Panthers Set For Stiff Test From First-Place Vikings
Jan. 25, 2008
#20: Cleveland St. (14-6, 7-1) @ Milwaukee (11-8, 6-3)
Tipoff The Panthers claimed their eighth win in their last nine outings with a 76-69 win over Youngstown State Thursday night. Milwaukee looked like it might run away in the first half while building a 16-point lead. But the Panthers had to withstand a second-half rally by the Penguins to claim their fourth-straight win at home The Vikings lost for the first time in league play Thursday night, dropping a 59-50 decision at Green Bay. Following tonight's game, the Panthers will play at Detroit and Wright State next week. Then, UWM finishes the regular season by playing five of its final six league games at home. • Game #20 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball team wraps up a brief weekend homestand by welcoming first-place Cleveland State to the U.S. Cellular Arena Saturday night. • Scouting The Vikings Cleveland State has surprised many across the Horizon League during the first half of league play, but a solid group of newcomers have helped earn the Vikings the top spot in the league. CSU did fall for the first time in league play Thursday in Green Bay but still enter Saturday's contest having won six of its last seven games. St. John's transfer Cedric Jackson leads the Vikings at 14.9 points per game while returnee J'Nathan Bullock adds 13.8 points and 6.4 rebounds. • History Lesson UWM holds a 16-11 lead in the all-time series with Cleveland State thanks to a 10-game winning streak over the Vikings. Milwaukee has also won seven-straight games over Cleveland State in Milwaukee. CSU's last win in the series came in Cleveland in 2002, while its last win in Milwaukee came in overtime in 2000.
• Homecourt Advantage Milwaukee has posted a strong homecourt record since returning downtown to the U.S. Cellular Arena for the 2003 Horizon League Tournament. The Panthers are now 49-17 in regular season and postseason contests at The Cell since their return, and UWM had a 19-game homecourt winning streak until back-to-back home losses to UIC and Missouri State spoiled the run in 2005-06. Combining games at both the Klotsche Center and the U.S. Cellular Arena, UWM is now 54-11 in regular season Horizon League home contests over the last eight-plus seasons. The Panthers are 6-4 at home this season, including a current streak of four-straight wins. • As The Schedule Turns With UWM back home for the first time in nearly three weeks, the Panthers will now see their schedule turn from road-heavy to home-heavy. Milwaukee has played six of its first nine league games on the road. But, UWM will play six of its final nine league games at home. And, after their road trip to Detroit and Wright State next week, the Panthers will play five of their final six league games at home. • Winning And Losing UWM has experienced plenty of highs and lows in the first 18 games of the 2007-08 season. In fact, after enduring a six-game losing streak from late November to mid-December, the Panthers put together a six-game winning streak from late December until the loss at Butler Jan. 12. The winning streak marked UWM's first six-game win streak since Milwaukee won eight-straight from Dec. 17, 2005, to Jan. 11, 2006, and UWM has now won eight of its last nine games. Milwaukee's overall mark after 19 games has shown great improvement from last season, with the 11-8 record six games better than the 5-14 mark after 19 games last year. UWM has also already exceeded its win total (nine) from last season. • Learning The Lessons Of A Challenge Perhaps one of the answers to UWM's much-improved play over the last month of the season comes from the idea the Panthers' non-league schedule truly got them ready for league play. In fact, the five non-league teams that have beaten UWM are a combined 73-17 entering play this week, and UWM's overall non-league schedule is ranked 53rd nationally. In case you haven't paid close attention, Wisconsin, Marquette and Drake are all nationally-ranked while Sam Houston State is 15-3 and Northern Iowa is 12-7. • Updating The Roster UWM's roster is officially down to 13 players, with 10 of them active for the rest of the season. Since the start of the year, the Panthers have lost five scholarship players. Those that have departed include Avery Smith (dismissed Nov. 7); Torre Johnson (dismissed Dec. 18); Roman Gentry (left team Dec. 18); Kevin Johnson (left team Dec. 20 - officially dropped from