Milwaukee dropped a 6th straight game tonight in the Horizon League opener vs. Youngstown State downtown at the Arena. Panther fans hoping for PBJ to help rescue this sinking ship will have to wait at least 1 more game as he was out tonight still recovering from an ankle injury.
In addition to Baldwin Jr. out, Samba Kane and Markeith Browning also were out with injury. Josh Thomas returned to the lineup and came off the bench to spark some memorable shifts in momentum, but we needed more than JT and we need more minutes from JT.
"we can still go 20-11 (17-5)"
Costly turnovers down the stretch and our continued, mind-numbing inability to break a press were major contributors to this latest L. This was our game to give away and we did a fine job at that. After trailing nearly all game to Milwaukee, the Penguins punched back and punched back hard in the final minutes, closing the gap and then asserting a lead of their own from which we could not recover. 70-68, Youngstown State. And the Milwaukee fans, and players, and staff went home with an empty, sinking feeling- yet again. 😐
FG, 3PT, FT
31.3% 25.0% 85.2%
48.1% 30.0% 71.4%
Youngstown's Tevin Ollison (18pts, 7reb, 3stl) was a persistent threat all night and Owen Long (17pts, 2-4 from 3pt) hit some bigtime 3s on an uncharacteristically big night. Milwaukee's attack was led by DeAndre Gholston (24pts, 7reb, 2stl) with Simms (12pts, 7reb) and Newby (13pts) also scoring in double figures.
There were some bright spots tonight. Milwaukee played for some time with a sizable lead and even pushed out to a 11-point lead more than once. We were competitive and though we lost, this wasn't nearly as embarrassing as some of our previous 5 early season clunkers.
The "early season" is over. It's go-time and your Milwaukee Panthers are looking like a rudderless ship. It seems clear to me that DeAndre Gholston is the leader this team looks up to. DreGo, and others are going to have to step up, and lead this team out of adversity and into more pleasant straights (ie. a 6 game winning streak).
The Horizon League being what it is (YSU is middle of the league at worst), we can still go 20-11 (17-5). With likely losses at Colorado, at Wright State, at Oakland (and vs. Oakland 😕) and at Cleveland State, there aren't any other games I am conceding out of hand. No reason we shouldn't run the table in all the rest of our games outside of these 5. I'm not convinced Youngstown State or Detroit is any better than us- and that is saying something as we are... where we are... 😴💤 at 1-6 (0-1) in this, the first quarter of our '21-'22 season.
And while it would be incredible to beat Colorado on the road, etc.(!)- it starts with winning winnable games. A-10 contender Rhode Island won't be a walk in the park, but it is a home game. The students who showed up tonight in force know that that means something. It is a winnable game.
We need to get healthy (Browning is out 5 weeks with a hand fracture, Kane is out, PBJ is out) and play the percentages (distribute minutes by production).
I don't know what it will take, but a serious shift needs to happen at some point. This season is too valuable to piddle away.
Milwaukee plays host to Robert Morris this Saturday at 11am. Maybe that'll be the day the Panthers begin to feast.
go panthers.
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