Players with winning pedigree have helped transform UWGB men's basketball into a Horizon League contender
GREEN BAY – Marcus Hall spent his high school basketball career at D.C. Everest competing for conference championships, helping the Evergreens to titles or runner-up finishes his entire time on varsity.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay freshman forward finds himself in the same spot a couple of months into his collegiate career as UWGB prepares to host Oakland at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Resch Center.
The Golden Grizzlies are atop the conference at 7-2, while the Phoenix is second at 7-3.
It is expected to be the biggest home crowd of the season, surpassing the 2,320 for the UW-Milwaukee game Dec. 2.
“I mean, it’s exciting,” said Hall, who was named the league’s freshman of the week Monday after averaging a combined 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds against Wright State and Northern Kentucky. “Every year you go into the season, the goal is to win the conference championship. That’s the first goal. Set yourself up nice for the playoffs.
“Every year in high school we were close, or we won it. It’s just kind of what I’m used to. It makes the season a lot more interesting than when you are fighting for third or fourth place.”
UWGB first-year coach Sundance Wicks wasn’t the one to recruit Hall to Green Bay, but he fits the mode of player he’s seeking when watching a game or film on a prospect.
Wicks quickly scanned the practice floor Tuesday. One by one, he mentioned players who arrived here with notable accolades. He wasn't talking about personal stats, but past teams they have played on.
Like sophomore guard Preston Ruedinger, who led Oshkosh Lourdes to its first WIAA state title as a senior in 2020-21.
Or fellow sophomore guard Foster Wonders, who won 94.3% of his prep contests at Iron Mountain High School in Michigan and played in a state championship game.
Star junior guard Noah Reynolds went 44-2 his final two seasons at Peoria High School in Illinois, while junior forward Elijah Jones was part of an NJCAA Division I national championship at John A. Logan in Illinois last season.
Wicks and his assistants spend plenty of hours on X’s and O’s. They don’t have to spend near as much time coaching their players on what it takes to be a winner.
So many of them already know.
“We recruit the pedigree, right?” Wicks said. “It’s just as important to recruit the high school program or the program the kid comes from. You get winners, they have been through winning things. ... It’s hard to teach somebody who has never won. Maybe you’re a good scorer on a bad team that you think it’s all about getting points and all these numbers and you’ve never had to sacrifice for winning.
“A lot of times on winning programs, you have to give up some of what you want for what the team needs. That’s the greater good you hope to find, or train in certain players. But if they have it because they grew up in that system or they grew up in that culture, then you don’t have to retrain them. That sticks with you.”
UWGB is further along in the rebuilding process than many could have hoped for when the season started and there were far more questions than answers.
The Phoenix is 12-9 overall and has a good chance to equal or surpass the 16 combined wins it had the previous three seasons.
Expectations are much higher now, and that rebuilding process already has entered the next phase after UWGB was picked in the preseason to finish as the worst squad in the Horizon after being one of the worst teams in the nation last season.
“Ultimately, you start the year, and I’ve been in programs where you start DFL,” Wicks said.
DFL?
“Dead fricking last,” Wicks said. “I’ve been there before. … It’s different when you start dead fricking last in the United States of America and then you are dead fricking last in the conference, and you start to work your way up.
“Now, you are sitting in a different situation. Now, you don’t get to just sit there and say we are DFL. We are not. We’ve proven we are not there anymore. Now we have to go out with a different mentality. We know we are going to get people’s best shots coming in. There is no longer a sleepy giant. People know we are awake now.”
Oakland beat UWGB 79-73 on Jan. 6, a game the Phoenix led by one point with 1 minute, 52 seconds remaining before the Grizzlies finished on an 8-1 run.
The Phoenix must contain 6-foot-6 junior forward Trey Townsend, who had 28 points the first meeting and ranks sixth in the league in scoring (17 ppg) and fourth in rebounding (7.4 rpg).
Stop him, likely stop Oakland.
“The biggest thing is probably guarding the post,” Hall said. “We shot the lights out, we played super good offense. Their zone really didn’t bother us that much. Offensively, I think we are fine.
“Coach is making an emphasis on this game of just guarding in the post, guarding two-point shots. That’s probably the biggest thing we have to improve on if we want to win on Thursday.”
UWGB injury updates
Freshman guard David Douglas Jr. has missed the last three games with a lower back issue. He could be close to a return, but Wicks wasn’t prepared to say Douglas would play against Oakland.
Douglas was expected to fully practice Tuesday.
“Right now, it’s where he is mentally with the psychology aspects of recovery,” Wicks said. “I think his body looks ready to go, he feels ready to go. It’s just going to be more mentally, like how do you psychologically perceive yourself right now? That’s a big side of this that people undervalue.”
Douglas is coming off a career-high 26 points against IUPUI in his last game and is averaging 7.8 points in 20.9 minutes.
UWGB women's update: Coach Kevin Borseth says 'pretty resilient' team won't get rattled by upset
The prognosis isn’t as promising for freshman forward Amari Jedkins, who has been out since the middle of December with a stress reaction.
Jedkins still isn’t sure when he will return. The original timeline had been four to six weeks, but it’s now expected to be longer.
“It’s going pretty good, it’s just been a long process going through both of my legs,” Jedkins said. “But, overall, it’s been pretty nice. Being able to lift and watch my team do good and everything.
“I’m dealing with it OK.”
Jedkins was asked if it was a certainty he’d return by the end of the season. UWGB has 10 games remaining before the conference tournament starts March 5.
“We don’t know yet,” he said. “We are still working on everything. Still getting pictures taken.”
The 6-7 Jedkins is one of three holdovers from the former coaching staff and impressed Wicks with how quickly he developed during the offseason.
The former Racine Case standout has played 11 games and started two after redshirting last season. He is averaging 4 points in 15.8 minutes.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Coach Sundance Wicks recruits winning players in UWGB men's turnaround
