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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Jan 25, 2023 8:22:30 GMT -6
Milwaukee 14-6 (8-2)
at
Wright State 11-10 (4-6)
When: Thursday
Time: 6:00pm
Where: Nutter Center
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 101.7 FM
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Post by PantherU on Jan 25, 2023 11:15:18 GMT -6
Voice Chat Room: PantherU DiscordI started a Discord server. For those who don't know, Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging platform, with apps for PC/Mac and smart phones. Think of it like old Yahoo/AIM chat rooms mixed with forums like this, Twitter and also voice chat channels. The link is for a Panthers-specific server. I'll be in voice chat while watching the game, so if y'all are interested in voice chat, not just text, we can go there. |
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Post by buppie05 on Jan 25, 2023 16:42:42 GMT -6
Wright St -3.5. You get juice on picking Milwaukee to win @ Wright St. WSU has struggled at home. Nutter Butter center has not been kind to them.
Lundy will make adjustments.
This season has made up for the wildly inconsistent past several seasons. $$$
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Post by tyrunner0097 on Jan 25, 2023 16:52:58 GMT -6
I had told Bart last time, we need to make WS rue the day they beat us. Imminent rueage.
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Post by reginaldkdwight on Jan 25, 2023 18:10:27 GMT -6
Trap game.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 25, 2023 18:44:03 GMT -6
Be very careful here. Brandon Noel is a beast!
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Post by PantherNation on Jan 25, 2023 19:55:26 GMT -6
Can you technically call it a trap game if we are underdogs? That being said, I fully expect us to win. Wright State is 1-5 at home against the conference this year. Just play our game and we should be fine. If we can’t take care of the 7th place team in our conference, then we may not have to worry about what seed the bracketologists are giving us in January. |
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Post by Cactus Panther on Jan 25, 2023 19:58:06 GMT -6
Can you technically call it a trap game if we are underdogs? I think Reginald is kidding. How could anyone seriously call this a trap game after having lost to the same team at home two weeks earlier? |
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Post by Cactus Panther on Jan 26, 2023 10:58:36 GMT -6
The first-place Panthers have arrived well ahead of schedule in the Horizon League. Here's what they have done this season.
Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
What a difference a year has made for the UWM Panthers, who currently are tied for first place in the Horizon League under new coach Bart Lundy.
Expectations were high with the hire of Bart Lundy as UW-Milwaukee’s men’s basketball coach last March, no doubt.
But did anybody really expect things to turn around this quickly?
Entering a big rematch at Wright State at 6 p.m. Thursday, the Panthers are 14-6 overall, tied for first place atop the Horizon League standings at 8-2 and ranked 20th in the CollegeInsider.com Top 25 – their first appearance in the poll in over a decade.
And almost as important, fans are beginning to return to UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Media coverage is ramping up, and the buzz around the program has reached a level not seen since last appearing in the NCAA Tournament in 2014.
“I didn’t have a timetable. Still don’t,” Lundy said following UWM’s impressive 88-75 dismantling of Youngstown State on Saturday when asked if even he was surprised with how well things have gone to this point.
The Panthers' 8-2 start in conference is their best since 2005-06, when they began 9-1 en route to an NCAA Tournament berth.
“Just wanted to get good guys in here who love to play good basketball. I think our guys love to play, which is really important. They’ve developed their chemistry. I really had nothing to do with that. They developed chemistry off the floor and then it’s translated on the floor.
“I did think that we needed – whether we were in first place or whatever – to put an exciting product out there. Something that these fans wanted to see.
“That was really the focus.”
A year ago, the Panthers were limping along at 7-13 overall and 5-6 in the Horizon League. Star recruit Patrick Baldwin Jr.’s season would be over a little less a month later, his UWM career lasting all of 11 games and resulting in 133 points.
His father and coach, Pat Baldwin, was fired the day after UWM closed the book on a 10-21 season and ninth-place finish in conference.
A little more than two weeks later Lundy was hired and soon thereafter he got to work constructing a roster.
UW-Milwaukee Panthers head coach Bart Lundy applauds a defensive stand during the Panthers' 92-63 win against the North Park Vikings at the UWM Panther Arena on Dec. 11.
In the end, only four players carried over from the Baldwin regime and two of those – sophomore guard Markeith Browning II (third in scoring and three-pointers, tied for second in rebounding and first in steals on the team) and graduate center Moses Bol (21 blocks while playing just over 9 minutes per game) – are making consistent contributions.
Thirteen new faces were eventually brought aboard in about a three-month span with six of those – sophomores BJ Freeman, Kentrell Pullian and Justin Thomas, senior Ahmad Rand, junior Jalen Johnson and freshman Elijah Jamison – helping form the core of a team leading the conference in field-goal (39.2%) and three-point percentage (28.2%) defense, blocked shots (5.9 per game) and rebounding (39.1).
UWM also ranks among the top three teams in the Horizon League in scoring (78 points per game), field-goal percentage (46.7%), three-point percentage (36.7%), assists (14.1) and scoring margin (plus-8.7).
Balance has been the key as Lundy has spent much of the season fine-tuning his lineup and rotation. Entering Thursday, the Panthers had three double-digit scorers (Freeman at 15.3, Pullian at 11.1 and Browning at 10.1) and seven players averaging at least 6.8 points per game.
Four players also were averaging at least 4.4 rebounds per game, led by Freeman’s 4.9.
