Friday served as a springboard for the Milwaukee Panthers to end any short-lived pity party and start getting back to the business of winning basketball games.
In just two games Josh Dixon has entered the record books and become a top scorer
An already thin Panther squad was further fractured as Sekou Konneh was a late scratch from the game due to the completely preventable mistake being late to a team shootaround (responsibility, responsibility, responsibility is the name of the game).
But fortunately, as has been required in the absence of Lovelace, Hubbard and now Stevie Elam (out 2 weeks with a stress fracture)- the "next man up" mentality rallied the troops and the team we were forced to play with more than held their own and the Panthers emerged victorious, 88-87.
South Dakota State battled tough and the lead exchanged several times in a game that could have gone either way, but Milwaukee (6-6, 2-0) toughed it out in the end and ensured victory- in large part due to making free throws that had been clanking off the mark far too often earlier in this season (likely costing us a few games already).
If some others continue to emerge and Aguillard stays hot from the perimeter, we may just overcome the injuries
Freshman Josh Dixon took full advantage of his newfound playing time and has done nothing short of excel at the shooting guard position (24pts vs SDSU). Also, a very encouraging development was our point guard Isaiah Dorceus dishing out 9(!) assists in the victory over SDSU. Questions at the point may be settled into something that will be effective... Amar Aguillard finally found his shooting stroke against the Jackrabbits pouring in 23 (a blistering 5-10 from 3pt) and D-Lo was well, typical D-Lo: 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. As well-rounded and consistent as you can get.
Just two days later, we traveled to Cleveland State and won again to even our overall record at .500 (6-6) and move to 2-0 in the Horizon League. This win was done much more convincingly, 81-71, thanks to a career performance by Dixon (28pts, 3reb) and brilliant turns by D-Lo (18pts, 8reb, 5ast) and Chandler Jackson (14pts on 4-6 from 3pt) of all people! Sunday's game featured a truly complete game- maybe the first one all season for Milwaukee.
Coach Lundy has been tasked with adjusting to a bevy of roster turnover due to injury; the rest of the season may look a bit different
Jackson was apparently set to take a redshirt but after the injury to Hubbard it was decided to let him play this year and it looks like he will get a lot of playing time if he plays anything like he did against the Vikings on Sunday.
Sunday's win was big, but it must be noted that Cleveland State is not a very good program this season (RPI 231). And neither is South Dakota State (RPI 245). If we are able to take out Purdue-Ft. Wayne, Oakland and Youngstown in the same fashion and get on a 5-7-10 game winning streak, I will start getting as excited as I was going into this topsy-turvy Milwaukee Panthers season.
Next up is a big conference test against a Purdue-Ft. Wayne team that just took down Notre Dame. It's a home game Monday, December 29th at Panther Arena. (And then we have the fortune of traveling to the Kohl Center in Madison to face Bucky Badger the following night.)
Be there for the game versus Fort Wayne or tune in on ESPN+. Things are moving in the right direction again and may (outside of the game in Madison- that'll be a long-shot to win) stay that way for a while.
There is a ton of Panther basketball yet to play; the conference season is just getting started.
go panthers.
press on. 🏆🏀
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