2023–24 Horizon League men's basketball season

The 2023–24 Horizon League men's basketball season began with practices in September 2023 and ended with the 2024 Horizon League men's basketball tournament in March 2024. This was the 44th season for Horizon League men's basketball.

2023–24 Horizon League men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Men's basketball
Number of teams	11
TV partner(s)	ESPN+ ESPN2 ESPNU ESPN
Regular season
Season champions	Oakland
Season MVP	Trey Townsend, Oakland
Top scorer	BJ Freeman, Milwaukee
Tournament
Champions	Oakland
Runners-up	Milwaukee
Finals MVP	Trey Townsend, Oakland

2023–24 Horizon League men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Oakland †	15	–	5		.750			24	–	12		.667
Youngstown State	14	–	6		.700			22	–	10		.688
Green Bay	13	–	7		.650			18	–	14		.563
Wright State	13	–	7		.650			18	–	14		.563
Northern Kentucky	12	–	8		.600			18	–	15		.545
Milwaukee	12	–	8		.600			20	–	15		.571
Cleveland State	11	–	9		.550			21	–	15		.583
Purdue Fort Wayne	11	–	9		.550			23	–	13		.639
Robert Morris	6	–	14		.300			10	–	22		.313
IUPUI	2	–	18		.100			6	–	26		.188
Detroit Mercy	1	–	19		.050			1	–	31		.031
† 2024 Horizon League tournament winner

This was the final season for Horizon League member IUPUI as an institution. The Indiana University and Purdue University systems dissolved IUPUI at the end of the 2023–24 school year, replacing it with separate IU- and Purdue-affiliated institutions. The IUPUI athletic program transferred to the new IU Indianapolis (branded athletically as IU Indy), maintaining its NCAA Division I and Horizon League memberships.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

• On January 31, 2023, Green Bay fired head coach Will Ryan after three seasons and a 2–19 start. Assistant coach Freddie Owens was named interim head coach.^[1] On March 14, the Phoenix hired Wyoming assistant coach Sundance Wicks as their new head coach.^[2]

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Season	Overall record	Horizon record	NCAA Tournaments
Cleveland State	Daniyal Robinson	Iowa State (asst.)	2nd	21–14 (.600)	14–6 (.700)	0
Detroit Mercy	Mike Davis	Texas Southern	6th	59–88 (.401)	43–46 (.483)	0
Green Bay	Sundance Wicks	Wyoming (asst.)	1st	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0
IUPUI	Matt Crenshaw	Ball State (asst.)	3rd	8–53 (.131)	3–34 (.081)	0
Milwaukee	Bart Lundy	Queens	2nd	22–12 (.647)	14–6 (.700)	0
Northern Kentucky	Darrin Horn	Texas (asst.)	5th	79–45 (.637)	52–24 (.684)	2
Oakland	Greg Kampe	Toledo (asst.)	40th	670–514 (.566)	102–67 (.604)	0
Purdue Fort Wayne	Jon Coffman	IPFW (asst.)	10th	155–128 (.548)	81–75 (.519)	0
Robert Morris	Andrew Toole	Robert Morris (asst.)	14th	216–210 (.507)	133–101 (.568)	2
Wright State	Scott Nagy	South Dakota State	8th	149–78 (.656)	94–40 (.701)	2
Youngstown State	Jerrod Calhoun	Fairmont State	7th	95–95 (.500)	60–55 (.522)	0

Notes:

• Season number includes 2023–24 season.
• Records are prior to 2023–24 season.

Preseason

Preseason coaches poll

2023-24 Horizon League Preseason Coaches Poll[3]
Rank	Team (First Place Votes)	Points
1.	Northern Kentucky (18)	435
2.	Milwaukee (10)	397
3.	Wright State (12)	392
4.	Cleveland State (1)	362
5.	Youngstown State (3)	342
6.	Oakland	280
7.	Robert Morris	186
8.	Purdue Fort Wayne	166
9.	Detroit Mercy	132
10.	IUPUI	116
11.	Green Bay	96

Preseason All-Horizon League

First team	Second team
Tristan Enaruna, Cleveland State	Jlynn Counter, IUPUI
BJ Freeman, Milwaukee	Sam Vinson, Northern Kentucky
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky	Tanner Holden, Wright State
Trey Townsend, Oakland	Brandon Noel, Wright State
Trey Calvin, Wright State	Brandon Rush, Youngstown State
Preseason Player of the Year: Trey Calvin, Wright State

