Post by Cactus Panther on Dec 31, 2023 21:20:09 GMT -6
Led by the returning BJ Freeman, the UWM Panthers rattle off their third straight victory
Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
BJ Freeman is back, and UW-Milwaukee's men's basketball team is rolling.
Playing for the first time since Nov. 25, the Panthers linchpin hit the ground running as he put up 23 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the way to a 91-83 New Year's Eve victory over Wright State at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The Panthers set season highs in scoring and knocked down their most three-pointers in a game since 2011 with 16 in extending their winning streak to a season-best three.
"He opens up so many things because he draws attention, and then he can make the right play," said coach Bart Lundy, whose team improved to 2-1 in the Horizon League and is finally back to .500 on the season at 7-7. "But he also finds guys. He'll make our post players better scorers because he'll get them easier opportunities, and then he'll find the shooters.
"Especially offensively, he makes everybody's lives a little bit easier. Not only has he not really practiced in a month, but for a long stretch I was playing him out of a position where he didn't know what he was doing, so we were diagramming in the huddles what he was going to have to do in what we were running.
"But we did well with it. I think this team has a lot of growth ahead. But it's good to have him back. We've got to keep him healthy now."
Freeman, who looked like he never skipped a beat by hitting 8 of 11 shots overall and 5 of 7 three-pointers in 28 minutes off the bench, shed light on what he's been dealing with physically for the last month-plus.
"I was having bad back spasms. I couldn't really walk, couldn't really run, couldn't really move side to side," he said. "It was real painful. If I'd sit up I'd have a hunched back. So, it was really affecting me and kind of bringing me down.
"When our losing streak happened I was kind of down and just ready to get back out there to help my team any way I can. But we all stuck together and now I feel like the brotherhood is back and where it should be."
How did Freeman stay sharp despite not being able to do much physically?
"Big shouts to (director of recruiting Jason) Newkirk. He just kept me in the gym, working on my shot," he said. "Just making sure I'm ready when my number's called."
Wright State (6-8, 1-2) had actually opened up its largest lead of the game with 16 minutes 59 seconds remaining at 49-40 before a three-point barrage by the Panthers shifted the momentum.
Freeman, Kentrell Pullian and Angelo Stuart all hit from deep on consecutive possessions, a lightning-quick run of 9-0 that drew UWM even at 49-49.
But the fun was only just beginning.
The Panthers kept their foot on the gas pedal from there and embarked on a stretch of basketball that was easily their most impressive of the season.
Hard-charging dunks by Darius Duffy, hard-nosed defense across the board and more terrific three-point shooting gave UWM not only its first lead since early in the first half, but a double-digit lead at that at 71-59 after a big two-handed slam by Faizon Fields with 9:33 left.
The crowd was electrified and rightfully so; the Panthers had outscored the Raiders 31-10 in 7 ½ minutes and scored on 13 of 14 possessions including nine straight capped by the Fields dunk.
"I thought our pressure was way better in the second half and we got them sped up. And then, obviously, we had an offensive explosion," Lundy said. "Everything started opening up and I thought when when we really started to play well, it was great to see the spirit of our team and the fans.
"It became fun. With the struggles we've been through, that's kind of the first time it's been really fun to be there and to be in the atmosphere since maybe early in the year."
Wright State, as expected, didn't go away and 2 ½ minutes later had pulled to within 76-70.
But again, UWM went on another scoring jag, this time converting on its next seven possessions to open its lead right back up. Freeman's second three in three possessions made it 87-72 with 2:52 left and served as a fitting coup de grace to what was easily the team's most impressive victory of the season.
"This team needs that," Lundy said. "The first semester has been really hard. We're ending on a really good note here at the end of the year. We were down. There were such high expectations and it really felt like they let people down.
"To get three in a row and four out of five now to end this year, we believe again that we can win the league and do the things that we thought we could coming into this year. A win like this, and even the Robert Morris win, it's big. Because it's just chipping away at the negative thoughts that we had.
"Now, I think, they believe."
