The Panthers earned their first victory of the season Monday night by defeating the Hampton Pirates 90-86. The game featured a lot to be excited about and a little cause for concern (esp. free throws).
Sekou Konneh, Stevie Elam and Seth Hubbard. All three made stellar Panther debuts. These three transfers are going to play big parts in the team's goal of reaching March Madness.
Hampton is no slouch. The CAA program has been to the Tournament 6 times (which is 2x more than Milwaukee) posting a record of 2-6. The CAA is a tough conference and in the top tier of all Mid-Major conferences.
In this, the first ever meeting between the two teams, the Panthers got out to a sizable lead early and only let off the gas late in the game. Threes were dropping all night for Stevie Elam (4-7 3PT) and Seth Hubbard (4-7 3PT) and the ball movement was better than we've seen since the days of Jordan Johnson (Johnson posted 13.4ast/game in '15-'16 👀).
If it weren't for shooting 23-42 (54.8%) from the charity stripe, this game would have been handily won by double digits. But mistakes like missed FTs and cold FG shooting catch up and in the waning minutes, Milwaukee saw its first victory of the season almost get snatched away in a flurry of Hampton made triples.
Fortunately, the steady hand of Elam and just enough made FTs down the stretch won the day and Milwaukee begins this season, 1-0. D-Lo finished with only 5pts but a monster 10 boards collected. Hubbard led all scorers with 23pts (most scored in the first half) followed by Fields (16), Elam (16) and Dorceus (11), who all scored in double digits.
Growing pains/huge room for improvement
Another season, another liability that never seems to change: Milwaukee needs to work on free throw shooting. 23-42 (54.8%) will not win many games at any level.
Injuries
Panther nation learned of heartbreaking news that the Panthers lost Johnny Lovelace Jr. for the season on a non-contact injury he recently suffered in practice.
The next contest is at Wofford in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Keep watching these Milwaukee Panthers as this '25-'26 season unfolds. The pieces are all there and starting to fit together. Historic things are on the Horizon.
go panthers.
remember the little things. 🏆🏀
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