Regular season

Player of the Week awards

Week Player of the Week Freshman of the Week 1 Rasheed Bello, Purdue Fort Wayne Corey Hadnot II, Purdue Fort Wayne 2 Quinton Morton-Robertson, Purdue Fort Wayne Corey Hadnot II (2), Purdue Fort Wayne 3 Tristan Enaruna, Cleveland State Corey Hadnot II (3), Purdue Fort Wayne 4 Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky Drey Carter, Wright State 5 Ziggy Reid, Youngstown State Gabe Dynes, Youngstown State 6 Drew Loder, Cleveland State Jeramiah Israel, Northern Kentucky 7 Tristan Enaruna, Cleveland State David Douglas Jr., Green Bay 8 Noah Reynolds, Green Bay Corey Hadnot II (4), Purdue Fort Wayne 9 Trey Townsend, Oakland Corey Hadnot II (5), Purdue Fort Wayne 10 Noah Reynolds (2), Green Bay David Douglas Jr. (2), Grren Bay 11 Marques Warrick (2), Northern Kentucky Marcus Hall, Green Bay 12 Trey Calvin, Wright State David Douglas Jr. (3), Green Bay 13 BJ Freeman, Milwaukee David Douglas Jr. (4), Green Bay Blake Lampman, Oakland 14 Preston Ruedinger, Green Bay Randall Pettus II, Northern Kentucky 15 Jack Gohlke, Oakland Randall Pettus II (2), Northern Kentucky 16[4] BJ Freeman, Milwaukee (2) Gabe Dynes (2), Youngstown State Brandon Noel, Wright State

School POTW FOTW Cleveland State 3 0 Detroit Mercy 0 0 Green Bay 3 5 IUPUI 0 0 Milwaukee 2 0 Northern Kentucky 2 3 Oakland 3 0 Purdue Fort Wayne 2 5 Robert Morris 0 0 Wright State 2 1 Youngstown State 1 2

Conference matrix

	CSU	DET	GB	IUPUI	MKE	NKU	OAK	PFW	RMU	WSU	YSU
vs. Cleveland State	–	0–2	2–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1
vs. Detroit Mercy	2–0	–	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Green Bay	0–2	0–2	–	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1
vs. IUPUI	2–0	1–1	2–0	–	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Milwaukee	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	–	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0
vs. Northern Kentucky	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	–	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	1–1
vs. Oakland	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	–	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2
vs. Purdue Fort Wayne	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. Robert Morris	2–0	0–2	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	–	2–0	2–0
vs. Wright State	0–2	0–2	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	–	2–0
vs. Youngstown State	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	–
Total	11–9	1–19	13–7	2–18	12–8	12–8	15–5	11–9	6–14	13–7	14–6

Early season tournaments

The following table summarizes the multiple-team events (MTE) or early-season tournaments in which teams from the Horizon League will participate.

Team	Tournament	Location	Dates	Finish
Cleveland State	Viking Invitational	Cleveland, OH	November 22–25	1st[5]
Detroit Mercy	Cincinnati/Ole Miss MTE	Cincinnati, OH University, MS	November 10–14	N/A
Green Bay	Montana State MTE	Bozeman, MT	November 20–22	N/A
IUPUI	Rock Hill Classic	Rock Hill, SC	November 17–19	N/A
Milwaukee	Sunshine Slam	Daytona Beach, FL	November 20–21	3rd[6]
Northern Kentucky	NKU Thanksgiving Tournament	Highland Heights, KY	November 24–26	1st[7]
Oakland	Cayman Islands Classic	George Town, Cayman Islands	November 19–21	5th[8]
Purdue Fort Wayne	Arizona Tip-Off	Glendale, AZ	November 17–19	1st[9]
Robert Morris	Urban-Bennett Memorial Classic	Moon Township, PA	November 24–26	N/A
Wright State	Gulf Coast Showcase	Estero, FL	November 21–23	3rd[10]
Youngstown State	Lake Erie Classic	Youngstown, OH Painsville, OH	November 17–19	N/A

Postseason

Horizon League tournament

Main article: 2024 Horizon League men's basketball tournament

The conference tournament will be played from March 5 to March 12, 2023. The first round and quarterfinals are hosted at campus sites, while the semifinals and finals are held at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana. Teams are seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary. The top five teams receive a bye to the quarterfinals and the bracket is re-seeded after every round.

The Horizon League does not use a fixed bracket tournament system, and pairings are re-seeded after the first and second rounds.

	First round Tuesday, March 5					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 7					Semifinals Monday, March 11					Championship Tuesday, March 12
						1	Oakland	75
	8	Purdue Fort Wayne	78			8	Purdue Fort Wayne	65
	9	Robert Morris	63								1	Oakland	74
											7	Cleveland State	71
						4	Wright State	97
						5	Northern Kentucky	99*
																1	Oakland	83
																6	Milwaukee	76
						2	Youngstown State	70
	7	Cleveland State	85			7	Cleveland State	82
	10	IUPUI	66								5	Northern Kentucky	75
											6	Milwaukee	82
						3	Green Bay	84
	6	Milwaukee	83			6	Milwaukee	95
	11	Detroit Mercy	79

Source:^[11]

NCAA Tournament

As the conference champion, Oakland received an automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

Seed	Region	School	First Four	First round	Second round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
14	South	Oakland	―	defeated (3) Kentucky 80–76	lost to (11) NC State 73–79 (OT)	―	―	―	―

College Basketball Invitational

Cleveland State accepted a bid to the 2024 College Basketball Invitational after finishing as semifinalists in the conference tournament.

