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Post by ghostofpbj on Dec 30, 2023 1:59:16 GMT -6
He was a no show. Only a select number of coaches and players showed. It does appear that BJ plans to play Sunday though. I would be surprised if he is out. No Bart came to Goolsbys tonight. I didn't talk that much with him, but he seemed to be in better spirits That’s good to hear then. Must have came after I left or made a short appearance at some point
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Post by ghostofdylan on Dec 30, 2023 7:32:41 GMT -6
Phew. Well if KP and Pratt (outside of whatever the f*** that pass was at the end) keep playing like this, the panthers are gonna have a pretty lethal trio on the offensive end in HL play when Freeman comes back. I was thinking the exact same thing. Let's just make sure that we keep the ball moving and not stand around and watch B.J. go to work.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Dec 30, 2023 7:41:38 GMT -6
There might be more media here than fans. We’re 10 minutes from tipoff and there might be 100 fans here. I’ve seen better attended freshman high school games. I notice the same. Problem with that the clock is for anthems and starting lineups. Time of day was only 6:42. People followed in around 7pm.
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Post by thetruth on Dec 30, 2023 8:36:14 GMT -6
BJ said postgame that he would be back on Sunday. We will see. I hope so.
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Post by Cactus Panther on Dec 30, 2023 9:47:02 GMT -6
Panthers 78, Robert Morris 75: Pair of incredible offensive performances give UWM its first winning streak Curt Hogg Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Kentrell Pullian is finding his stride. So is Erik Pratt. Bart Lundy's team as a whole might very well be, too.
Pullian scored a career-high 28 points and Pratt added 27 points as the Panthers never trailed while pulling out a 78-75 win over Robert Morris in the conference home opener Friday night.
The backcourt duo of Prat and Pullian scored 28 of Milwaukee’s 30 points in the final 14 minutes, completely taking over on the offensive end while the Colonials mounted a fierce comeback.
"It was everything," Lundy said of Pullian and Pratt's outing. "They're both great shooters but they had a lot of success going downhill and staying aggressive. The free throws and the finishes at the rim, that's something that we weren't doing earlier in the year. We would have settled for some threes. Credit to these guys.
Pratt hit four straight free throws on back-to-back possessions inside the final two minutes after the Colonials tied the game at 71-71, the first time the score was even since tipoff. Pullian sank two free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining to push the lead to three.
Robert Morris got a relatively clean look off from three-point territory that would have tied the game after a long inbounds pass was caught and shuffled to Josh Corbin, but the guard’s shot from the left wing rimmed off.
For the first time all season, the Panthers won consecutive games.
Both Pullian and Pratt set career highs for scoring in Milwaukee’s last game, an 85-83 overtime win over Chattanooga.
Against the Colonials, Pullian topped his mark by two points thanks to his final-second free throws while Pratt finished two points shy of his 29-point outing a week ago.
"These two are the barometer on our team for where the spirit of our team is," Lundy said.
When Pullian, who was 11 for 13 from the charity stripe on the night, made two free throws with 14 minutes left to push the lead to 50-35, Milwaukee had its largest advantage of the night.
"I feel like it's confidence," Pullian said of his career-best stretch. "I feel like I started out hard this season. You look back and some of the stats and I had a hard start. I just stayed in the gym and my teammates give me the confidence to keep going after my shots."
But Colonials forward Alvaro Folguerias delivered an unbelievable shooting stretch, connecting on 4 three-pointers without a miss over a six-minute stretch, and helped nearly eradicate the deficit to draw Robert Morris within one at 59-58.
The ball stayed in the hands of Pratt and Pullian down the stretch for the Panthers save for an Elijah Jamison pull-up jumper that made it 71-66, Milwaukee.
The Colonials rattled off five straight points over their next two possessions, including a Jackson Last transition three to draw even at 71-all with 1:25 to go.
After a Panthers timeout, Pratt was fouled on a drive to the basket and hit both free throws. Corbin missed a deep three, Pratt was fouled going up for the rebound and made both shots on the other end.
It was just enough to give the Panthers their first conference win, moving them to 1-1 early in the conference season.
They will host Wright State at the Panther Arena on Sunday. The Panthers could potentially have leading scorer BJ Freeman, who has been out since November 25 with an injury, back.
But Freeman's return won't come without another injury concern. Aaron Franklin broke his wrist during practice earlier in the week and will miss a "significant" amount of time, Lundy said.
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Post by Cactus Panther on Dec 30, 2023 10:05:20 GMT -6
"Guys battled, we made a lot of mistakes...We've got a lot of guys playing a lot of minutes and I think we were getting worn down a little bit...We really missed Aaron tonight, I kept telling myself in my head. But there is nothing for it...Faison and Learc and Langston, they just got to keep coming...We've just got to get those guys to keep coming and we're going to be fine." tun.in/tyKyfy
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Post by Cactus Panther on Dec 30, 2023 10:17:18 GMT -6
Phew. Well if KP and Pratt (outside of whatever the f*** that pass was at the end) keep playing like this, the panthers are gonna have a pretty lethal trio on the offensive end in HL play when Freeman comes back. I hope you are right. If they do become a lethal trio, it will be for the first time. Bart has spoken about certain players (plural) being more interested in their own agenda than the team's. He was most critical of returning players. I hope he really meant one player was the problem. We can now easily assume who that would have been. But if it is more than one player that he was referring to, was BJ one of them? I hope not. I just don't know. It will be interesting when all three are on the court together. They will still be playing with only one ball.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Dec 30, 2023 10:28:39 GMT -6
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Dec 30, 2023 10:29:31 GMT -6
I think we could see that most players early on this year were playing for the name on the back of the jersey and not the name on the front. I know this is a weird thing to say, but I’m almost encouraged by the types on turnovers that were committed yesterday. So many of them were caused by the team trying to make the right pass, and it just being a little off. Obviously, some work will be needed to clean those turnovers up, but it’s better than seeing the team lose the ball because of a stupid shot or a 1-on-3 or something like that.
