In what turned out to be a relative cakewalk the Panthers outplayed a clearly inferior Green Bay team, but the question still remains- how good (or bad) is this Milwaukee team, really?
This plodding contest saw Green Bay shoot an ice cold 6-27 from the field in the first half. Green Bay's Kamari McGhee kept things close leading the Phoenix' charge throughout the night. The slow pace played more to Green Bay's style and the refs (always the refs) were happily complicit in helping keep things slowed down, checking all appearences of contact away from the ball.
Milwaukee had evenly distributed scoring in the first half with no players scoring in double figures. Interestingly though several of the baskets went unassisted.
The second half started out with a furious Phoenix offensive push that was capped by a Kamari McGee steal to transition layup that tied the game 33 all with 16:47 left.
Concerning but not cause for alarm: PBJ was easing back into the lineup and had minimal impact before he went down with what appeared to be a lower leg injury with 15:49 left. Fortunately, he got up under his own power and though he did not return, it appears to not be a serious injury. Let's hope he is good to go Friday night. Time will tell yet how PBJs freshman season at Milwaukee went. There have certainly been some highlights and lowlights already, but there are almost 20 games yet to play at the low end. I'm confident we've yet to see any of his best games as a Panther.
After PBJ went down, Milwaukee recovered the lead and slowly built it up to "insurmountable" status (which as we saw in the Wright State HLT game last season doesn't really exist).
A Lathon to JT alley oop jam with around three minutes remaining sealed the deal and Milwaukee went on to victory over Green Bay, 63-49. A win like this was sorely needed. Now we need to replicate this kind of play to defeat better teams by a smaller or equal margin.
Gholston (16pts, 5reb) and Thomas (13pts, 3reb) led the Panthers offensively, and the Milwaukee defense did a great job of limiting the Phoenix, especially to protect the final lead close out the game in the last 5 minutes. But again, assists (Milwaukee had just 7 on the game) were at a premium which is a bit odd and hopefully reverses against Detroit.
Let's hope this very 1st 😳 winning streak of the season proves to be an extended and thoroughly enjoyable one. We need some positive vibes to return to this team, this fan base and this story of the '21-'22 Milwaukee Panthers. Each win amplifies the energy.
We play at Detroit Friday night at 6pm CST on ESPN+. Tune in for what may well be another W added to this streak and a Milwaukee team that looks a lot better playing against the Horizon than it does playing against the PAC12 or A10.
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