Seed	School	First round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
9	Cleveland State	defeated (8) Northern Colorado 51–49	lost to (1) High Point 74–93	−	−

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

Purdue Fort Wayne accepted a bid to the 2024 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament after finishing as quarterfinalists in the conference tournament.

Bracket	School	First round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
Jim Phelan Classic	Purdue Fort Wayne	−	defeated Bowling Green 77–75	defeated Tarleton State 73–72	lost to Norfolk State 67–75

National awards

Midseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable midseason watch lists.

Player	Henson[12]
Rasheed Bello, Purdue Fort Wayne	Y
Trey Townsend, Oakland	Y
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky	Y

Conference awards

2024 Horizon League Men's Basketball Individual Awards
Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year	Trey Townsend, Oakland
Coach of the Year	Sundance Wicks, Green Bay
Defensive Player of the Year	Trey Robinson, Northern Kentucky
Sixth Man of the Year	Jack Gohlke, Oakland
Freshman of the Year	David Douglas Jr., Green Bay
Newcomer of the Year	Noah Reynolds, Green Bay
Sportsmanship Award	Marques Warrick, Northern kentucky
Reference:[13]

2024 Horizon Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
First Team	Second Team	Third Team	Defensive Team	Freshman Team
Tristan Enaruna, CSU Noah Reynolds, GB Marques Warrick, NKU Trey Townsend, OAK Trey Calvin, WSU	BJ Freeman, MKE Blake Lampman, OAK Brandon Noel, WSU DJ Burns, YSU Ziggy Reid, YSU	Rasheed Bello, PFW Jalen Jackson, PFW Markeese Hastings, RMU Tanner Holden, WSU Brett Thompson, YSU	Trey Robinson, NKU Rasheed Bello, PFW Anthony Roberts, PFW DJ Burns, YSU Gabe Dynes, YSU	David Douglas Jr., GB Marcus Hall, GB Randall Pettus II, NKU Corey Hadnot II, PFW Gabe Dynes, YSU

2024 Horizon Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team

Trey Townsend, OAK Jack Gohlke, OAK Faizon Fields, MKE BJ Freeman, MKE Trey Robinson, NKU

Bold denotes MVP

Attendance

Average home attendances

Note: Figures include conference tournament

#	Team	GP	Cumulative	High	Low	Avg.
1	Wright State	16	65,069	5,860	3,138	4,067
2	Northern Kentucky	15	49,052	4,935	2,340	3,270
3	Youngstown State	17	43,183	6,001	1,430	2,540
4	Oakland	13	35,715	3,721	1,000	2,747
5	Green Bay	14	34,161	5,490	1,379	2,440
6	Milwaukee	16	32,554	4,037	1,297	2,035
7	Cleveland State	17	28,385	2,399	1,281	1,670
8	Purdue Fort Wayne	16	20,074	1,886	816	1,255
9	Robert Morris	16	14,791	1,555	625	924
10	IUPUI	14	14,675	4,867	548	1,048
11	Detroit Mercy	17	9,061	1,211	420	824
Total		165	346,720	6,001	420	2,101

References

1. "UW-Green Bay Men's Basketball Program Announces Coaching Change" (Press release). Green Bay Phoenix. January 24, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
2. "Wyoming's Wicks hired as UW-Green Bay coach". ESPN.com. March 14, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
3. White, Rachel (October 17, 2023). "Northern Kentucky Takes Top Spot in 2023-24 Under Armour #HLMBB Preseason Poll". horizonleague.org. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
4. https://horizonleague.org/news/2024/2/26/mens-basketball-under-armour-hlmbb-players-of-the-week-february-26.aspx
5. "Cleveland State Men's Basketball Takes Viking Invitational Title with Win over Alabama A&M". Cleveland State University. November 26, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
6. "Freeman scores 18, Milwaukee downs Siena 61-59, wins 3rd-place game at Sunshine Slam". FOX Sports. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
7. "Men's Basketball clinches Thanksgiving Tournament title with victory over LIU". Northern Kentucky University Athletics. November 25, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
8. Staff, MetroNews (November 21, 2023). "Marshall falls to Oakland 78-71 in fifth-place game at Cayman Islands Classic". WV MetroNews. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
9. "USD men fall to PFW in Arizona Tip-Off finale". Mitchell Republic. November 19, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
10. "Gulf Coast Showcase: Wright State shuts down Illinois State to take third place". dayton-daily-news. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
11. "2024 #HLMBB Bracket (PDF) - Horizon League" (PDF). horizonleague.org. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
12. "The Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award". www.louhenson.com. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
13. "Horizon League Announces 2023-24 #HLMBB All-League Awards". Horizon League. March 4, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.