Saturday, December 31, 2011

Postgame Report - Milwaukee at Butler

Game #15 – Butler 54, Milwaukee 50

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: No one in particular stood out for the Panthers on a day where Milwaukee struggled to get on track offensively. But Kaylon Williams should again get recognized for his efforts in playing all 40 minutes. He scored 12 points to go with five assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Key Stat: Milwaukee’s shooting certainly wasn’t good but the 18 turnovers – and Butler’s 14 points off of those turnovers – certainly proved to be a key.

News and Notes: Milwaukee saw its 12-game regular season Horizon League winning streak snapped … this was the eighth time this season the Panthers have held an opponent under 60 points … this was also the 14th time in 15 games UWM held its opponent to less than 44 percent shooting from the field … in addition to this four-point game, nine other recent matchups between UWM and Butler have been decided by three points or less or in overtime … the Panthers have shot less than 40 percent in three of their last five games … Milwaukee has also tried 20 or more three-pointers in five-straight games, including 25 or more three times … Butler’s 12-point first-half run was the largest Milwaukee has given up this season … the Panthers had been 4-0 in games decided by five points or less.

Up Next: UWM returns to non-league play with a Tuesday game at Western Michigan.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Postgame Report - Milwaukee at Valparaiso

Game #14 – Milwaukee 57, Valparaiso 55

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: It didn’t take long for Tony Meier to get back on track. One game after missing all 10 of his field goal attempts, the senior knocked in five 3-pointers and led Milwaukee with 17 points. He also contributed a solid effort defensively.

Key Stat: The Panthers once again played stingy defense, holding the Horizon League’s best offensive team to just 55 points. Valpo made just 1-of-17 from three-point range, with UWM now ranking second in the nation in three-point field goal defense.

News and Notes: Milwaukee won at Valpo for the first time since the 2007-08 season … the Panthers are 3-0 in league play for the first time since 2008-09 … UWM has now won 12-straight regular season Horizon League games … Kaylon Williams was nearing another triple-double in the game, scoring 10 points to go with nine rebounds and seven assists … the Panthers again played without Ja’Rob McCallum, who has missed the last eight games with a wrist injury … the only lower point output for Valpo this season was the 47 the Crusaders scored at Ohio State.

Up Next: UWM is off to Butler for a Saturday afternoon contest.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Inside Some Of The Numbers

With a brief break in the schedule, there's a chance to look a little closer at some numbers and trends on the men's basketball side of things.

First, on last night, UWM shot just 26.7 percent from the floor overall and Milwaukee made just 4-of-28 from three-point range. The overall shooting percentage marked the first time in nearly a year the Panthers shot less than 30 percent from the floor, and it was the lowest shooting percentage since Milwaukee shot just 24.1 percent in a loss at Butler in 2009.

But, that sent me looking a little deeper at the numbers breakdown in wins and losses this season. A year ago at this time, the difference in wins and losses was striking on both offense and defense - remember Cleveland State shooting 65 percent from the field and squads like Portland and even Marquette lighting up the Panthers?

This year, all of the striking differences are on the offensive end, as Milwaukee has been extremely consistent defensively.

In fact, the Panthers have allowed opponents to shoot 38.7 percent in the nine wins but still just 40.2 percent in four losses.

Offensively, though, consider these breakdowns:

- UWM is shooting 43.8 percent in nine wins while scoring 69.9 points per game. In the Panthers’ four losses, they are shooting just 36 percent from the floor and averaging just 52.5 points per game.

- There’s an even greater gap in the numbers from three-point range, with Milwaukee shooting 39.4 percent from distance in nine wins and just 20.2 percent from beyond the arc in four losses.

- For those deeply into the stats, UWM’s points-per-possession number is 1.06 in nine wins and .844 in four losses.

What does it all mean? Well, obviously, a bit more consistency on offense could lead the Panthers to even greater heights. But the numbers also make a great case for just how much you can stay in games and win games simply by playing good defense. UWM's overall offense numbers are far from great, yet the record stands at 9-4 after 13 games.

Postgame Report - Milwaukee at Marquette

Game #13 – Marquette 64, Milwaukee 50

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: Ryan Allen was the best player on the floor Thursday night. The senior tallied collegiate-highs for both rebounds and blocks in tallying the first double-double of his career. He wound up with 16 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks.

Key Stat: One needs to look no further than the Panthers’ shooting numbers to see the story of the game. UWM made just 16-of-60 overall and just 4-of-28 from three-point range.

