The Milwaukee Panthers (1-5 (0-0)) were without key starters Patrick Baldwin Jr. (ankle) and Josh Thomas (undetermined) as well as Markeith Browning (hand) and Samba Kane (turf toe).
That is hardly an excuse to get wiped around on your home court by the not-so-mighty Alcorn State Braves (1-5 (0-0)) of the SWAC.
With bright flickers of Simms finally looking ready, Joey St. Piere (10pts, 10reb) looking much more capable in the post and Donavan Newby continuing his 3pt marksmanship, there were a few moments to look up from our palms. DreGO tallied 13pts and Newby kept us in the game with 16pts, 2stl while connecting on 4-7 from 3pt. Lathon may yet find his 3pt shot, but what we really need from him is offense creation.
That is this team's Achillies heel. We seem to take low percentage shots that the opponent's defense gives us. This is a recipe for losing. We need a true floor marshal, more off-ball movement and more passing to create spaces.
We saw some of that on Sunday, but our offensive cohesion remains a work in progress.
Dre Gholston, JSP and Donovan could not will us to victory in this game. Newby is slowly and steadily making a case for increased minutes- he is just plain shooting well, defending well and playing solid basketball. St. Piere looked better than any other game this season. But Dre is just 1 component of our 3-headed monster (of PBJ, Dre and JT) and we need more offensive firepower.
Milwaukee was favored -11 and lost by 4 in a game Alcorn handily controlled- at least in the second half [broken record playing..🎵]. Milwaukee apparently forgot about clock management and how to intentionally foul at the end (we might have had a shot to tie this one at the end- were it not for this mental error).
It was a bad shooting game for the Braves and the Panthers, but the Panthers were out-rebounded and struggled yet again to break the press. Milwaukee did offer some strong pressure near the halfway mark of the second half which was very effective and should be employed more than only when we are playing from behind.
We need to get out to some big leads. That hasn't happened this season outside of North Dakota.
FG, 3PT, FT:
37.5% 33.3% 70.0%
38.5% 17.4% 65.0%
No disrespect to Alcorn State- they played well enough to beat a team that many analysts thought had a very real shot at vying for the Horizon League Regular Season Championship.
We won't have to worry about meeting that expectation if we continue playing like this. It seems like every game the bar gets lower and lower. The way we're playing on the court right now will lead to some very lonely and cold nights at the Arena. Nights that we planned to be playing competitive DI hoops.
Remember who we are: Milwaukee. These first 6 games should not be representative of our entire season. 26+ more to go. Let's get our injured players back, stay healthy and take conference by storm with the same passion we seem to have for shooting low-percentage 3pt shots. All it takes is a little positive momentum and that starts with winning Thursday night against Youngstown State.
Coaches need to step up; leaders need to step up; the team is starving for unity.
This team's season is already being written off as a failure by many who had been rooting to see us fall and let this opportunity slip. Take control of the situation. Take back the narrative and settle the score.
go panthers.
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