In a time when teams want to be playing their best basketball of the year, the Milwaukee Panthers put up an uninspiring performance as the regular season nears its conclusion.
Milwaukee fell 71-52 to Purdue Fort Wayne after being outscored 41-26 in the second half on Wednesday at the Klotsche Center, continuing their losing streak, which now sits at six with one game to go in the regular season.
After an encouraging effort against Northern Kentucky in a 59-56 loss on Feb. 12, Milwaukee went on the road to Wright State and Green Bay and suffered two big losses, where they gave up 77 and 93 points, respectively.
The woes continued vs. the Mastodons, where a manageable four-point first-half deficit ballooned to 19 by the final buzzer.
Milwaukee’s loss locked in the 10-seed for their Horizon League postseason hopes. The Panthers will host last-place Detroit Mercy on Monday. The winner heads to Green Bay and takes on the top-seeded Phoenix.
Before the play-in action can start, Milwaukee will finish its regular season Saturday against IU Indy at the Klotsche Center.
Starters Struggled
“Our better players just, we need them to be playing a little bit better,” said head coach Kyle Rechlicz. “[Jorey Buwalda’s] been in a little bit of a slump for us, when you have that much pressure, your post-game has to be a release point.”
The top two scorers for the Panthers, Jorey Buwalda (0-7 FG) and Grace Lomen (2-9 FG), only combined for eight points on the night.
The Panthers five starters accumulated a -61 plus/minus on the night, compared to the Mastodons starters’ +109.
The most apparent infraction on the night was the 22 turnovers committed (largely contributed by the bench).
Despite outrebounding the Mastodons 40 to 33, the Panthers shot 13 fewer field goals than Purdue Fort Wayne, which matches the turnover margin that favored the Mastodons by +13.
Bench Scoring
With the starters unable to shoulder the offensive load, the bench had to step up. 38 of Milwaukee’s 52 points came from substitutes.
“When your bench starts playing better, if you can keep that consistency with your starters, that’s where you kinda take your run in February,” said Rechlicz.
Redshirt freshman Cece McNair paced the Panthers with 13 points and nine rebounds on the evening. Sophia Rampulla chipped in eight points while Kendall Barnes added seven in only 14 minutes of action.
McNair came into the game averaging the fewest points per game on the team. She has grown over the season, while still being a raw talent in the post.
“I love how Cece McNair is playing, I think that she is really coming into her own right now, figuring out how to make moves,” said Rechlicz. “She’s really owning the post-ups, and I’m really proud of that.”
Starting Lineup Changes?
The starting lineup has solidified as the season has gone on, usually featuring the more experienced Buwalda, Lomen, Jada Williams and Payton Rechlicz, along with freshman guard Madison Fitzgibbon.
Tweaks to the starting five happened a lot at the start of the year, but most of the time the additions rarely found their groove.
“We’re in between on that, earlier in the year, we made some changes to the starting lineup,” said Rechlicz. “A lot of people on our team have had chances in the starting lineups, and typically, those players when they started, ended up not playing very well.”
“We talked a lot about [it] as a staff, and we’re kind of in that position of like they’re playing really well coming off the bench, and maybe it was just we need to sub them in a little bit sooner,” said Rechlicz.
Tale of Two Halves
Milwaukee hung around in the first half, largely thanks to free throws, where they made 13-18. The free-throw production completely disappeared in the second half, where they didn’t attempt another for the rest of the game.
The Panthers held the Mastodons under 30% from the field after 20 minutes, but the dam broke in the second half, where Purdue Fort Wayne made 15 of their 29 attempts.
By the middle of the third quarter, the Mastodons built a comfortable lead that they would never relinquish.
Any Beacon of Hope?
Milwaukee now sits at an 8-22 overall record (4-15 HL). If there is one thing the Panthers can control and lean on going into the final stretch of the season, it’s their defense.
“If we’re going to make a run in the tournament, if we’re going to beat [IU Indy], it’s gotta be on the defensive side,” said Rechlicz. “In the last five games, we’ve given up way too many points.”
If the Panthers want to have any chance of ending the season strong and pulling off an upset in the Horizon League tournament, they will have to lean on their defense, have their starters show up and play with more discipline.
Saturday’s regular-season finale against IU Indy is scheduled to tip off at 2:00 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.