News and Notes: Marquette won for the 39th-straight time in the series … this marked the fifth-straight year the two teams have met … Ryan Allen’s six blocked shots marked a new Division I school record … Kyle Kelm returned to the starting lineup after missing the last two games with a shoulder injury … Kelm scored 10 points in his return ... UWM still played without starting guard Ja’Rob McCallum, who has missed the last seven games … the Panthers’ shooting struggles were widespread Thursday night. Tony Meier went 0-for-10, Paris Gulley 1-for-9 and Evan Richard 1-for-7. The trio made just 1-of-18 three-point chances.

Up Next: UWM heads back to Horizon League play, facing Valparaiso (Dec. 29) and Butler (Dec. 31) in road contests next week.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Postgame Report: Milwaukee vs. Toledo

Game #10 – Milwaukee 60, Toledo 57

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: Courtney Linfors posted the third double-double of her career with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but after she went out with an injury early in the second half, it was freshman Ashley Green that led the way. She played all 20 minutes of the second half and scored 10 of her 16 points, including several big hoops and a pair of great assists.

Green joined Scott Warras after the contest. Hear her postgame radio interview HERE.

Key Stats: The game looked to be a battle after one half, with seven ties and five lead changes alone in the first 20 minutes. The second half featured two huge runs, with UWM's proving to be the clincher. Toledo opened the second half by scoring 19 points in a row to lead 46-30. But, Milwaukee held tight and came back with a 22-2 run if its own that gave them the lead with about 4 minutes left that it never relinquished. Free throws have been a bit of a struggle for UWM this season, but the Panthers ended up outscoring the Rockets, 22-6, from the charity stripe. In that 22-2 run, freshman Kiki Wilson - who entered play today just 4-for-24 from the line - calmly sank all four of her attempts to keep momentum on the Panthers side.

News and Notes: Milwaukee won the rebounding battle for second game in a row after not doing so in the first 8 games of the season ... the 16-point comeback was the 6th-most prolific in school history, with comebacks of 22, 19, 19, 18 and another of 16 the only ones ranking higher.

Up Next: UWM takes a break for the holiday and returns to action for Horizon League play, welcoming Loyola to the Klotsche Center Dec. 29 at 7 p.m.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Postgame Report - Nebraska Omaha at Milwaukee

Game #12 – Milwaukee 86, Nebraska Omaha 50

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: Kaylon Williams put together a stellar all-around game in his 24 minutes of action. The senior scored 17 points while adding eight assists and six rebounds, all while committing just one turnover.

Key Stat: The Panthers hit from long range early and often Saturday night. Milwaukee made 10 three-pointers in the first half and wound up making 15-of-29 for the game.

News and Notes: The Panthers played without starters Kyle Kelm and Ja’Rob McCallum, both sidelined by injury … Kelm (shoulder) missed his second-straight game while McCallum missed his sixth-straight contest … UWM has won 17 of its last 18 regular season games at the on-campus Klotsche Center … the 36-point margin of victory surpassed the 35-point margin in UWM’s win over Texas Southern last month and is the biggest for the Panthers since a 41-point win over Youngstown State in 2006 … Tony Meier reached double figures for the third time in the six games he has played in this season … Meier made at least four 3-pointers for the ninth time in his career … UNO was the sixth UWM opponent that failed to get to 60 points and the fourth that scored 50 or less … UNO is the eighth Panther opponent to shoot less than 40 percent from the field … the Panthers reached double-figures in three-pointers made for the fourth time this season … UWM also hit double digits in offensive rebounds for the eighth time.

Up Next: UWM makes the short trip to the Bradley Center for a Thursday night contest with Marquette.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Postgame Report: Milwaukee vs. Chicago State

Game #9 – Milwaukee 79, Chicago State 48

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: When a pair of players score 20-plus points, it's up for debate, but it was good to see Angela Rodriguez hit for a season-high 23 points, just off her career-best of 25 points. She scored 17 in the first half alone, ending the night 7-for-11 from the floor to go with 5-for-9 from distance. She added 3 rebounds, 5 assists and a pair of steals despite sitting most of the second half, playing just 25 minutes on the night.

Rodriguez joined Scott Warras after the contest. Hear her postgame radio interview HERE.

Key Stats: With Courtney Lindfors scoring 24 and Rodriguez 23, it marked the first time in 24 games that UWM had two players with 20-plus. The 26 assists was impressive, the most since 27 against Northeastern Illinois in January of 1991 and just two off the school record of 28 ... the bench accounted for 77 minutes of playing time, with UWM shooting a season-best 50% from the floor - the previous best was 46.2% against Bradley.

