Five UWGB basketball takeaways from the Phoenix-Packers steak fry

The Lambeau Field Atrium was packed April 21 for the Phoenix-Packers steak fry, an annual fundraising event for University of Wisconsin-Green Bay athletics that raised more than $330,000 last year. Both UWGB men’s basketball coach Doug Gottlieb and women’s basketball coach Kayla Karius spoke before the event about their busy offseasons. Here are five things that stood out.

Phoenix men attempted to land a notable nonconference opponent UWGB heard from Kansas after the steak fry last year when Gottlieb perhaps broke the news a bit too early that the teams would open the 2025-26 season against each other. He didn’t have a similar bombshell to drop this time, or he at least was more careful not to share, but there is one team the Phoenix won’t have on the upcoming schedule despite Gottlieb’s best effort: A date against UConn, which lost to Michigan in the national championship game earlier this month. Gottlieb reached out to UConn general manager Tom Moore this week about playing a game.

The two have been friends for decades. “He actually said, ‘We can’t play you, Coach, you guys were too good last year,’” said Gottlieb, whose team went 18-15. “I was like, ‘We lost four starters, you have a $15 million payroll, you are arguably the best program in the country.

Come on, man. ’” None of that apparently was enough to sway Moore. “I go, ‘There is 0.