roster Jan. 18); and Tim Flowers (left team Dec. 20 - officially dropped from roster Jan. 23). Of the 13 on the roster, Joe Allen and Zach Holt are both sidelined for the season by injury while Brad Carroll is redshirting this season, though he does dress for games. Walk-ons Deion James and Jason Averkamp are also part of the active roster. • Quick Hits The Panthers are now 7-0 when leading at halftime ... UWM's 17 offensive rebounds Thursday marked a season-high, though the Panthers have been in double figures for offensive rebounds in all but three games this season ... Milwaukee's six turnovers Thursday tied a season-low ... key reserve Deion James is averaging 11.1 points per game in his last seven outings, reaching double figures five times in that stretch ... UWM attempted 32 three-point shots last Saturday at Green Bay, the most by the Panthers in nearly two seasons. Milwaukee tried 32 threes in a game twice in 2005-06 (@ Wisconsin and vs. Detroit). The season-high last year was 31 ... the Panthers are 5-4 on the road this season, more than doubling their win total from a season ago. UWM just won three times during a string of four-straight league games on the road ... UWM's 32.1 percent shooting clip against Detroit Jan. 5 marked the lowest shooting percentage by the Panthers in a win since Milwaukee shot 28.9 percent in a 62-58 victory over Green Bay in the 2000 MCC Tournament ... the Panthers set a season-high in making 12 three-point shots in the win over Wright State Jan. 3 ... the nine assists by Deonte Roberts in the win at Wyoming Dec. 29 marked the most by a Panther since Clay Tucker had nine against Green Bay in 2003 ... UWM has already fielded five different starting lineups this season. Seven different players have earned starts. Last season, the Panthers used seven different starting lineups with eight different players earning starts ... two opponents have made 13 threes in a game, the most by a UWM opponent since Butler made 15 late in the 2003-04 season ... the Panthers collected 20 steals in the win over Upper Iowa Nov. 9, a number that is tied for the third-most in a game in the school's Division I history and the most in a single game since the 2000-01 campaign. • Last Time Out Paige Paulsen scored 24 points and Marcus Skinner added a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds as UWM captured a 76-69 win over Youngstown State Thursday night at the U.S. Cellular Arena. The Panthers' balanced offensive attack also included 12 points from Deonte Roberts and 10 points apiece from Ricky Franklin and Deion James. Plus, Milwaukee committed just six turnovers and claimed 17 offensive rebounds. • Punch From Paige Senior Paige Paulsen knew he needed to step up with some of UWM's roster changes and the senior has come through. He led the way with 24 points and nine rebounds in the win over Youngstown State Thursday and he has now scored in double figures in his last nine outings. In fact, he is averaging 18.2 points per game during that span. Plus, Paulsen is taking good advantage of his open shots from the perimeter, making 32-of-64 (50 percent) from three-point range over the last nine games. • Double The Trouble UWM doesn't have a ton of inside players, but senior Marcus Skinner seems to be taking it upon himself to become a one-man wrecking crew inside. Thursday against Youngstown State, Skinner collected collegiate-highs for both points (16) and rebounds (12). Seven of Skinner's rebounds came on the offensive end, and he was an efficient 7-of-10 from the field. That outing came on the heels of his work Saturday at Green Bay, where Skinner had 14 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. He now has four double-doubles on the season. Skinner's overall numbers are a bit deceiving since he played only limited minutes in the early season, even sitting out of two games. But, in the last 11 games, he is averaging 8.