GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) - The first place Green Bay men's basketball program is preparing for their final stretch of the regular season.
The Phoenix (15-9, 10-3) are in a two-way tie for the top spot in the Horizon League with Oakland. Green Bay will head on the road for two straight games, before a three game home stretch, and close out the final two contests of the regular season away from the Resch Center. The turn around the program has done in the first year under head coach Sundance Wicks has been well documented, but the Phoenix are ready to finish the season strong.
"We talked about that two weeks ago just handling expectations and just readjusting", Wicks said. "We talked about how do we change where we are right now and not plateau and we talked about becoming just a little better of a defensive team."
Green Bay has been phenomenal on the defensive side. The Phoenix lead the Horizon League in points allowed per game (66.2) which makes up for their lack of scoring per contest (68.6), which ranks the third worst in the conference. Green Bay has had contributions from all across the board on offense throughout the season, but it's been the team's young core getting it done when the Phoenix have needed them to step up. Green Bay has taken home four of the last Horizon League Freshman of the Week awards.
"Coach has given me confidence. My teammates have given me confidence, so I feel like every time I go out there I'm really not hesitant anymore. I'm just going out there playing my game", the reigning freshman of the week David (DJ) Douglas Jr. said.
That gritty mentality Green Bay has shown all year has propelled them to the turn around the Phoenix needed desperately.
"I looked back at the numbers, if we defended at about a 42% clip from the field, kept our defensive three-point field goal percentage around 30 or 29% right now, you can essentially say that we'd be a top-four defensive team all-time in Green Bay basketball history", Wicks expressed.
As Green Bay continues to play meaningful basketball into February, more and more mock NCAA Tournament brackets continue to get released. Something Wicks hasn't let his mind wander to.
"That's rat poison", Wicks stated. "What have we done? We haven't won a championship. We haven't lost a championship. So we're literally in the same spot."
A Horizon League title would be step one and whatever happens after that, would be icing on the cake for a rising Phoenix squad.
To hear from Wicks and the team, click the video above.