Panthers Set To Host #9 Butler
Feb. 11, 2008
#23: Butler (21-2, 10-2) @ Milwaukee (12-10, 7-5)
Tipoff The Panthers will have had more than a week off when taking the floor Tuesday night. UWM has won nine of its last 12 games overall but dropped a pair of road games when it was last in action. After struggling through a 72-61 loss at Detroit, the Panthers fell, 53-51, to Wright State on a shot with just 0.4 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs are trying to pull away in the Horizon League, with their 10-2 mark putting them two games ahead of Wright State for the top spot in the league. Mike Green, A.J. Graves, Pete Campbell and Matt Howard all average in double figures offensively for Butler, which won at Green Bay Saturday night. • Game #23 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball team returns from an extended break by hosting nationally-ranked Butler Tuesday at the U.S. Cellular Arena. • Scouting The Bulldogs Butler continues to roll through the 2007-08 campaign, climbing to #10 in the latest Associated Press rankings. The Bulldogs then lived up to that billing in an exciting 71-68 win at Valparaiso Tuesday night before winning, 62-57, at Green Bay Saturday night. Mike Green and A.J. Graves top the senior-heavy roster for Butler, with four players in double figures overall. • History Lesson Butler holds a 25-9 edge in the all-time series with UWM but the Panthers have been making inroads of late. In fact, though the Bulldogs have won three-straight in the series, the Panthers have gone 6-5 in the last 11 meetings between the two schools. UWM is 5-1 against Butler in the last six meetings at the U.S. Cellular Arena, and 6-1 against the Bulldogs in their last seven meetings in Milwaukee if you throw in a 2003 contest at the Klotsche Center.
• First Time With The Bulldogs Matt Howard had 17 points and Pete Campbell added 15 as 14th-ranked Butler claimed a 72-56 victory over UWM Jan. 12 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Panthers shot just 35.1 percent from the field. Paige Paulsen did have 14 points to lead Milwaukee, which also got 13 points from Deion James. A.J. Graves added 11 points and Mike Green 10 for Butler, which turned the ball over just five times. • Memorable Moments Recent seasons have seen a number of memorable contests between Butler and UWM, including a pair of meetings in league title games. Dating back to the 2000-2001 season, three meetings between the two teams have gone into overtime while three others have been decided by two points or less. Each team has also claimed a win at the buzzer. In Indianapolis in 2002, Clay Tucker hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to give UWM a win. Then, in the final game of the 2003 regular season in Indy, Avery Sheets hit a three at the horn to give the Bulldogs a 76-74 win. In 2005-06 at Hinkle Fieldhouse, A.J. Graves hit a three at the end of regulation to force overtime before Butler pulled out a three-point win. Then, despite UWM's struggles and Butler's magical season a year ago, the Panthers had a one-point lead with four minutes left in the game at the U.S. Cellular Arena. • Matching Up The Best When Milwaukee and Butler get together, the game pits the two best programs in the Horizon League over the last eight-plus seasons. The two schools have been a part of the last eight regular season league crowns, with Butler winning four-straight from 1999-2000 to 2002-03 while sharing the title last season and Milwaukee winning three-straight from 2003-04 to 2005-06. The schools also have the three most recent Sweet 16 appearances by league schools and the two have combined for 11 postseason wins in that time, including nine NCAA Tournament wins and two NIT victories. Since 2001-02, UWM is 76-32 in League play while Butler is 74-33. • Pulling Rank UWM will be playing against a ranked team for the third time this season when it takes on #10 Butler Tuesday night. In addition to an earlier matchup with Butler, UWM also lost to then-#13 Marquette earlier this year. But, after losing its first 25 games against teams ranked in the AP poll, the Panthers have gone 3-8 in their last 11 games against ranked foes. Over the last three seasons, Milwaukee has beaten Alabama (AP #21 - `04-'05), Boston College (AP #14 - `04-'05) and Oklahoma (AP #24 - `05-'06), while falling to Illinois (AP #1 - `04-'05), Memphis (AP #12 - `05-'06), Florida (AP #11 - `05-'06), Wisconsin (AP #7 - `05-'06) and Butler (AP #15; AP #13 - `06-'07), as well as to Marquette and Butler earlier this season. The Panthers do also own a win at Butler in 2001-02 when the Bulldogs were ranked 25th in the ESPN/USA Today poll but were not ranked by the AP. The highest-ranked team to ever visit the U.S. Cellular Arena to play the Panthers was Utah, which was sixth in the country when it beat UWM, 65-51, at the Arena in 1997. • 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 50-17 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 55-11 in regular season Horizon League home contests over the last eight-plus seasons. The Panthers are 7-4 at home this season, including a current streak of five-straight wins. • Busting That Bracket UWM will take on Bradley in an O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters game, ESPN officials announced earlier this week. The contest will be played Sat., Feb. 23, at Carver Arena in Peoria, Ill., with the contest tipping off at 8 p.m. CST and airing on ESPN360. The Braves (14-11) have positioned themselves for a run at the postseason. In fact, after suffering through a six-game losing streak with top performer Daniel Ruffin injured, Bradley has bounced back to win six of its last seven games. The BracketBusters agreement includes a