While fans are still not able to attend Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball home games in person, we can still watch together virtually and have our own version of “Bud Light Night” (or whatever your favorite beverage of choice may be).

With the world seemingly crumbling around us and the team off to a tough 1-5 start to conference play – though coming off a big win in their last outing on Saturday at Youngstown State – we thought it would be good to kick back and enjoy a nice distraction from the real world while highlighting the good things this team is doing. It’s a 4:00 tip-off on Friday after the first full week of 2021, might as well quit work a little early for happy hour, have a couple of cold drinks and get a little buzz on while cheering on the Phoenix.

This is #GoodVibesOnly – no negativity. Only positive juju is allowed to help this team build some momentum with the calendar flipping to January.

With that, here are the rules to the drinking game. Take the appriopriate amount of drinks if/when any of the following occur:

• “Winning plays”
  • Diving on the floor – 1 drink
  • Forcing a non-steal turnover – 2 drinks (charge, player steps out of bounds, shot clock violation, ect)
  • “Forget a highlight reel dunk or a spectacular shot, it’s those winning plays – the 50/50 balls, the box outs, the charges, diving on the floor – we haven’t done enough of that, but they’re starting to figure it out,” head coach Will Ryan said after Saturday’s victory. “The more we do that, I think the results will be more in our favor.”
  • The Phoenix are currently doing some things right defensively (and getting a little lucky too) as Green Bay ranks 37^th in the country (out of 350+ teams) at forcing non-steal turnovers according to KenPom.com.
• Green Bay offensive rebound – 1 drink
  • After averaging just 6.1 offensive rebounds through their first 7 games, Green Bay has grabbed 9.3 offensive boards per game in their last 3 contests leading to extra possessions.
• Paris Taylor put back – 1 drink
  • So far this season, 9 of Paris Taylor’s 26 made field goals have come on offensive rebound put backs according to HoopMath.com.
• Lucas Stieber assist – 1 drink
  • Stieber is tied for the conference lead in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.44 during conference play and is averaging a team-high 3.4 assists per game this season.
• PJ Pipes 3-pointer – 1 drink
  • Pipes is 2^nd in the Horizon League in three point field goal percentage at 42.2% and is averaging nearly 3 makes per game (27/64).
• Two walk-ons on the floor at the same time – 2 drinks
  • Green Bay currently has 3 walk-ons on the roster: Lucas Stieber, Ryan Claflin, and Colin Shaefer with Stieber and Claflin playing important minutes including starting and finishing games. Stieber is chipping in 4.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 29.0 minutes per game in his last 4 games as a starter while Claflin is averaging 5.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 22.7 minutes in his last 3 outings. Both have started each of the last three games so this could very well be the first drinks of the day.
• 2 for 2 from the free throw line – 2 drinks
  • The Phoenix have been solid from the free throw line so far this season shooting 71.4% from the charity stripe, good for third in the Horizon League.
• Amari Davis 3-pointer – 3 drinks
  • After not making a single three pointer a season ago, Davis has added another weapon to his arsenal knocking down 11 three pointers already this season. He is converting at a respectable 37.9% clip (11/29).
• Ted or Cordero mention their playing days – Finish your drink
  • Ted Stefaniak (Creighton) and Cordero Barkley (Green Bay) have been calling Phoenix games together on ESPN+ for several years now and occasionally like to bring up their playing days. Every now and then they like to reminisce on everything from shorts length to comparing hard fouls to back in the day. All in good fun, if they take a trip down memory lane be sure to finish your drink and take a trip to the refrigerator for another beverage.
• BONUS: Rashad Williams misses a 3-pointer – 1 drink
  • For my selfish fantasy basketball purposes, every time Oakland’s Rashad Williams misses a three pointer take a drink. Since this is #GoodVibesOnly, my fantasy team’s performance is irrelevant and therefore Williams missing as many three pointers as possible is a good thing.

Got ideas for other #GoodVibesOnly in-game drinking situations? Tweet them to @PhearThePhoenix and we’ll get them added.

Go Phoenix!