The Panthers’ early-season woes continued with an 80-67 loss to the visiting Longwood Lancers on Wednesday at the UWM Panther Arena. The Panthers dropped to 4-7 with the loss, including a 2-7 record against Division I opponents.
Now more than one-third of the way through the season, just one non-conference matchup remains before Horizon League play fully kicks off. The Panthers have played just one game in Horizon League play, a loss on Dec. 2 to the Green Bay Phoenix.
“Our old guys who were hungry last year – they’ve been entitled,” said a frustrated Lundy after the game. “[They] haven’t worked as hard as they need to and haven’t kept our culture where it needed to be. And we need more from them.”
Head coach Bart Lundy believes the veterans must step up for the team to play to its abilities.
“I don’t think we approached summer, I don’t think we approached fall right,” said Lundy. “We need them to be right, we need them to be hungry, and we need them to fight and not have agendas… we need those guys.”
The Panthers’ first-half challenges continued as they trailed 39-33 at the break, the eighth time in just 11 games that Milwaukee was outscored in the first half. Just once this year have they left victorious following a first-half deficit.
“It’s been an ongoing battle,” said Lundy speaking on the team’s first-half struggles. “We’ve done everything that we can think of to tweak and move and script – to get off to good starts and not play from behind.”
The home team’s struggles continued into the second half on Wednesday, trailing the entirety of the second half.
“You try to play good basketball, and you try to play 40 minutes of it,” said Lundy, alluding to the struggles that stretched into the second half. “We’re not there yet.”
Milwaukee looked the part of a ship without its captain on Wednesday, sorely missing the on-court leadership and playmaking ability of BJ Freeman, who missed his fourth consecutive game with a back injury. Longwood capitalized on the Panthers’ uncontrolled aggression, forcing 14 turnovers in his absence and holding the Panthers to 41 percent shooting from the field.
Erik Pratt led the way in scoring with just 12 points, with Elijah Jamison and Markeith Browning II also reaching double digits. Aaron Franklin chipped in nine points and seven rebounds.
The Panthers had no answers for either of Longwood’s two standouts, guard Walyn Napper and 7-footer Szymon Zapala. The pair each scored a game-high 24 points, with Napper doling out nine assists and Zabala pulling down eight rebounds. The Zabala-led Lancers outscored Milwaukee 46-32 in the paint.
“We couldn’t control Walyn Napper, nobody on our team could control him,” said Lundy speaking on the junior guard. “Nobody could control Zapala… it’s 48 points.”
Wednesday marked the 11th consecutive win for the Virginia-based Lancers.
In addition to Freeman, the injury-plagued Panthers were without guards Langston Wilson (ankle) and Zach Howell (shoulder). The team hopes the trio will return for next week’s matchup with Chattanooga.
Lundy also announced a piece of unfortunate news – transfer guard Pierce Spencer will likely miss the rest of the season, indicating his knee injury may even be career-threatening.
“I feel for him,” said a clearly disappointed Lundy. “he’s a true hooper to his core, so it’s a bit difficult for him too.”
Some 20 games remain before the end of the regular season, but the first 11 have revealed the Panthers’ significant shortcomings.
“It’s a long season… we’re a one-bid league,” said Lundy, alluding to the Horizon League only placing one representative in the NCAA tournament each year. “We won’t be the first team that has had a really bad non-conference that can turn it around in league play.”
The Panthers return to action next Friday with a matinee matchup with Chattanooga, a 1 p.m. tip-off at the UWM Panther Arena.