Return of the series
Greg Gard and the Badgers took care of business against his former team in a 60-80 victory at the Kohl Center. This marks the return of the series and first match up since 2019. Wisconsin leads Milwaukee 25-2 overall. The last victory for the Panthers was a 67-68 upset in 2015 at the Kohl Center.
First half
The game started off hot with an 18-2 lead within the first nine minutes for the Badgers. The deficit resulted from the Panther’s early foul troubles. This allowed the Badgers to score 11-15 on free throws within the lead. The Panthers attempted to take an opportunity on shooting beyond the arch, but failed by only shooting 1-14 in the first half.
The Panthers struggled defending the paint. Wisconsin Guard John Blackwell, who was coming back from a minor injury, picked up six rebounds. Danilo Jovanovich and Isaiah Dorceus tied together in rebounds with four boards. The failure to rebound defensively led to 20 points being scored in Milwaukee’s paint.
Drawing near the second half, The Panthers started picking up the pace with the bench. They scored 16 points in the paint. With nine points contributed by Amar Augillard. As the first half ended, the Panthers were behind 21-37.
The issues from both sides were the offense. The Badgers were only able to put up 26 points with shooting 2-14 beyond the arc. The Panthers also struggled with transition giving up nine points for Wisconsin.
Second Half
The second half started off with a 9-0 run by the Panthers, coming down to a seven point deficit. Also taking advantage of Badger’s turnovers and foul issues early on. Wisconsin could not fight back on the offense, Shooting 0-4 beyond the arc as their only shot attempts. After back-to-back successful free throws from Josh Dixon and John Blackwell, the momentum had shifted back to the Badgers.
Wisconsin Guard Nick Boyd led the team to 70-49 lead, scoring 12 points before being subbed out for Zach Kinziger. With the game winding down, the Wisconsin bench came in to finish the game. Despite being outscored from the Milwaukee bench 19-16.
The Panther’s struggled on defense allowing 16-27 on field goal attempts. Despite scoring six points from turnovers, alongside shooting 13-16 on the free throw line. It became evident that the Panthers could not handle defending the Badgers.
What went wrong?
What prevented the Panthers from closing out the game had many factors. The first reason was the fouls on Milwaukee in the first half, allowing Wisconsin to grab 11 points during the 18-2 run. Turnovers were another issue with the Badgers scoring 20 points off them. Amar Augillard led the team in turnovers with a career high of seven.
In the second half the defense collapsed. They reduced Wisconsin’s defensive rebounds from 23-10 but still allowed 26 points in the paint. This was potentially the biggest reason could be attributed to the Panther’s schedule. The Panthers were coming off a 77-55 blowout victory against Purdue-Fort Wayne in Indiana the night prior. While the Badgers had eight days to prepare before the match-up.
Freshman’s shined under the lights
One positive takeaway from the match was the performance by freshmen Josh Dixon and Redshirt Freshman Sekou Konneh.
Josh Dixon, who was named National Mid-Major Player of the Week last week, had a rough first half. Only shooting 1-6 alongside a defensive rebound. However, he exploded in the second half scoring 15, one deep three pointer and going 4-4 on free throws. He once again has become the leading scorer for the Panthers in three out of his four starts.
Sekou Konneh had a similar repeat performance from the night prior when he scored 10 points and rebounded nine times in Fort Wayne. At the Kohl Center, he scored eight points with eight rebounds. He showcased his ability to rebound within the paint and score put backs.
Coming up next
Following the match, the Panther have an away game in Ohio to face off against conference opponent Wright State. Following that, a match up on the road to face the historical rival, UW-Green Bay. Then Milwaukee will be at home for a three game stretch facing off against other conference opponents. This will be a test to see if they can live up to the pre-season hype as favors to win the Horizon League.