2021–22 Horizon League men's basketball season

2021–22 Horizon League men's basketball season
2021–22 Horizon League men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Men's basketball
Number of teams	12
TV partner(s)	ESPN+; ESPN2; ESPNU; ESPN
Regular season
Season champions	Cleveland State & Purdue Fort Wayne
Tournament
Champions	Wright State
Runners-up	Northern Kentucky
Finals MVP	Grant Basile
Basketball seasons
	← 2020–21 2022–23 →

The 2021–22 Horizon League men's basketball season began with practices in September 2021 and ended with the 2022 Horizon League men's basketball tournament in March 2022. This was the 42nd season for Horizon League men's basketball.

2021–22 Horizon League men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Cleveland State	15	–	6	.714	20	–	11	.645
Purdue Fort Wayne	15	–	6	.714	21	–	12	.636
Northern Kentucky	14	–	6	.700	20	–	12	.625
Wright State †	15	–	7	.682	22	–	14	.611
Oakland	12	–	7	.632	20	–	12	.625
Detroit Mercy	10	–	7	.588	14	–	15	.483
Youngstown State	12	–	9	.571	19	–	15	.559
UIC	9	–	10	.474	14	–	16	.467
Milwaukee	8	–	14	.364	10	–	22	.313
Robert Morris	5	–	16	.238	8	–	23	.258
Green Bay	4	–	16	.200	5	–	25	.167
IUPUI	1	–	16	.059	3	–	26	.103

† 2022 Horizon League tournament winner

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On April 13, 2021, IUPUI announced Ball State assistant Matt Crenshaw as the team's new head coach. Previous head coach Byron Rimm II served as the team's head coach for two years while the program's search for a permanent head coach was prolonged by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Preseason

Preseason coaches poll

2021-22 Horizon League Preseason Coaches Poll^[2]
Rank	Team (First Place Votes)	Points
1.	Cleveland State (30)	502
2.	Wright State (9)	463
3.	Northern Kentucky (1)	406
4.	Milwaukee (2)	396
5.	Detroit Mercy (2)	350
6.	Oakland	340
7.	Youngstown State	214
8.	UIC	204
8.	Purdue Fort Wayne	169
10.	Robert Morris	157
11.	Green Bay	146
12.	IUPUI	85

Preseason All-Horizon League

First team	Second team
Torrey Patton, Cleveland State	DeAndre Gholston, Milwaukee
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy	Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky
Patrick Baldwin Jr., Milwaukee	Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Jalen Moore, Oakland	Jarred Godfrey, Purdue Fort Wayne
Grant Basile, Wright State	Tanner Holden, Wright State

Preseason Player of the Year: Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy

Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.

	Wooden^[3]	Robertson	Cousy	West	Erving^[4]	Malone	Abdul-Jabbar	Henson^[5]
Patrick Baldwin Jr., Milwaukee	Y				Y			Y
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy								Y
Tanner Holden, Wright State								Y
Jalen Moore, Oakland								Y

Rankings

**Legend**
		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
(Italics)		Number of first place votes

		Wk 11
Cleveland State	AP
Cleveland State	C
Detroit Mercy	AP
Detroit Mercy	C
Green Bay	AP
Green Bay	C
IUPUI	AP
IUPUI	C
Milwaukee	AP
Milwaukee	C
Northern Kentucky	AP
Northern Kentucky	C
Oakland	AP
Oakland	C	RV
Purdue Fort Wayne	AP
Purdue Fort Wayne	C
Robert Morris	AP
Robert Morris	C
UIC	AP
UIC	C
Wright State	AP
Wright State	C
Youngstown State	AP
Youngstown State	C

Regular season

Player of the Week awards

Week	Player of the Week^[6]	Freshman of the Week^[6]
1	Grant Basile, Wright State	Patrick Baldwin Jr., Milwaukee
2	Jamal Cain, Oakland	Sam Vinson, Northern Kentucky
3	Jamal Cain (2), Oakland	Sam Vinson (2), Northern Kentucky
4	Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy	Patrick Baldwin Jr. (2), Milwaukee
5	Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky Dwayne Cohill, Youngstown State	Sam Vinson (3), Northern Kentucky
6	D'Moi Hodge, Cleveland State	Hubie Pivorius, Northern Kentucky
7	Grant Basile (2), Wright State	AJ Braun, Wright State
8	Jamal Cain (3), Oakland	Sam Vinson (4), Northern Kentucky
9	Antoine Davis (2), Detroit Mercy	Kamari McGee, Green Bay
10	Kevin Johnson, UIC	Kamari McGee (2), Green Bay
11	Tanner Holden, Wright State	Sam Vinson (5), Northern Kentucky
12	Michael Akuchie, Youngstown State	Sam Vinson (6), Northern Kentucky
13	Grant Basile (3), Wright State	Cade Meyer, Green Bay
14	Jamal Cain (4), Oakland	Sam Vinson (7), Northern Kentucky
15	Antoine Davis (3), Detroit Mercy	Jace Carter, UIC
16	Marques Warrick (2), Northern Kentucky	Kamari McGee (3), Green Bay