Freeman entered at the 14:21 mark of the first half and made an immediate impact, assisting Erik Pratt on a three-pointer on the Panthers' ensuing possession and then a couple minutes later dishing off to a wide-open Pullian for a three from the corner at the 12:10 mark.
Freeman also grabbed a pair of rebounds in that same span and then got himself into the scoring column by draining his first shot attempt -- what else but a three? -- from the left wing, a sequence that drew a wry smile from the junior wing and gave UWM a 19-15 lead.
"It was great being back out there," Freeman said. "Oh my gosh. Hearing coach yelling at me, I missed it. I came in kind of nervous, not knowing what to expect or what to do. I told my team before the game started, 'I'm coming in as a piece. I've been gone for a month, so I'm willing to do whatever it takes for us to get the win no matter what it means -- less shots, locking somebody up, assists, rebounds. Whatever I've got to do to get back comfortable and get in my groove.'"
Wright State, which lost at UW-Green Bay on Friday, responded with a 12-2 run to regain the lead and slowly opened its advantage up from there thanks in large part to a combination of defensive breakdowns and a lack of ball security on the part of UWM.
Freeman scored the final five points of the half for the Panthers, with his three with 40.8 seconds left sending them into intermission trailing by a score of 41-36.
Pullian added 20 points, four rebounds and four assists and Pratt 15 points as he hit 5 of 8 of his threes. Pullian is averaging 24.7 points over his last three games and Pratt 23.7 with 14 three-pointers over that span.
"It makes my job way easier," Freeman said when asked about the recent play of Pullian and Pratt. "Defenses don't know what to do when you've got a three-headed snake like that. I'm just happy that we're starting to find our pace and everybody's coming together."
Duffy, the junior big man, continues to be a bull in the china shop as well underneath as he chipped in with eight points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots in 30 minutes.
"Erik Pratt being able to come back from where he was buried on the bench and then there's Duffy -- their contributions to this team are really the story right now for us," Lundy said. "Darius plays so hard he gets tired, but it's hard to take him off the floor at this point.
"It's defense, it's on the glass, and now he's getting a little offensive confidence. He has become irreplaceable, for sure."
Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
BJ Freeman is back, and UW-Milwaukee's men's basketball team is rolling.
Playing for the first time since Nov. 25, the Panthers linchpin hit the ground running as he put up 23 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the way to a 91-83 New Year's Eve victory over Wright State at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The Panthers set season highs in scoring and knocked down their most three-pointers in a game since 2011 with 16 in extending their winning streak to a season-best three.
"He opens up so many things because he draws attention, and then he can make the right play," said coach Bart Lundy, whose team improved to 2-1 in the Horizon League and is finally back to .500 on the season at 7-7. "But he also finds guys. He'll make our post players better scorers because he'll get them easier opportunities, and then he'll find the shooters.
"Especially offensively, he makes everybody's lives a little bit easier. Not only has he not really practiced in a month, but for a long stretch I was playing him out of a position where he didn't know what he was doing, so we were diagramming in the huddles what he was going to have to do in what we were running.
"But we did well with it. I think this team has a lot of growth ahead. But it's good to have him back. We've got to keep him healthy now."
Freeman, who looked like he never skipped a beat by hitting 8 of 11 shots overall and 5 of 7 three-pointers in 28 minutes off the bench, shed light on what he's been dealing with physically for the last month-plus.
"I was having bad back spasms. I couldn't really walk, couldn't really run, couldn't really move side to side," he said. "It was real painful. If I'd sit up I'd have a hunched back. So, it was really affecting me and kind of bringing me down.
"When our losing streak happened I was kind of down and just ready to get back out there to help my team any way I can. But we all stuck together and now I feel like the brotherhood is back and where it should be."
How did Freeman stay sharp despite not being able to do much physically?
"Big shouts to (director of recruiting Jason) Newkirk. He just kept me in the gym, working on my shot," he said. "Just making sure I'm ready when my number's called."
Wright State (6-8, 1-2) had actually opened up its largest lead of the game with 16 minutes 59 seconds remaining at 49-40 before a three-point barrage by the Panthers shifted the momentum.
