The UW-Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball is the 14th seed in the West Region. They’ll play 3rd-seeded Texas A&M this Friday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball team and fans anticipated the big announcement as the brackets were announced during Selection Sunday.
Coach Linc Darner told our Kaitlin Sharkey, “It didn’t matter who we drew, we were going to be excited.” He also said the coaches expected to be a 15 seed. “Kind of got surprised tonight. I didn’t think we’d be a 14 seed playing Texas A&M.”
Phoenix Guard Carrington Love reacted, “I actually just watched them play in the SEC Championship about an hour ago. I didn’t expect to play them. They are a pretty good team and have good size. I feel like we match up pretty well with them.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to figure some stuff out. I know they’re very good. Watched them play Kentucky today. I know we’re going to have to deal with a lot of size, especially inside, but we’re excited and it’ll be a lot of fun preparing for them,” Coach Darner said.
The coaches are already at work, and players will start practices on Monday before leaving for Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
Coach Darner said it’s been an “unbelievable” year. “Never dreamed we’d be sitting here being interviewed about where we’re going and who we’re playing,” he said. “Give the credit to the guys. They did an incredible job of buying in and believing, and stuck with it. We hit some adversity during the year but they stuck with it. We made a great run at the end of the year and glad to keep playing.”
The Phoenix went 23-12 this season. The Aggies went 26-8.
According to the men’s Phoenix, Green Bay beat A&M 60-49 in their only meeting, which was just over 20 years ago. They met in the First Bank Classic in Milwaukee on December 1, 1995.
Last Tuesday the Phoenix defeated Wright State 78-69 in Detroit to earn their place in the NCAA Tournament bracket.
The team and fans are gathered at the Kress Events Center at UW-Green Bay to learn of the team’s seed in the tournament.
Love said, “The more and more you wait the more excited you get to see who you will play.”
