There are a myriad of reasons to explain Green Bay’s current 17-game losing streak – the longest in the program’s 50+ year history – and a 2-20 overall record in Doug Gottlieb’s first season as head coach of the Phoenix.

There was the timing of the coaching change – GB was one of (if not the) latest coaching change in the cycle last year after Sundance Wicks bolted for Wyoming in mid-May.  The list of available players by then is significantly less than what it is in March, a major setback for any coach taking a job that late. 

There have been injuries – Anthony Roy is still the nation’s leading scorer at 25.7 points per game but has not played since suffering an ankle injury back on December 14^th.

There is inexperience – Green Bay has relied upon young players, including several freshman playing major minutes this season and ranks 288^th in the country in KenPom’s “experience” metric.  But the Phoenix also have an inexperienced head coach that is learning on the job as well.

Add it all together and you have a season that has gone off the rails so far, though the team continues to show fight despite the record.  GB squandered an early 17-point lead against Robert Morris back on January 17^th only to lose by 22 before letting a late 11-point lead slip away in their next game against Youngstown State, losing that contest 73-69.

“I think anytime you have that kind of change mid-May, you’re expecting – obviously we expect to win more than we’ve won this year,” UWGB athletic director Josh Moon said in a recent interview with WBAY-TV. “But still, you’ve got to thrive in chaos. That’s what Division I athletics is right now, it’s a chaotic environment.  The transfer portal, everything that’s happening right now.”

“If you watch the games, our guys are competing,” Moon added. “We’ve got great student athletes. They believe in Doug, they believe in the process here.”

“Obviously there’s been some things that sometimes it feels like you’re snake bit a little bit with – something goes wrong in the game, or there’s an injury.  We’ve had I think three of our top five players have been out for significant time for injuries this year.  But nobody cares, at the end of the day it’s about that streak and right now it’s just about putting the work in and doing those little things and it’s going to pay off.”

Despite the losses piling up, Moon is preaching patience and emphasizing this will be a long term rebuild. 

Gottlieb signed a 5-year contract this past May and will be given time to turn the program around.

“I love our team,” Moon told WBAY.  “I love what Doug’s doing, his vision for where this program needs to go.  So this is not a overnight deal here, this is a long term build and Doug knows that. As he’s said many times, he’s built for this and I believe that he’s going to take us to where we need to go.”

For his part, Gottlieb has acknowledged the growing pains and up and down nature of his team’s play over the course of the past few weeks.  The Phoenix put a genuine scare into a YSU team that sits in the top half of the Horizon League standings, but has not been able to put a complete game together yet to get across the finish line for their first conference victory.

“We talk all the time about let’s not get hyper-focused on the scoreboard and judge process, and eventually the results will follow,” Gottlieb said after his team’s 86-77 loss to IU-Indy last week, a game in which the Phoenix trailed by 22 in the second half before making things interesting late.  “I thought they did that tonight by not pouting.  You know, a lot of teams get down 20 and start firing up threes and stop guarding and playing brother-in-law ball, and those guys didn’t.  So there’s fight left in us.”

“But yeah, I would say that there are peaks and valleys, and you know sometimes the peaks and valleys being in a game, right? There’s a peak with Robert Morris and then a valley, and then a peak with Youngstown State and then this [IU-Indy game] is a valley, and then it peaked up at the end.”

Still without their star player due to injury and an inexperienced group learning how to win games, it’ll be a tall task to end the losing streak anytime soon. Green Bay will play their next three games on the road starting this weekend with a pair of games in the Detroit area. 

First up is a matchup with Oakland (6-5) on Thursday night followed by a trip to Calihan Hall to take on Detroit Mercy (2-9) on Saturday afternoon. 

The Phoenix then travel to one of the league’s preseason favorites, Purdue Fort Wayne (8-3), next Saturday before playing four of their final six regular season games at home. 

“What I like to see is a lot of our fans, a lot of our people that have supported us either through going to games or financially through our foundation supporting men’s basketball, they’re behind us,” Moon told WBAY.  “They believe in what’s happening.  They can see progress being made. So I think that’s the key for people around here is, come out and support this team and show them that Green Bay Phoenix basketball does matter.”

“I know it hasn’t been fun and it’s been some disappointment with the record this year, but seeing what this is going to go long term, I think that’s the vision here.  Doug keeps saying this, I believe it’s a marathon not a sprint.  Even this year, we start getting some guys back, you’re going to see this team really elevate and rise.”

“So just stay with us, appreciate the patience, but we need everybody on board right now.”

Gottlieb also continues to stay positive and upbeat despite the losses. 

He says he stays in contact with GB coaching legend Dick Bennett and is focused on the bigger picture, both for this season and beyond.

“We’re going to fix it, and we’re going to be a good basketball team,” Gottlieb said after the IU-Indy game.  “We’ll fix it because we’re going to recruit the best kids.  I texted with coach Bennett today and he’s just amazing, he understands that it’s about so much more than wins and losses.”

“The ones that are all-in are going to stay, they’re going to get better,” Gottlieb added. “We’re going to get better this year, we’re going to win games this year, and we’re going to do it the right way.”

“We’re going to get better every day.  This is a valley, there’s going to be a peak.”