'That's a big guy to have back': UWGB star Noah Reynolds expects to play in Horizon League quarterfinal
GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team is getting its MVP back at just the right time.
Junior guard Noah Reynolds nodded his head and had a one-word response when asked if he would be back for UWGB’s Horizon League quarterfinal at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Kress Center.
“Yup,” Reynolds said.
The 6-foot-3 Reynolds has made a remarkable comeback from what he called a high right ankle sprain, which he suffered during practice two weeks ago. The injury has forced him to miss the last four games.
UWGB hasn’t been the same team without Reynolds, who was the league’s newcomer of the year and a first-team all-conference selection when postseason awards were announced Monday.
The Phoenix went 1-3 in his absence. All three defeats were by double figures, including 26 points to Purdue Fort Wayne and 21 to UW-Milwaukee.
UWGB lost only three games all season by 10 or more points before that stretch, and two of those defeats came against Iowa State and Oklahoma.
Phoenix coach Sundance Wicks likes how his roster has had several players step up throughout the season to play the perfect sidekick to Reynolds during games.
Some nights it’s Elijah Jones or Foster Wonders. Other nights it could be Preston Ruedinger or a pair of rookies in David Douglas Jr. and Marcus Hall.
Not having Batman next to them doesn’t always work as well. It’s not that the supporting cast isn’t capable, considering the group won games on the road at YSU and Cleveland State with Reynolds either injured or ill.
But it’s a lot more difficult.
“We have played four of our last five games without him,” Wicks said. “He is in those games, you don’t want to say this could have been different, but it could have been different. You lose your best player, we don’t have the luxury. You look at every other team that’s on top of the league. Youngstown has Ziggy Reid and DJ Burns. Oakland has Blake Lampman and Trey Townsend. Wright State has Trey Calvin, Brandon Noel, Tanner Holden, they have got a lot of guns.
“We have got one guy who averages over double figures, and that’s Noah Reynolds. He averages 20 points a game, leads the team in assists, leads the league in assists. That’s a big guy to have back. I don’t care if he’s 70%, 80%, 90%, that’s a big guy to have back.”
UWGB trailed Oakland by a half game for the top spot in the Horizon when Reynolds went down.
By the time the regular season ended against UWM on Saturday, the Phoenix was tied for third with Wright State.
It was difficult for Reynolds to sit and watch without being able to help on the court. He wished he could take all the attention people were placing on the injury and his status and direct all that energy toward his teammates.
He did his best to help them stay connected while he worked day and night to return.
“It has been very hard,” Reynolds said about his rehab. “It’s been an everyday process, multiple times a day. Treatment. Working out. It’s been a very hard process. I’ve done this before. It is just getting back now and getting things loose.”
Wicks gave a shoutout to UWGB athletic trainer Cameron Greene for the work he has done with Reynolds and other players to get them prepared to play.
Reynolds' injury wasn’t the first significant ankle issue Greene has dealt with this season. Ruedinger and senior forward Will Eames also have dealt with the problem.
“Both of them had a bad one, Noah had a bad one,” Wicks said. “Cam has been able to get them back every single time. It’s a big props on Cam and just having a blueprint on how we get those guys back.”
Reynolds feared the moment he came up hobbling during practice that he would miss the rest of the season. It’s not common to return from a high ankle sprain in a couple of weeks, an injury that sometimes can take two months to heal for a basketball player.
It remains to be seen just how healthy Reynolds is when he steps back on the court, but even a slightly hobbled Reynolds would be a huge lift for the Phoenix.
“I think it will be as close (to 100%) as I can make it,” Reynolds said. “There was nothing that wasn’t going to make me be able to play.”
The focus shifts from a bum ankle to reaching a tournament semifinal for the first time since 2020 and perhaps a championship game for the first time since earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
“I think we are whole now,” Reynolds said. “Obviously, we had some rough patches at the end here, but we all know what we are capable of when we are all together.”
Sundance Wicks is named Horizon League's top coach
It wasn’t much a surprise to learn Wicks was named the Horizon League’s coach of the year Monday. He took over a team that went 3-29 last season and has led the Phoenix to an 18-13 mark entering tournament play.
It’s only the second time UWGB has had the Horizon coach of the year and the first since Brian Wardle received the honor in 2014.
Even better news? Wicks and his wife, Courteney, will have a few extra dollars to spend on their weekly date.
He earned a $5,000 bonus for being named coach of the year, although he wasn’t taking credit for it.
“Staff of the year, players of the year, our team of the year,” Wicks said. “I mean, that award is solely based on what everybody else was able to do for us. You can’t ever accept an award on behalf of myself. You have to accept it on the behalf of everybody else. On behalf of the players. On behalf of the staff. Noah (Haislah) and David (Merrill), our content guys. Creating the exposure we have had this year. It’s truly been a team effort.”
Trio of Phoenix also net Horizon honors
Wicks believed Reynolds would have been the runaway league player of the year had he not gotten injured, but Reynolds still received the two honors of newcomer of the year and first-team all-conference.
That’s a big jump in a league that didn’t even have him on one of its preseason all-conference teams after he transferred from Wyoming.
Reynolds is fourth in the Horizon in scoring average (19.7 ppg), and first in assists (4.4 apg). He has scored double figures in 22 of 26 games and leads the league with six games of 30 or more points.
It includes a career-high 39 points against Wright State in December.
Douglas was named the Horizon’s freshman of the year and earned a spot on the all-freshman team.
The 6-5 guard is averaging 8.5 points, has scored double figures 11 times and led all rookies with three 20-point games.
Hall earned a spot alongside Douglas on the all-freshman team.
The 6-6 forward and former D.C. Everest star is averaging 6.5 points and 3.7 rebounds in 23 minutes. He has made 11 starts and joins Rich Byhre as the only UWGB players to appear in all 31 games this season.
“It’s just a testament to what we have done,” Wicks said. “You get a little more credibility when you are picked to finish dead last and you come out and do what we did and the body of work we have done in our league, finishing third.
“You do it on the backs of a lot of guys. There are no two better freshmen in this league all year long than D.J. Douglas and Marcus Hall. There was no better player all year long than Noah Reynolds. … There is no better guy in this league than Noah Reynolds.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB star Noah Reynolds expects to return for Horizon tournament
