Khalil Small was the leading returning scorer, and he averaged 11.3 points per game as a junior. and scored more than 18 per game this past year, which led the team. The second leading returning scorer was Kameron Hankerson, who just averaged three points per game as a freshman. Losing eight of the top nine scorers from the previous year took some time to adjust.
Green Bay was one of the youngest teams in the country with seven freshmen, which was literally half the roster. The only two seniors were Small and David Jesperson. The season did not start well, falling behind 6-0 and 11-3 against Northern Illinois en route to a 20-point loss in the opener. The Phoenix shot just 26 percent from the field, and Small just shot 2-of-14. The slow starts would be a theme for Green Bay this year.
Led by Small and junior Sandy Cohen, a transfer from Marquette, the team played its best down the stretch. Despite going 2-3 in the final five games, the Phoenix was playing really well heading into the conference tournament. Green Bay played the top four teams in the conference in succession before playing Detroit to end the year. In a road game against Wright State and home game against UIC, Green Bay had a double digit lead and was unable to hold on, and the Phoenix had a second half lead in Northern Kentucky before falling by six. It hurt to have a second half lead in all three of those games before falling. The team showed resilience, though, beating Oakland and Detroit on the road to end the season.
I thought Green Bay had a chance to win the conference tournament, despite having a 7-11 conference record and a No. 7 seed in the tournament. Detroit was not a very good team, and Green Bay was able to hold off a second half rally by the Titans and won because of Hankerson’s 36 points. But it could not get anything going against Wright State, which would go on to win the conference tournament.
That leads us to next season. The Phoenix will have to replace a tremendous player in Small, who ended the season with a career-high 34 in the second round loss to Wright State. It will also have to replace Jesperson, who started all 33 games, and averaged eight points per game.
If everyone returns, Green Bay should be better. Granted, much of that has to do with the improvement of the freshmen. And yes, replacing Small will be a difficult task. They also gain a pair of transfers. One is forward Cody Schwartz, who is a transfer from San Jose State. The second is former Milwaukee guard Jay’Quan McCloud, who transferred to Highland Community College before heading to Green Bay for his final two seasons.
After averaging 24 minutes per game as a freshman and averaging seven points per game, Schwartz just averaged four points a game in 13 minutes as a sophomore. His field goal percentage was near 37 percent in both of his first two seasons at San Jose State, but improved his 3-point shooting to above 40 percent as a sophomore for the Spartans. He only averaged 1.1 rebounds per game in his last season with San Jose State, and Green Bay struggled rebounding the ball last year, so he’ll need to improve in that area with the Phoenix.
McCloud scored 5.3 points per game for Milwaukee as a freshman in just 14 minutes per game. At Highland, McCloud averages 15 points per game on 52 percent shooting, and is shooting more than 43.6 percent from deep. McCloud is a scoring point guard, which is needed with the graduation of Small, as he averages less than three assists per game.
The two transfers may very well be in the starting lineup next season. My best guess will be those two, along with Cohen, Hankerson and Manny Patterson. Cohen averaged 16 points per game following having to sit out the first 11 games due to his transfer. Hankerson averaged nearly 11 per game while shooting 39 percent from deep. Patterson averaged six points and five rebounds per game, but missed the final six games due to injury. He had surgery and will not be able to do much in the offseason, and it hurts to lose an offseason of development.If a few of the freshmen from last season improve a bit this offseason, the Phoenix could have a deep team next season. Eleven players started at least one game this past season, and 10 averaged more than 12 minutes per game. All Green Bay needs is a few to take big jumps from this past year to the next, and the Phoenix will be a formidable and deep team.
The Phoenix will have to improve in a number of areas if it wants to get close to 20 wins, or even finish above .500. First off, the 42.4 percent field goal percentage was 295th. There are 351 teams in Division I college basketball.....so not good. It is even worse from 2-point territory, ranking 314th. They will need to become a better shooting team. Hopefully Patterson develops into a real nice low post presence. The Phoenix also allowed teams to shoot better than 50 percent from 2. That needs to change as well.
There were some bright spots for Green Bay. First off, the 3-point percentage was a shade over 36 percent, which is not bad. It ranked in the top third of college basketball. The Phoenix also was great at defending the 3, allowing opponents to shoot just 31 percent from deep, which is 16th in the nation in defending the 3-pointer. Small and Jesperson were two of the better 3-point shooters, so others will have to step up.
It should be an interesting offseason and season next year. Replacing Small and Jesperson will be tough, but I think Cohen will make a major leap and others will join him in making a big jump. Look for Green Bay to contend for a top-four finish in the Horizon next season.
Season was bad in terms of RPI, but could not have been the worst ever. That would have to go to the 1984-1984 team coached by Dick Lien that amassed an illustrious 4 - 24 record. I don't think there was such a thing as RPI back then. Attendance at the Brown County Arena often measured with in the mid 3 digits.
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