Panthers Take Winning Ways To The Road
Jan. 29, 2008
#21: Milwaukee (12-8, 7-3) @ Detroit (4-15, 0-9)
Tipoff The Panthers won for the ninth time in their last 10 games with an impressive 79-71 win over Cleveland State Saturday night in Milwaukee. The win knocked the Vikings out of first place in the Horizon League. Ricky Franklin scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures while Paige Paulsen and Marcus Skinner each collected double-doubles. Skinner then earned league player of the week honors for the first time in his career. The Titans fell just short Saturday in their quest to break back into the win column, falling at home to Wright State. Detroit has dropped 13-straight games but still has Jon Goode, who leads the Horizon League in scoring. • Game #21 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball team heads back out on the road for a pair of games, starting the road trip with a Thursday night contest with Detroit • Scouting The Titans Detroit has endured plenty through the first three months of the season. The Titans have dropped 13 in a row yet still have the league's leading scorer in Jon Goode. Plus, head coach Perry Watson took a medical leave of absence about three weeks ago, leaving the team in the hands of associate head coach Kevin Mondro. Goode averages 19.5 points per game overall and 22.8 points per contest in league play. Chris Hayes in the other Titan player in double digits, averaging just under 11 points per game.
• History Lesson UWM leads the series with Detroit, 15-14, after its thrilling win over the Titans earlier this month. The Panthers have made quite a comeback in the series of late, winning 11 of the last 13 meetings. Even before Milwaukee's comeback win this season, there have been a number of memorable contests between the two teams. In fact, the two teams played a pair of overtime contests last season. Also in recent seasons, UWM pulled out a 59-58 win in the 2005 league title game. Then in the 2006-07 meeting in Detroit, the Panthers overcame a 10-point deficit in the final four minutes to pull out the win. After losing its first seven games at Calihan Hall, Milwaukee has won four of its last five contests in Detroit. • First Time With The Titans Paige Paulsen hit a three-pointer with two seconds remaining to give the UWM a remarkable 55-53 win over Detroit at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Paulsen's three came from well beyond the arc at the top of the key. The shot completed a thrilling UWM comeback that saw the Panthers overcome a 48-34 deficit in the final six-and-a-half minutes. Paulsen wound up leading the Panthers with 17 points while Deion James added 13 off the bench for Milwaukee. The final shot by Paulsen marked the only time in the second half UWM had the lead. • Success Away From Home After struggling away from home a year ago, the Panthers have found their stride away from Milwaukee this season. In fact, UWM is 5-4 on the road this season after going just 2-15 away from home last season. The Panthers have also won four of their last five on the road. UWM has enjoyed plenty of success away from Milwaukee in recent years, going 41-39 on the road over the last five-plus seasons. • One Last Big Trip This weekend's road swing to Detroit and Dayton marks the final doubleheader league weekend away from home for the Panthers. In fact, after this weekend, UWM will play five of its final six league games at home, with only a road game at Cleveland State remaining. The Panthers do also play a road Bracket Buster contest against an opponent to be determined. • Busting That Bracket Speaking of the ESPN BracketBusters event, the final piece of the Panthers' 2007-08 schedule will be filled in early next week when the BracketBusters pairings are announced. UWM knows it will play a road game in the event, which features games Feb. 22-23. Fourteen of the games will be televised by either ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic or ESPN360. • Claiming An Honor For the first time this season, a UWM player has been honored by the Horizon League as the league's player of the week. Marcus Skinner claimed the award after recording a pair of double-doubles as the Panthers captured wins over Youngstown State and Cleveland State. In the two games last week, Skinner averaged 15.5 points and 11 rebounds per contest while shooting 65 percent from the field. With a Panther player winning the award, UWM will get its chance this week to counter a rather unique trend. The team that has won the player of the week award has lost its next game for six-straight weeks. • Winning And Losing UWM has experienced plenty of highs and lows in the first 20 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. Since that run, the Panthers have won three more in a row and enter Thursday's game having won nine of its last 10 contests. With still more than a month to play, Milwaukee has also shown marked improvement from a season ago. In fact, The Panthers have already exceeded their overall win total and league win total. • 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 75-19 entering play Tuesday, and UWM's overall non-league schedule is ranked 52nd 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 12-8. • 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 8-0 when leading at halftime ... Milwaukee's six turnovers Thursday against YSU tied a season-low and the Panthers have just 17 turnovers in their last two games ... key reserve Deion James is averaging 11.2 points per game in his last eight outings, reaching double figures six times in that stretch ... Ricky Franklin has reached double figures offensively in three-straight games and has scored at least eight points in nine-straight contests ... UWM attempted 32 three-point shots Jan. 19 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 ... 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 ... 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. • Last Time Out Ricky Franklin scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures as UWM claimed a 79-71 win over Cleveland State Saturday night at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Two players added double-doubles for the Panthers, with Marcus Skinner tallying 15 points and 10 rebounds while Paige Paulsen contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds. Plus, Deion James scored 13 points off the bench and Deonte Roberts added 10 points. CSU sent Milwaukee to the foul line 22 times in the final three minutes of the game as the Panthers shot 41 total free throws in the contest. • Way To Rebound! UWM continues to win the battle of the boards and its work inside is paying off. The Panthers are 8-2 this season when they outrebound their opponents and they have won the rebounding battle in five of the last six games. This past weekend, Milwaukee got plenty of work done on the offensive glass. UWM's 17 offensive rebounds Thursday against Youngstown marked a season-high and the Panthers then added 15 more offensive rebounds Saturday against Cleveland State. UWM has been in double figures for offensive rebounds in all but three games this season. • 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. Skinner has collected three-straight double-doubles, becoming the first Panther to do so since Adrian Tigert accomplished the feat late in the 2005-06 campaign. 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 12 games, he is averaging 8.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest. • 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 then overcome poor field goal shooting to still score 13 points to go with 11 rebounds Saturday. He has now scored in double figures in his last 10 outings, averaging 17.7 points per game during that span. • Getting Everyone Involved UWM's success in league play has found a number of people getting involved offensively. In fact, the Panthers have had five players reach double figures offensively in each of the last two games. In league play, three players on the active roster are averaging in double figures, with Paige Paulsen (15.1 ppg) and Ricky Franklin (11.5 ppg) and Deion James (10.0 ppg) leading the way. Deonte Roberts and Marcus Skinner aren't far behind, with Roberts averaging 8.6 ppg and Skinner 8.2 ppg. • Charity Case Improved efforts on the offensive end have steadily resulted in the Panthers increasing their visits to the free throw line. UWM went 29-of-41 from the line in Saturday's win over Cleveland State. Overall, Milwaukee has attempted 243 free throws in its last 10 games, scoring an average of 17.3 points per game from the charity stripe. Plus, in league play, UWM is shooting 74.9 percent from the line. • 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 12 wins against its eight losses. For one, the Panthers have attempted just 137 free throws in eight losses (17.1/game) and 312 free throws in 12 victories (26.0/game). Also, UWM is allowing its opponents to shoot 50.2 percent from the field in its eight losses while limiting opponents to a 42.2 percent clip in its 12 victories. The opponent shooting percentage in losses includes 43.2 percent (63-of-146) from three-point range while opponents have shot just 27.5 percent (52-of-189) from three-point range in the 12 wins. Finally, the Panthers are averaging 73.7 points per game in 12 victories while scoring just 62.9 points per game in eight losses. • Up Next UWM heads to Wright State Saturday. The contest tips off at 6 p.m. CST and will be televised on Time Warner Sports, ESPN Full Court and ESPN360.com. |