UWM does have its weaknesses – most notably the lack of a bona fide point guard, a propensity for turnovers and streaky shooting both from beyond the arc and at the free-throw line.
But since Horizon League play resumed late last month none of those areas has been a consistent problem.
The Panthers have lost consecutive games only once, in November when they fell at Iowa State and then at home three days later to St. Thomas.
Poor shooting was mostly to blame for their lone two Horizon League losses at Oakland on Dec. 29 (37.1%) and in overtime at home to Wright State on Jan. 14 (season-worst 34.2%).
Otherwise UWM has taken care of business with a win at Purdue Fort Wayne on Jan. 7 and wins at home against Northern Kentucky on Jan. 12 and most recently against Youngstown State.
“When I played, I got to come through the Bruce Pearl era, where I got to see the rise of the program,” said UWM Hall of Famer Joah Tucker, who does analysis alongside Wayne Larrivee on the local TV broadcasts.
“I think we’re looking at that again. We’re looking to get more fans in. We’re putting a really good product out, and I believe that’s the first step. I’m just really excited about it. Because I’ve seen it before.
“I’m kind of getting that feel again.”
The play of Freeman, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound forward who is coming off his second player of the week award in the last three, has been key as he’s emerged as one of the top players in the conference.
A native of Selma, N.C., Freeman played his freshman year at Dodge City Community College in Kansas where he averaged 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game on a team that finished 30-5 and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NJCAA Division I National Tournament.
With no ties to Wisconsin or Milwaukee, how did he wind up signing with the Panthers?
Lundy, having previously coached at Queens University of Charlotte, was familiar with Freeman as he rose through the prep ranks in North Carolina. Then there was UWM assistant Jake Williams, who was Freeman’s head coach at Dodge City.
“Just trusting in Coach Lundy, and me and Coach Jake are cool. We’ve had a good relationship and I’d trust him with my life,” Freeman said. “Just having that trust in them has been a blessing for me since.”
Freeman was recruited by Power 5 schools West Virginia and Oklahoma State as well as Coastal Carolina and Horizon League member Robert Morris.
UW-Milwaukee forward BJ Freeman tries to shoot around a block attempt by Boston University forward Anthony Morales during a game Nov. 27 at the Klotsche Center.
But the fit at UWM has been a perfect one and since the loss at Oakland, Freeman has scored 20 or more points in seven of eight games with a 30-point, 11-assist, six-rebound gem against Youngstown State his latest and greatest performance.
While Freeman far and away leads the Panthers with 222 shot attempts in just under 28 minutes per game, he’s connecting at a respectable 42.8% clip while also knocking down a team-leading 42 three-pointers at a 37.5% clip.
He’s also done a good job at the free-throw line, tying for the team lead with 53 attempts and connecting on 83% of them.
UWM was picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll while Freeman was just another unknown.
Now, the Panthers have people believing and Freeman is positioning himself to be named the Panthers’ first player to be named first team all-Horizon League since Matt Tiby in 2015-16.
“I’m big on game-changing,” Freeman said. “Our JUCO didn’t win in 40 years and we won a (conference) championship and made the Elite Eight there. When I took my visit here they were telling me (about the struggles).
“I feel the love here in Milwaukee.”
The next two games will be an extreme litmus test for UWM, which will be seeking revenge at Wright State on Thursday and then looking to sweep co-leader Northern Kentucky at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Fans cheer after Panthers guard BJ Freeman scores against Northern Kentucky on Jan. 12 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. UWM won, 80-75.
It’s almost a foreign feeling for the program considering where it had been as recently as last season.
Now, the challenge will be to continue answering the bell.
“We talked about handling success after the game,” Lundy said in reference to the victory over Youngstown State. “One of the assistant coaches I know came through the (handshake) line and said, ‘We’ll see you again.’ Not very sporting-like, but that’s what we have to understand – whether people have taken us lightly or not, we’ve got a target on our back now.
“Nobody wants us to be successful. They want us to be ninth. That’s what we were picked (in the preseason) and that’s what they want us to be. We lost to Wright State last weekend and Monday they played exceptionally hard (in practice) for a long time. We just played.
“We’ve got to keep that grinding mentality. That’s got to be our calling card.”
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Post by tyrunner0097 on Jan 26, 2023 12:42:52 GMT -6
Wright St -3.5. You get juice on picking Milwaukee to win @ Wright St. WSU has struggled at home. Nutter Butter center has not been kind to them. Lundy will make adjustments. This season has made up for the wildly inconsistent past several seasons. $$$ It's now -4.5 for WSU. |
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Post by Spirit of Bruce on Jan 26, 2023 13:41:31 GMT -6
I just put a healthy amount on the Panthers moneyline at +160.
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Post by buppie05 on Jan 26, 2023 13:56:00 GMT -6
I just put a healthy amount on the Panthers moneyline at +160. Same. That’s some sweet action. |
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 26, 2023 15:26:32 GMT -6
We had better be ready tonight because Wright State is going to bring it!
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Post by PantherU on Jan 26, 2023 15:44:40 GMT -6
I just put a healthy amount on the Panthers moneyline at +160. Same. That’s some sweet action. I dropped just short of a buck fifty. $100 on us to win straight up, bunch of small bets with long odds. It's served me well so far. |
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Post by PantherU on Jan 26, 2023 17:25:25 GMT -6
We took this team to OT with Trey Calvin on fire during our worst shooting night of the year. I'm sending good vibes.
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