Your Milwaukee Panthers suffered their second defeat of the season in Bloomington, IN this past Wednesday. The Hoosiers stepped on the gas pedal and mowed down UWM's challenge like some dry whisps of November grass. Hubbard scored 17 (5reb), Augillard 14 (5reb) and Jovanovich led the Panthers with 18 (6reb) and some impressive toughness against some of the Big Ten's best frontline players. And bigtime help even came from unexpected places- Tate Mackenzie stepped in and blocked 3 Hoosier shots.
Outside of the first 8 minutes though, it was not close and Indiana maintained a 10 point buffer before blasting the lead out to 31 in the finals minutes. But the Panthers got some great experience, which they seemed to use to their advantage just 48 hours later.
On Friday night, the contest was much more competitive. Milwaukee (2-3, 0-0) got out to an early 6 point lead on the back of three straight made triples and more or less held that lead for around 10 minutes before Texas Tech starting clicking and reclaimed the lead.
An upset against what could be one of the best teams in the B1G was not in the cards Monday night
Donavan Atwell (17pts) was a thorn in the Panthers side all night hitting 5-10 from the perimeter; frustratingly, all of his triples seemed to silence burgeoning Panther runs. Christian Anderson led the Red Raider charge with 18 and scored on backdoor cuts and uncontested mid range shots at will during several points throughout the game, exposing (momentary) glaring holes in the otherwise relatively stout Panther defense.
A bright spot emerging on both sides of the floor is our frontcourt. Last night Jovanovich (17pts, 5reb, 3ast) was the anchor and Sekou Konneh (12pts, 8reb) the pendulum. The former was a pro in the paint clearing space and making his own beautiful fadeaway shots while Konneh was rebounding everything in sight and threw down some poster-worthy dunks as well as several tough shots.
Scaring the Panther base who have seen him struggle with a shoulder injury last season, D-Lo went down with what seemed like an ankle injury after colliding with an official late in the first and had to be helped off the floor.
Our emerging backcourt star Seth Hubbard (11pts) contributed greatly on both sides of the ball in the first half but was hampered by fouls the entire game, depriving the team of a valuable weapon in this uphill battle.
Despite all this, these two teams were close enough at half for Panther fans to remain hopeful: 41-36.
And coming out of the break, we saw that D-Lo was recovered and back on the floor to wreak more havoc against this potent P5 program in Lubbock.
As the game wound down, the Panthers went ice cold from the perimeter which never helps an underdog on the road (no made 3s in the second half). And so the Red Raiders were able to press their advantage out to 10, then 15 and by then only 4 minutes remained and Milwaukee didn't have the time or 3pt shots to get back in it.
But just as there were bright spots against the Hoosiers, the Milwaukee Panthers played a solid game against Texas Tech and made the fanbase proud of where we are already at and hopeful for where we seem to be headed if we keep progressing and gelling at this kind of torrid pace (the jitters and frequent missed assignments seen in the Hampton opener are- all gone).
If I may be so bold, I will state: one can see this team competing with high seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
And I mean that. We've another opportunity to make national noise next Saturday at Wichita State. Win or lose, it'll get us that much more battle-tested and we could see a pretty entertaining Panther homecoming once this group gets back to playing in Milwaukee. And then a pretty entertaining Horizon League slate both home and away.
There is a long, long, long way to go, but it is time to get dead-set on the road to making that Return to March Madness dream- a reality.
go panthers.
tilt the floor. 🏆🏀
Comments