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Upset bid falls just short
Poor shooting nearly digs Bulldogs’ ‘Graves’
By Tim Prahl
Attempting to redeem themselves after a disappointing loss at Butler on Feb. 12, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s basketball team came out of the gates shooting lights out while the fans inside the U.S. Cellular Arena were as loud as ever.
The Bulldogs, a team that lives by the three, shot a miserable 28.6 percent from behind the arc. Key ingredients for a UWM upset of the 10th ranked team in the nation? Certainly. Unfortunately for the Panthers, this recipe only spelt heartbreak for a team that played one of its best games of the season Tuesday night, as they fell 83-75.
The main problem for the Panthers on that snowy night in downtown Milwaukee: a 6-foot-1 guard named Mike Green, and potential Horizon League Player of the Year. The senior had done all the little things for his team on a night that the whole team seemed to go cold.
That is, until he came down awkwardly on his ankle with just under three minutes to play. Then he did the big things.
After finding a brace on the sideling for his sore right ankle, Green returned and hit four huge free throws, putting his team up by three with just five seconds to play. UWM guard Ricky Franklin wasn’t about to let Butler leave that easily though, as he drove down the court and nailed a game-tying three-pointer with 0.8 seconds left on the clock.
“It’s simple, you’ve got to put the ball in a guys hands and make a play,” Panthers head coach Rob Jeter said about the shot. “We practice dribble up three pointers, so that’s what we went with.”
Green continued to dominate however, scoring 10 of his 24 points in overtime, tying a career-high for points in a game. He also led his team with 13 rebounds, another career high, and eight assists.
“Mike can make plays with the ball,” Butler head coach Brad Stevens said after the game.
That might be the understatement of the season.
With Horizon League preseason Player of the Year A.J. Graves shooting just 2-for-14 from the field for the night, the burden fell on the senior from Philadelphia.
Green’s performance overshadows a magnificent game by Panthers senior forward Marcus Skinner, who had a career-high 25 points and an equally impressive 10 rebounds.
“It’s always a good challenge to play against a ranked team,” Skinner said. “I just tried to come out and play hard and full of enthusiasm.”
Skinner’s “enthusiasm” may have helped UWM coming out of the gates shooting 9-for-12 and leading by as many as 12 while taking a three point lead into the half.
One of the more surprising stories for the Panthers had to be the play of guard Allan Hanson. With Butler doing its best to shut down leading scorer Paige Paulsen, Hanson poured in a season high 18 points, connecting on five of his seven shots from downtown, one shy of his career-high.
The Panthers struggled with fouls all night long, seeing Hanson, Skinner and Paulsen miss significant minutes due to foul trouble, with Paulsen picking up his fifth in the overtime.
They also struggled from the free throw line, converting only 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) from the charity stripe for the game.
UWM will take their last road trip on Wednesday traveling to Cleveland St. for their last Horizon League game before going to Bradley for the O’Reilly BracketBuster.
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