School	POTW	FOTW
Cleveland State	1	0
Detroit Mercy	3	0
Green Bay	0	4
IUPUI	0	0
Milwaukee	0	2
Northern Kentucky	2	8
Oakland	4	0
Purdue Fort Wayne	0	0
Robert Morris	0	0
UIC	1	1
Wright State	4	1
Youngstown State	2	0

Conference matrix

	CSU	DET	GB	IUPUI	MKE	NKU	OAK	PFW	RMU	UIC	WSU	YSU
vs. Cleveland State	–	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	0–2	1–0	0–2	0–2
vs. Detroit Mercy	1–1	–	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–2	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–0
vs. Green Bay	2–0	0–1	–	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. IUPUI	1–0	1–0	2–0	–	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Milwaukee	2–0	2–0	0–2	0–2	–	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Northern Kentucky	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	–	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–2
vs. Oakland	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	–	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1
vs. Purdue Fort Wayne	2–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	–	0–2	0–1	2–0	0–2
vs. Robert Morris	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	–	2–0	2–0	1–1
vs. UIC	0–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–2	–	2–0	2–0
vs. Wright State	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	–	1–1
vs. Youngstown State	2–0	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	–
Total	15–6	15–6	4–16	1–16	8–14	14–6	12–7	15–6	5–16	9–10	15–7	12–9

Early season tournaments

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


Team	Tournament	Location	Dates
Cleveland State	Lake Erie Challenge	Cleveland, OH Buffalo, NY	November 20–24
Detroit Mercy	Bahamas Championship	Campus sites	November 17–27
Green Bay	Jersey Mike's Classic	St. Petersburg, FL	November 18–21
IUPUI	Roadrunner Invitational	San Antonio, TX	November 15–21
Milwaukee	Fort Myers Tip-Off	Campus sites Fort Myers, FL	November 14–24
Northern Kentucky	Blue Demon Classic	Campus sites	November 18–28
Oakland	Gulf Coast Showcase	Estero, FL	November 22–24
Purdue Fort Wayne	FGCU Invitational	Fort Myers, FL	November 26–28
Robert Morris	Kentucky Classic	Campus sites	November 12–22
UIC	Las Vegas Classic	Las Vegas, NV	November 25–26
Wright State	Naples Invitational	Naples, FL	November 22–24
Youngstown State	Penguin Classic	Youngstown, OH	November 19–21

References

^ Associated Press (April 13, 2021). "IUPUI men's basketball hires Matt Crenshaw as its next head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
^ "Cleveland State Named #HLMBB Favorite, Detroit Mercy's Davis Tabbed Preseason Player of the Year". horizonleague.org. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
^ "JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESENTED BY WENDY'S ANNOUNCES 2021-22 MEN'S PRESEASON TOP 50 WATCH LIST". Wooden Award. November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
^ "Basketball Hall of Fame names 20 small forwards to 2022 Julius Erving Award watch list". www.ncaa.com. October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
^ "Four #HLMBB Players Named to Lou Henson Award Watch List". horizonleague.org. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Nike #HLMBB Players of the Week (February 28)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved November 28, 2022.

[1] Associated Press (April 13, 2021). "IUPUI men's basketball hires Matt Crenshaw as its next head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 10, 2022.

[2] "Cleveland State Named #HLMBB Favorite, Detroit Mercy's Davis Tabbed Preseason Player of the Year". horizonleague.org. Retrieved October 19, 2021.

[3] "JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESENTED BY WENDY'S ANNOUNCES 2021-22 MEN'S PRESEASON TOP 50 WATCH LIST". Wooden Award. November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2022.

[4] "Basketball Hall of Fame names 20 small forwards to 2022 Julius Erving Award watch list". www.ncaa.com. October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.

[5] "Four #HLMBB Players Named to Lou Henson Award Watch List". horizonleague.org. Retrieved November 28, 2022.

[:0-6] "Nike #HLMBB Players of the Week (February 28)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved November 28, 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]