Keifer Sykes
The Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball team hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 1996. But they did land a spot in the NIT field for the second straight season.
Green Bay landed a spot in the 32-team NIT field last night. The Phoenix (32-8) will play at Illinois State at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night (ESPNU).
Green Bay entered the season as the preseason favorite in the Horizon League, picked to repeat as regular season champions. But the Phoenix had to settle for second, behind Valparaiso. The Crusaders also won the Horizon League Tournament title, coming from behind to beat Green Bay.
Green Bay posted a second straight 20-win season, behind point guard Keifer Sykes (18.9 ppg, 4 rpg and 4.1 assists). But when it came to support around Sykes, it was hit and miss.
The Phoenix finished 333rd in three-point shooting (29.8%) out of 351 D-1 schools. Free throw shooting (64.6%) also hurt the Phoenix. they finished 324th nationally in that category.
Green Bay lost to Belmont 80-65 in last seasons NIT opener.