Your Milwaukee Panthers didn't play their best basketball today, but they emerged victorious, and that could be just the spark needed to get back to the top of the conference.
The Panthers were without Jamichael Stillwell (minor finger injury) and Johnny Lovelace Jr. started in place of Darius Duffy who was late to the team's pre-game shootaround. Milwaukee (12-6, 5-2) started the game out on their back foot playing Green Bay (2-16, 0-7) roughly even for the first 8 minutes of the game. Eventually, Kentrell Pullian (13pts, 10reb) and Lovelace (10pts, 2-4 from 3pt) got the offense to work.
Milwaukee held a 10+ point cushion until 7 minutes left in the second half; Green Bay kept things interesting in the final minutes, closing the deficit to just 5 points with 1:28 left and only just losing by more than single digits in the end, 70-59.
The second half exposed some of our worst defensive tendencies (leaving Green Bay shooters wide open on the perimeter and allowing some ridiculously easy post buckets by some subpar postmen). I think our defense will be a lot better with Stillwell back in the lineup next week.
Themus Fulks led all Panther scorers with 14 points (he was an incredible 12-12 from the free throw line), as well as 5 assists, 6 rebounds and just a single turnover(!). Erik Pratt had much-needed good shooting night adding 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals coming off the bench.
Phoenix head coach Doug Gottlieb sure has his work cut out for him (the Phoenix are firmly cemented at the bottom of the Horizon League- which is why nearly losing this game is... concerning, despite the overall great Arena atmosphere and flickers of championship-caliber basketball).
The Panthers look forward to the return of Stillwell and another huge home game next Friday night against Youngstown State (11-7, 6-2). A big win against the Penguins could lead to a string of 3,000+ crowds (we had a very impressive 3,507 fans in the stands today). A string of 3,000+ crowds and wins on top of those crowds could lead to playoffs at the Arena again. And another HLT championship.
Time'll tell.
go panthers.
tilt the floor. 🏆🏀
Comments