News and Notes: Milwaukee won the rebounding battle for the first time this season and did so in impressive fashion, finishing with a 46-23 advantage ... Lindfors 6 blocks was a career-high and just one block off the school record of 7 held by Traci Edwards. It marked just the third six-block effort in school history ... freshman Kiki Wilson had a season-high 7 assists, as did her classmate Ashley Green ... Freshman Macie Dorow made the most of her career-high 13 minutes, grabbing 5 rebounds, while adding two points and a steal.

Up Next: UWM continues its five-game homestand when it hosts Toledo at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Postgame Report - Wisconsin at Milwaukee

Game #11 – Wisconsin 60, Milwaukee 54

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: Tony Meier provided a great spark for the Panthers Tuesday night. The senior led the way with 15 points and had 11 during Milwaukee’s big second half run. The evening marked just Meier’s fifth game back from injury. He started for the first time this year, getting the nod with Kyle Kelm sidelined by injury.

Key Stat: The foul line was the biggest difference Tuesday night. UWM wound up just 7-of-17 from the line while Wisconsin converted on 16-of-20.

News and Notes: The Panthers played without starters Kyle Kelm and Ja’Rob McCallum, both sidelined by injury … Kelm (shoulder) missed a game for the first time this season while McCallum missed his fifth-straight contest … Wisconsin won for the 19th-straight time in the series and was making its first visit to Milwaukee’s homecourt since 2007 … Evan Richard reached double figures in points for the third time this season … Kaylon Williams had seven assists, the eighth time this season he has had five or more assists … UWM held its 10th opponent under 44 percent shooting from the field … this is the 7th time an opponent has scored 60 points or less against Milwaukee … the crowd of 10,143 was the largest in school history for the regular season … it was the fourth-largest crowd ever.

Up Next: UWM stays home but returns to campus, hosting Nebraska-Omaha at the Klotsche Center Saturday night.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Live Blog: Women's Basketball at No. 24/23 Oklahoma

Join assistant SID Chris Zills for the live blog of the women's basketball game against No. 24/23 Oklahoma at the Noble Center.

Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. this afternoon!

I will also be doing updates on Twitter - follow @sidzills.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Milwaukee WBB Takes Cowboys Stadium Tour

Road trips are always an adventure and today was no different. Traveling from Waco, Texas, to Norman, Oklahoma, the women's basketball team and several of the parents who are also along on the trip made the stop at Cowboys Stadium to check out the BILLION dollar stadium. Jerry Jones sure did everything right. The tour took close to an hour and a half and was very interesting and entertaining.

The following are a bunch of pictures from the day and a video.























Thursday, December 8, 2011

Live Blog: Women's Basketball at No. 1 Baylor

Join assistant SID Chris Zills for the live blog of the women's basketball game against top-ranked Baylor and Brittney Griner at the Ferrell Center.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight!

I will also be doing updates on Twitter - follow @sidzills.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Women's Basketball Takes Part in Wrap-A-Vet Program

The Milwaukee women's basketball team participated in the First Annual Wrap-A-Vet Blanket Drive this past weekend.

The team spent time last week wrapping and decorating 40 blankets that were taken to the Milwaukee Veteran's Home Sunday evening.

Most of the squad spent time Sunday night delivering blankets from room to room and spending a little time with the veterans as well.

Here are some pictures from the event:







Postgame Report - Milwaukee at DePaul

Game #9 – Milwaukee 87, DePaul 76

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: It’s hard to pick from the group of Kaylon Williams, Tony Meier and Paris Gulley, but Williams get the nod for his offense as well as his abilities in handling the DePaul pressure. The senior point guard scored a collegiate-high 21 points and had five assists but just one turnover in the win.

Key Stat: Milwaukee put up just about the right number of three-pointers and converted a very nice percentage of them. In all, UWM was 11-of-20 from long range. Paris Gulley and Tony Meier each went 5-of-5 from distance.

News and Notes: The Panthers are now 8-1, equaling their best start since the 1992-93 season … Milwaukee is 3-1 on the road this season … UWM’s 87 points marked a season high … this was the eighth time in his career Tony Meier made at least four 3-pointers … Meier also scored 20 or more points for the sixth time … Paris Gulley’s 19 points marked a collegiate high … UWM reached double figures in three-pointers for the third time this season … Milwaukee’s 61.7 percent field goal clip was an Allstate Arena record … it is also the fourth-best effort in UWM’s Division I history … Gulley and Meier each finished one short of the school record for most made threes in a game without a miss … Joe Schultz made all six of his three-point tries in 1991 … the win was UWM’s first in 11 tries against DePaul … this was Milwaukee’s first win over a Big East foe since knocking off Boston College, who was then in the Big East, in the 2005 NCAA Tournament … UWM also owns a win over Virginia Tech when the Hokies were in the Big East in 2002.