Erik Pratt didn’t play much earlier this year, so it’s hard to compare his play now with his play earlier this year. Pullian looks like a whole new player the last few games, not just because he’s scoring points, but also because he’s playing his butt off when going for rebounds and loose balls. Jamison seems to be better with shot selection lately.
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Post by GoPanthersGo23 on Dec 30, 2023 11:06:48 GMT -6
ESPN attendance: 1,722 FWIW.
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Post by reginaldkdwight on Dec 30, 2023 11:38:34 GMT -6
So broken wrist my assessment was correct based on his cast type. 4-8 weeks likely out for Franklin, ouch. Franklin back sunday would be a nice NYE treat. Davis Wilson and Fields need to focus on rebounding the ball and defending they all have the tendency to dribble too much
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Post by PantherU on Dec 30, 2023 12:48:10 GMT -6
Anyone talk to Bart at Goolsby's tonight? I always appreciate hearing about the postgame experience. Briefly talked to Coach, mainly so we could both be Simeon stans. I can't remember which guy on staff said it...I think it was Jose...but he mentioned that after Franklin landed on his hand in practice and it was clear he was going to be out for awhile, Coach Lundy called on some guys to step up and at Thursday's practice a light switch went off and Simeon massively stepped up. That's how he got on the court last night. I'm so happy with how well Simeon played in those four minutes last night. If he's able to give 5-10 minutes of play like that every night, that totally changes the outlook for the season. He's such a complementary player for both Faizon Fields and Langston Wilson, if he can be trusted for even a few minutes it allows them to play more to their own strengths. Faizon can defend at the 4 and focus more on his offensive skillset, Wilson could play the 4 defensively and be more of that Giannis-style roving help defender that plays to his strengths. Also don't discount the fact that for a good chunk of time after Simeon left the game, the team was boxing out better and rebounding better - I believe that some of that was coming from him being like an on-court post-it note reminding his teammates to remember the fundamentals. Yes, things fell off the rails in the second half and we almost lost the game. But when they faced that adversity, they responded. They were awful at the line until they absolutely needed to make them, then they only missed one or two the rest of the way. They were taking bad shots, then they were driving the lane and going up hard. RMU played a lot better than their record the last 15 minutes of the game, especially considering every post player they had was in foul trouble. It was frustrating to be in the bonus for the last 14 minutes and not be able to take advantage until the 4-minute mark toward the end, but the important thing is they stuck with it and did not falter. When RMU tied it at 71 and Bart took the timeout, the Panthers on the court looked positively downtrodden - but they came out of it with their heads held high and they took care of business. Overall I'm pleased with last night's game, I really hope they take it to Wright State, with or without BJ. So broken wrist my assessment was correct based on his cast type. 4-8 weeks likely out for Franklin, ouch. Franklin Freeman back sunday would be a nice NYE treat. Davis Wilson and Fields need to focus on rebounding the ball and defending they all have the tendency to dribble too much Honestly, as tough as it is for Franklin, this is also 6-8 weeks where he can rest. The 2014 title came in no small part because Jordan Aaron was the guy with the freshest legs after that suspension. Eight weeks from now gives him a couple games before the HLT, hopefully he'll be good to go.
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Post by reginaldkdwight on Dec 30, 2023 15:33:14 GMT -6
SM needs to take more of fields minutes, he was fine last night. Hated he didnt get on the court in the 2nd half when we couldnt get a rebound
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Post by mattg on Dec 30, 2023 17:59:17 GMT -6
I think we could see that most players early on this year were playing for the name on the back of the jersey and not the name on the front. I know this is a weird thing to say, but I’m almost encouraged by the types on turnovers that were committed yesterday. So many of them were caused by the team trying to make the right pass, and it just being a little off. Obviously, some work will be needed to clean those turnovers up, but it’s better than seeing the team lose the ball because of a stupid shot or a 1-on-3 or something like that. Erik Pratt didn’t play much earlier this year, so it’s hard to compare his play now with his play earlier this year. Pullian looks like a whole new player the last few games, not just because he’s scoring points, but also because he’s playing his butt off when going for rebounds and loose balls. Jamison seems to be better with shot selection lately. Pratt is night and day difference between earlier this year and now. Obviously he's more confident looking to shoot and as a scorer since Browning is gone. But honestly the main thing is that he is willing to move the ball and actually pass now. Even though he didn't play a ton earlier in the year, he was in total tunnel vision mode and was never even considering passing. Pratt only had 2 total assists in the first 9 games of the season. He has 9 in the 4 games since then.
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