, that they had in previous games.
That changed in a 70-68 victory at Illinois-Chicago on Wednesday, a win in which UWGB led for just 0.5 seconds but kept fighting back from deficits until a tip-in by junior forward Elijah Jones in the final second proved to be the winner.
They didn’t quit when they trailed 10-0 in the opening minutes or by as much as 12 in the first half. They didn’t let up after being down nine points with 4 minutes, 37 seconds remaining.
“The deeper thing for me in that game, the message for that game, was a response game,” Wicks said. “There are two things you can control in this world, and that’s your attitude and your effort.
“What we didn’t do the previous two games, I thought our attitude wasn’t great, our energy. I thought our actions weren’t conducive of what our culture is supposed to be representative of. We kind of switched some things up and just told guys, ‘Look, at the end of the day, we are going to need more from a lot of people.’ Everyone dove into the culture that night, but it can’t take two losses in a row for us to finally decide, ‘I’m going to have the right attitude every day. I’m going to bring the right effort.’”
The minimum requirement to play for Wicks and his staff is to display maximum effort and relentless energy, not to mention being obsessively enthusiastic.
None of those are negotiable. You do it, you play. You don’t, you won’t.
“When those line up for us, we are pretty hard to beat,” Wicks said. “We are a tough out, so to speak. That win for us was all about response. About being challenged by me, being challenged by the staff, to show up every single day regardless of circumstances.”
UWGB learns big lesson
Yes, in retrospect there was too much excitement after the victory against the Panthers moved UWGB to 4-4, which is understandable considering the team won three games last season.
But high-fives for being .500 shouldn’t last long. Even after the loss to SIUE, Wicks still had people congratulating him.
It’s difficult to block out that type of noise. It’s difficult not to peek at highlights on social media and get distracted.
Wicks tells his players he’s as guilty as anyone. He’s one of the kings of social media. He likes to tweet videos or stories to promote the program and spread the word about what they are attempting to build.
He’s also been in the game for a long time. With it has come years of mastering the process.
“I’m a robot, man,” Wicks said. “I’m a bot. I can just click retweet and not have any emotional attachment to it. While they might click retweet and might think this is the greatest thing to ever happen.
“You have got to train yourself to have that filtering system of treating wins and losses the same. They are both imposters. So, yes, I think there was a little bit of for our guys learning how to handle success and stack success. At the end of the day, if you don’t learn how to handle success, failure comes just as quickly.”
Freshman David Douglas Jr. steps up against UIC
Junior guard Noah Reynolds has been locked into a starting spot since the day he committed to the Phoenix this spring.
He again showed why he has a chance to be one of the best in the Horizon League the next few years after putting up a season-high 31 points against the Flames and increasing his season average to 18.5.
Reynolds and Jones are the only two to start the first 11 games while seven others have started at least one time.
Freshman guard David Douglas Jr. received his third start of the season against UIC.
It was a successful homecoming for the former Yorkville Christian (Illinois) standout, who had a career-high 14 points and shot 3-for-6 from 3-point range in 34 minutes.
“There is still a performance-based product here, you still have to produce,” Wicks said. “I love everybody. I love you all. But I can’t play you all the same minutes. At the end of the day, what goes into this is your level of production. Defensively, offensively, we measure everything. We have all these metrics that go into it, so it’s not just an emotional evaluation.”
It also can be a matchup thing, which is why Wicks wants everybody prepared.
Senior forward Rich Byhre started each of the previous five games but came off the bench against UIC and played only 2 minutes. It was in part because the team liked matchups that allowed freshman forward Marcus Hall and senior forward Will Eames to play at the 5 while remaining offensive weapons, as opposed to Byhre being forced to switch onto quicker guards.
“It was a great game for those guys to play because of the size similarities that both of us had at a lot of positions,” Wicks said. “But D.J. getting more minutes, he’s consistently been one of our better defenders in all the numbers that we put together. His attitude has been extremely consistent.
“The defending thing is more important for me than anything. If you continue to defend at a high level, you are going to be really hard for me to keep off the floor. That’s who we are. That’s our identity.”
UWGB prepares for ranked opponent
The Phoenix plays at No. 11 Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The last time UWGB beat a ranked team was December 2014, when it defeated No. 15 Miami. It remains the only road win over a ranked team in program history.
The Sooners are like the Phoenix in a few ways. They have plenty of new faces thanks to the NCAA transfer portal, and they were picked to finish near the bottom of the Big 12 in the preseason poll.
Projections apparently don’t mean much.
The Sooners are 9-0 under Porter Moser and one of seven teams in the nation still undefeated entering Thursday.
Oklahoma has three players averaging double figures, led by sophomore guard Otega Oweh (15.2 ppg).
“They are a really good team, and Porter does a really good job,” Wicks said. “As you look at these transfer portal things, some years you hit it right. You find this magic chemistry and you whip something up. … That’s what Porter has hit this year. Last year was a little tougher for him, but they found the right mix of guys.
“I just got a lot of respect for a dude who dives into it every day like he does. I follow his social media stuff because I like to follow the teams we are playing. Porter is always out there in the Norman community. He’s going over to the frats and the sororities and handing away T-shirts. I love that. He’s a high-level engagement guy and he’s always invested in those around him.”
UWGB will be a heavy underdog against Oklahoma, but it should still be a fun test.
“Just a chance to play a top 15, top 10 team, is a really cool deal,” Wicks said. “There are not many times during the year where you get to play those teams. To experience that and feel that down there is going to be an awesome environment.
“It is going to help us, regardless. We are going to get to do some things we haven’t done this year in that game that will allow us to work on things and prepare us a lot more for the conference run.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB men's basketball ready for Saturday matchup with No. 11 Oklahoma