Up Next: UWM goes back on the road Saturday, playing at Northern Iowa in a 1 p.m. contest.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Hagen Claims Three Statistics Titles

With Stanford claiming the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, the 2011 season officially came to an end. With that, the NCAA released the final stat report of the season and Sarah Hagen claimed three NCAA Statistical Championships.

Hagen finished first in goals per game, points per game and game-winning goals:
- Points Per Game: Hagen 2.90 (61 in 21 games), 2nd place: 2.76
- Goals Per Game: Hagen 1.238 (26 in 21), 2nd place: 1.192
- Game-Winning Goals: Hagen 11 (of UWM's 19 wins), 2nd place: 9

To put Hagen's goals per game in perspective, of the 330 NCAA Division I teams, she had more goals per game than 136 teams, while equaling another. Her 26 goals were as many as 11 teams and more than 157 teams.

Hagen owns one of Milwaukee's two other all-time statistical titles. She led the nation in goals per game (1.143) as a sophomore in 2009. That same season, Kate Megna led the nation in assists (16, 0.80 per game). Hagen has ranked in the top five of a category 12 times in her career, including being second in the nation four times and third twice.

Other Nationally-Ranked Panthers...
Assists Per Game: Keara Thompson (14th, 0.55); Hagen (45th, 0.43)
Goals-Against Average: Jamie Forbes (21st, 0.662)
Save Pct: Jamie Forbes (32nd, .849)
Total Assists: Thompson (10th, 12)
Total Goals: Hagen (2nd, 26)
Total Points: Hagen (2nd, 61)

As a Team...
Scoring Offense: 6th, 2.64 goals per game
Goals-Against Average: 18, 0.673
Shutout Percentage: 19th, .545 (12 in 22 games)
Won-Lost-Tied Percentage: 4th, .864 (19-3-0)
Save Pct: 15th, .857

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Postgame Report - UIC at Milwaukee

Game #8 – Milwaukee 73, UIC 71 (OT)

Full Recap and Stats

Player Of The Game: Kyle Kelm has settled in nicely in his second season with the Panthers. He scored a collegiate-best 18 points and was a force on the interior for Milwaukee. He also made 8 of his 10 free throw chances. For the weekend, Kelm made 11 of 14 shots from the field.

Key Stat: You just can’t look past the free throw numbers. Though the Panthers wound up surviving, UWM made just 2 of 11 from the line in the final five minutes of regulation and was just 19 of 33 for the game. Kaylon Williams made just 2 of 9 from the line.

News and Notes: The Panthers are off to their best start since the 1992-93 season, when UWM won each of its first eight games … they are also 2-0 in league play for the first time since the 2008-09 season … the 71 points Milwaukee gave up is a season high … the Panthers had given up only 40 points through the first 35 minutes of action but UIC scored 31 over the next 10 … UWM still only let UIC shoot 38.8 percent from the field for the game and the Flames made just 3-of-15 from three-point range … after committing just seven turnovers Thursday night, Milwaukee had only 10 Saturday … Ryan Allen had a collegiate-best nine rebounds … he also had five blocks, the most by a Panther since Marcus Skinner had five against Green Bay in 2008 … Milwaukee has now won six-straight overtime games … UWM has won eight-straight games over UIC.

Up Next: UWM heads to the road for a Monday night contest at DePaul.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Postgame Report: Loyola at Milwaukee

Game #7 – Milwaukee 59, Loyola 41

Full Recap and Stats


Player Of The Game: Could go a couple of ways with this, but hard to overlook the job Kaylon Williams did in running the team tonight. He finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Let's just say we will keep the triple-double alert out for him because he will eventually get another one to add to his resume. Kyle Kelm was very good - making 6-of-7 to get to his 13 points as well.

Key Stats: The Panthers dominated the boards (42-20) which led to an impressive 16-2 edge in second-chance points and overwhelming 34-8 advantage in points in the paint.

News and Notes: The defense has been superb - holding their third opponent under 50 points - something done just four times in all of 2004-05 (the last time UWM held at least three under 50). Also, the fifth opponent under 60 to match the season tally from a year ago.

Up Next: UWM continues its two-game swing vs. the Chicago league schools when it welcomes UIC Saturday at the Cell at 1 p.m.