GREEN BAY, Wis (WFRV) — Fresh off winning two of three games at the ‘Paradise Jam’ tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Green Bay returned to the Kress Events Center on Saturday and rolled past NAIA opponent Haskell 95–55. The Phoenix erupted for 56 second-half points, led by senior point guard Preston Ruedinger, who finished with a career high 30.
Green Bay wore its “Oneida Nation Celebration” uniforms for the matchup—part of an ongoing collaboration between the university and the Oneida Nation. The partnership included an agreement to host Haskell Indian Nations University, a tribal land-grant institution in Kansas that serves Indigenous students from across the country.
After the game, head coach Doug Gottlieb said the matchup carried meaning beyond the scoreboard.
“What was important to me is for the Haskell kids, and for everyone from Oneida, to understand this was done to honor them, “Gottlieb added. “They’re such a big part of the history of Wisconsin, and they’re a big part of the university.”
Green Bay, now winners of three straight games, is 4-5 on the year, matching its win total from last season — eclipsing that mark in just nine games vs. 30 in the 2024-2025 campaign.
Gottlieb said, after losing 21 straight games last year, he and his players felt enormous pressure to win, adding that, despite what he does to ‘block out the outside noise,’ it’s still hard.
“The biggest thing holding us back was us,” Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb told WFRV Sports on Saturday, before the Minnesota game (where Green Bay fell 72-65 in overtime), he sat his team down and told them to ‘forget about last year’. And since then, the Phoenix have won three of their last four.
“We’re a different team, a different mentality, I’m more experienced, our coaching staff is more experienced, our players are more experienced,” Gottlieb added. “We know how this thing works, we know we’re good.”