Freeman, Kentrell Pullian and Angelo Stuart all hit from deep on consecutive possessions, a lightning-quick run of 9-0 that drew UWM even at 49-49.
But the fun was only just beginning.
The Panthers kept their foot on the gas pedal from there and embarked on a stretch of basketball that was easily their most impressive of the season.
Hard-charging dunks by Darius Duffy, hard-nosed defense across the board and more terrific three-point shooting gave UWM not only its first lead since early in the first half, but a double-digit lead at that at 71-59 after a big two-handed slam by Faizon Fields with 9:33 left.
The crowd was electrified and rightfully so; the Panthers had outscored the Raiders 31-10 in 7 ½ minutes and scored on 13 of 14 possessions including nine straight capped by the Fields dunk.
"I thought our pressure was way better in the second half and we got them sped up. And then, obviously, we had an offensive explosion," Lundy said. "Everything started opening up and I thought when when we really started to play well, it was great to see the spirit of our team and the fans.
"It became fun. With the struggles we've been through, that's kind of the first time it's been really fun to be there and to be in the atmosphere since maybe early in the year."
Wright State, as expected, didn't go away and 2 ½ minutes later had pulled to within 76-70.
But again, UWM went on another scoring jag, this time converting on its next seven possessions to open its lead right back up. Freeman's second three in three possessions made it 87-72 with 2:52 left and served as a fitting coup de grace to what was easily the team's most impressive victory of the season.
"This team needs that," Lundy said. "The first semester has been really hard. We're ending on a really good note here at the end of the year. We were down. There were such high expectations and it really felt like they let people down.
"To get three in a row and four out of five now to end this year, we believe again that we can win the league and do the things that we thought we could coming into this year. A win like this, and even the Robert Morris win, it's big. Because it's just chipping away at the negative thoughts that we had.
"Now, I think, they believe."
Freeman entered at the 14:21 mark of the first half and made an immediate impact, assisting Erik Pratt on a three-pointer on the Panthers' ensuing possession and then a couple minutes later dishing off to a wide-open Pullian for a three from the corner at the 12:10 mark.
Freeman also grabbed a pair of rebounds in that same span and then got himself into the scoring column by draining his first shot attempt -- what else but a three? -- from the left wing, a sequence that drew a wry smile from the junior wing and gave UWM a 19-15 lead.
"It was great being back out there," Freeman said. "Oh my gosh. Hearing coach yelling at me, I missed it. I came in kind of nervous, not knowing what to expect or what to do. I told my team before the game started, 'I'm coming in as a piece. I've been gone for a month, so I'm willing to do whatever it takes for us to get the win no matter what it means -- less shots, locking somebody up, assists, rebounds. Whatever I've got to do to get back comfortable and get in my groove.'"
Wright State, which lost at UW-Green Bay on Friday, responded with a 12-2 run to regain the lead and slowly opened its advantage up from there thanks in large part to a combination of defensive breakdowns and a lack of ball security on the part of UWM.
Freeman scored the final five points of the half for the Panthers, with his three with 40.8 seconds left sending them into intermission trailing by a score of 41-36.
Pullian added 20 points, four rebounds and four assists and Pratt 15 points as he hit 5 of 8 of his threes. Pullian is averaging 24.7 points over his last three games and Pratt 23.7 with 14 three-pointers over that span.
"It makes my job way easier," Freeman said when asked about the recent play of Pullian and Pratt. "Defenses don't know what to do when you've got a three-headed snake like that. I'm just happy that we're starting to find our pace and everybody's coming together."
Duffy, the junior big man, continues to be a bull in the china shop as well underneath as he chipped in with eight points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots in 30 minutes.
"Erik Pratt being able to come back from where he was buried on the bench and then there's Duffy -- their contributions to this team are really the story right now for us," Lundy said. "Darius plays so hard he gets tired, but it's hard to take him off the floor at this point.
"It's defense, it's on the glass, and now he's getting a little offensive confidence. He has become irreplaceable, for sure."