The Green Bay Phoenix are down to 10-scholarship players after the team announced that 6’6” guard Donovan Ivory is no longer a part of the program.

Ivory is the team’s second leading scorer at 11.9 points per game, third on the team in rebounds at 4.2 per game, and more made 3-pointers this season (22) than anyone else on the roster despite missing three games due to injury.

An important part of the team, he scored 13 points – including going a perfect 8 for 8 down the stretch at the free throw line – to help the Phoenix earn a victory over Detroit Mercy last Thursday and was the team’s leading scorer two days later scoring 18 points in a 68-61 loss to league-leading Oakland at the Kress Center on Saturday.

Ivory was not on the trip to Youngstown State and Robert Morris this week.

“After careful consideration, Donovan Ivory will no longer be a part of our basketball program,” head coach Will Ryan said in a statement issued by the team after their 63-50 loss to the Penguins on Thursday. “We appreciate Donovan’s commitment to the team this season and we wish him the very best in his future both on and off the court.”

Green Bay was Ivory’s third school in as many years after previous stops at UMass – Lowell and Boise State where he appeared in three games for each program.

The Kaukauna native appeared in 15 games for the Phoenix this season making 9 starts but had settled into more of a 6^th man role in recent weeks. He averaged 15.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in his last four games since returning from a fractured rib, coming off the bench in all four games.

His best stretch of basketball came during Green Bay’s trip to the Jersey Mike’s Classic in Florida where he shot 46% from the floor and 41% from behind the arc averaging 17.7 points per game during the three games there, including a career high 27-point outburst against Florida International.

Just last week prior to the Detroit Mercy game, Ryan spoke highly of Ivory’s impact on the team.

“Don has brought a lot of energy, he’s kind of a spark plug,” Ryan said last week. “He’s an emotional player to say the least. He plays hard, he’s talkative, he’s energetic, which we need.”

“He started off the year really well, especially down in Florida. We had 3 games down there where he shot it really well and he played really good basketball. So trying to get him back into the way he played down in Florida – he played loose but he was confident and knocking down shots, picking his spots. If we can get him back to playing at that type of level as well as bringing some other guys up to that level, then we can have a more balanced scoring attack.”

“He’s got a lot of tools, he’s very versatile,” Ryan added last week. “If he continues to build on that he can be a really good player in our league.”

Instead, Green Bay will need to find players to step up and fill the production his departure creates.

Ivory leaving the team opens up a scholarship for the 2022 class but leaves the Phoenix with just ten scholarship players on the roster after Blayton Williams and Donavan Moore decided to leave the program and enter the transfer portal last month. Only seven of those ten players are available currently as Tutu Majok continues to be in COVID health and safety protocols while Mitch Listau continues to recover from a foot injury. Freshman wing Brayden Dailey is redshirting this season. The Phoenix do have two walk-ons available in 6’2″ guard Nate Jenkins and 6’6″ wing Ryan Claflin.

Green Bay now has at least two scholarships available for the 2022 recruiting class, a class that already includes prized big man recruit Donavan Short from nearby Denmark, Wisconsin.

(Photo via gbphoenixmbb / Instagram)