return game by Bradley to the U.S. Cellular Arena next season, with that game date to be announced. • Winning And Losing UWM has experienced plenty of highs and lows in the first 22 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 games and enter Tuesday's game having won nine of their last 12 contests. With still three weeks 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. Plus, UWM has won five true road games this season. • Learning The Lessons Of A Challenge Perhaps one of the answers to UWM's much-improved play over the last six weeks 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 89-25 entering play this week, and UWM's overall non-league schedule is ranked 51st nationally. In case you haven't paid attention, Wisconsin, Marquette and Drake are all nationally-ranked while Sam Houston State is 18-4 and Northern Iowa is 14-10. • 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 Key reserve Deion James is averaging 10.1 points per game in his last 10 outings, reaching double figures six times in that stretch ... Ricky Franklin has reached double figures offensively in four of his last five games and has scored at least eight points in 11-straight contests ... the Panthers have overcome double-digit deficits to win games three times this season, including a 17-point deficit at Ball State Nov. 14 and a 14-point deficit with 6:30 to play in a home win over Detroit Jan. 3 ... UWM has already fielded five different starting lineups this season, though the Panthers have used the same starting five over the last 12 games. Seven different players have earned starts. Last season, the Panthers used seven different starting lineups with eight different players earning starts. • Last Time Out Vaughn Duggins scored on a driving bank shot with 0.4 seconds remaining to send Wright State to a 53-51 win over UWM Feb. 2 at the Nutter Center. The Panthers trailed by as many as seven in the second half but tied the game on a Marcus Skinner tip-in with just under 11 seconds to play. But, the Raiders pushed the ball back up the floor before Duggins eventually drove inside and converted the game-winner. Skinner led Milwaukee with 16 points. • Stumbles On The Road Trip UWM dropped contests at Detroit and Wright State when it last took the floor, with the Panthers struggling in a variety of categories in both contests. In fact, Milwaukee shot just 36.8 percent from the floor in those two games while averaging just 56 points per contest. The Panthers also turned the ball over 28 times while being outscored 28-18 from the foul line. Nearly every one of those trends counters the numbers from the previous 10 games, as in that span UWM averaged less than 12 turnovers, shot 40 percent from the field and outscored its opponents 173-113 from the charity stripe. • Punch From Paige The extended layoff for the Panthers comes at a good time for senior sharp-shooter Paige Paulsen, who has struggled in his last three outings. In fact, after scoring a game-high 24 points in the win over Youngstown State Jan. 24, Paulsen has made just 11 of his last 42 shots from the field. Included in that is an 8-of-25 clip from three-point range. But Paulsen, who averages nearly 15 points per game, has still reached double figures in 12 of his last 14 outings and knocks in nearly 45 percent of his three-point shots on the season. • The Skinny On Skinner The most pleasant individual development of the 2007-08 season is the play of senior Marcus Skinner, who has gone from a little-used reserve to a strong presence inside. Skinner had 16 points and eight rebounds in the loss at Wright State, a performance that came on the heels of his earning Horizon League Player of the Week honors after back-to-back double-doubles. In fact, Skinner recorded three-straight double-doubles last month and he is averaging 13 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in his last five outings. • Improving The Defense There is no question much-improved play on defense is a big reason for UWM's winning ways of late. 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 43.4 percent from the field and scoring just 63.9 points per game. The Panthers haven't allowed more than 73 points in this span. The pinnacle of the defensive performances may have come Jan. 7 in Youngstown, when UWM allowed just 39 points and 24.5 percent shooting. • 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 in two of the last four games. In league play, two players on the active roster are averaging in double figures, with Paige Paulsen (14.4 ppg) and Ricky Franklin (11.1 ppg) leading the way. Deion James, Deonte Roberts and Marcus Skinner all aren't far behind, with James averaging 9.2 ppg, Skinner 8.5 ppg and Roberts averaging 7.8 ppg in Milwaukee's 12 league contests. • Winning Numbers The trends leading to UWM victories have become rather apparent of late. One quick place to look is the free throw line, with UWM outscoring opponent by more than five points per game in wins while being outscored by nearly two points in losses. In fact, the Panthers have made nearly as many free throws (215) as their opponents have attempted (217) in the 12 victories. UWM has also crashed the glass, outrebounding opponents by nearly three boards per game in 12 victories while capturing almost 13 offensive rebounds per contest in those games. UWM has been outrebounded by five boards per game in 10 losses. Finally, look no further than on defense, with opponents shooting 48.9 percent in 10 UWM losses against just 42.2 percent in 12 Milwaukee victories. • Up Next UWM stays home to host in-state rival Green Bay Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Arena. The game tips off at 7 p.m. CST and can be seen live on Time Warner Sports. |