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest. • Getting Everyone Involved UWM's success in league play has found a number of people getting involved offensively. In fact, Thursday's win over Youngstown State saw five players reach double figures, the first time that happened since early last season. In league play, two players on the active roster are averaging in double figures, with Paige Paulsen (15.3 ppg) and Ricky Franklin (10.8 ppg) leading the way. Deion James and Deonte Roberts aren't far behind, with James averaging 9.7 ppg and Roberts adding 8.4 ppg That balance has consistently shown up in recent games, as UWM has had at least four double-figure scorers in three of its last four outings. • Charity Case Improved efforts on the offensive end have steadily resulted in the Panthers increasing their visits to the free throw line. UWM went 20-of-30 from the line in Thursday's win over Youngstown State. Overall, Milwaukee has attempted 202 free throws in its last nine games, scoring an average of 16 points per game from the charity stripe. Plus, in league play, UWM is shooting 75.6 percent from the line. • Improving The Defense There is no question much-improved play on defense is a big reason for UWM's winning ways of late. But, that improvement actually started before the six-game winning streak got underway. After the Panthers fell to UIC Dec. 6, they had allowed 80 or more points in five-straight games and were allowing opponents 79 points per game and a 48.2 percent shooting clip. Since that time, opponents are shooting just 43.3 percent from the field and scoring just 63.5 points per game. Jan. 7 in Youngstown, the Panthers posted a number of notable defensive numbers. The 39 points scored by Youngstown are the fewest allowed by the Panthers since they allowed just 21 to Mount Senario in December of 2000. Plus, the YSU shooting percentage of 24.5 percent is the third-lowest by a UWM opponent in the school's Division I history. • Fighting From Behind It is clearly not the preferred way to claim victory, but the Panthers are making a habit of coming from behind to capture a win. In fact, UWM came from seven points down with eight minutes to play to claim the win Jan. 10 at Valparaiso. That came on the heels of a comeback win Jan. 5 over Detroit that saw the Panthers turn a 14-point deficit with 6:43 left into a two-point win. In all, UWM has turned a double-digit deficit into a win three times this season. Milwaukee came from 17 points behind at Ball State Nov. 14 to win in overtime, the biggest comeback since the Panthers recovered from a 21-point deficit to beat Virginia Tech in overtime in 2001. Then, the Panthers came from 10 down in the second half to beat South Dakota State Nov. 20. Plus, UWM nearly captured two other comeback wins. Dec. 8 against Loyola, the Panthers turned an 11-point deficit into a four-point lead before falling in overtime. Nov. 27 against Sam Houston, the Panthers overcame an 11-point deficit to lead by five before falling. • The Winning Numbers A few categories jump out in comparing the numbers in Milwaukee's 11 wins against its eight losses. For one, the Panthers have attempted just 137 free throws in eight losses (17.1/game) and 271 free throws in 11 victories (24.6/game). Also, UWM is allowing its opponents to shoot 50.2 percent from the field in its eight losses while limiting opponents to a 41.9 percent clip in its 11 victories. The opponent shooting percentage in losses includes 43.2 percent (63-of-146) from three-point range while opponents have shot just 28.6 percent (50-of-175) from three-point range in the 11 wins. Finally, the Panthers are averaging 73.2 points per game in 11 victories while scoring just 62.9 points per game in eight losses. • Panthers On The Air UWM and Time Warner Cable have put together a multi-year agreement that makes Time Warner Sports the official television broadcast partner for Panther athletics. The three-year contract is highlighted by expanded live coverage of men's basketball. The men will appear live on Time Warner Sports more than 10 times during 2007-08. Meanwhile, UWM men's basketball games are now heard on NewsTalk 1130 WISN thanks to an extensive agreement between UWM and Clear Channel. On a side note, "Rob Jeter on Basketball" airs from Harry's Bar and Grill on Oakland in Shorewood again this week before moving to the Gasthaus on campus for the month of February. • Schedule Reminder Two games that remain on UWM's regular-season schedule have been changed since most schedules were printed in October. The Feb. 2 game at Wright State did not have a start time listed, but the game will now tip off at 6 p.m. CST. Meanwhile, the Panthers' home game with Butler has been moved from Feb. 11 to Feb. 12 and will tip off at 6 p.m. CST to accommodate a national-television broadcast by ESPNU. • Up Next UWM returns to the road for a pair of games, playing at Detroit Thursday and Wright State Saturday. Both games tip off at 6 p.m. CST and will be televised on Time Warner Sports, ESPN Full Court and ESPN360.com. |
