Your Milwaukee Panthers improved to 8-4 (2-0) Sunday with a big win over the Akron Zips at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee.
The Panthers got off to a fast start with a barrage of 3pt makes in the first half. Apparently, Akron did not have a scouting report on Erik Pratt and our newfound perimeter shooting abilities and paid the price. Akron did not allow us to make a three in the second half, but by then, we enjoyed a 10pt+ lead and had started scoring on up-tempo transition plays and pounding the ball into the paint.
Through a furious, fast-paced offensive and defensive effort, Milwaukee steadily extended the lead from 10 to 15 to 20 points and went on to score 100(!) to defeat Akron, 100-81 in what proved a very enjoyable Sunday basketball afternoon in Milwaukee.
Akron briefly closed the gap to 5 points with around 11 and a half minutes remaining in the second half, but Milwaukee quickly answered and never let Akron get closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Tavari Johnson led all Zips scorers with 22 points. Milwaukee had four starters and Erik Pratt score in double figures including Themus Fulks (23pts, 5reb, 7ast) who completely took over the game with impressive scoring drives to the hoop in the final minutes to secure this Panther victory.
This showtime finish by Fulks more than made up for some careless transition turnovers Fulks (along with Duffy) committed earlier in the game. Jamichael Stillwell (17pts, 18reb) continued his '24-'25 rampage; there is no end in sight for the achievements Stillwell is racking up- he is the #2 rebounder in the nation.
As a team the Panthers shot 11-19 (.579) from long distance; our three point shooting is heating up which could spell doom for opponents who thought we were one-dimensional and could only score on layups and post-ups.
Lundy is leading this team to the (bigtime) playoffs- will it be the NIT or the NCAAs?
We have one of the best rebounding teams in the country and we are starting to leverage that in spades as evidenced by our immense rebounding advantages in the last few games (46-28, 46-22, 41-24... 👀). And though Faizon Fields continues to recover from a broken hand, Danilo Jovanovich is healed enough to play now and made a great first appearance as a Panther Sunday scoring 8 points on 4-5 shooting in 9 minutes of play.
Fun fact from UWMFreak.com: "Akron entered the day ranked 122nd nationally on KenPom.com, making it the highest-rated opponent the Panthers have defeated since a win at Iowa State on Nov. 13, 2018."
Three in a row and things are trending up... Let's extend this winning streak to cover the final two 2024 games, far into 2025 and see what happens. With enough buzz we will have some nice Panther Arena crowds to cheer this team into March.
Milwaukee hosts the final non-con matchup against DIII North Central Illinois on Sunday, December 22nd at 2pm at the Klotsche Center on campus.
go panthers.
tilt the floor. 🏆🏀
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