Player Of The Weekend: It was a very nice coming out party for freshman Austin Arians this weekend. He started by tallying 19 points and nine rebounds in the win over Cleveland State Thursday and then came right back with 15 points and six boards Saturday against Youngstown State. Arians had a pair of double-figure scoring outings early in the season but then had played just two minutes in the first three league games of the year.
Turning Point: Thursday night, the Panthers had an answer when Cleveland State surged. The Vikings cut an 18-point Milwaukee lead down to six but the Panthers quickly rebuilt a double-digit edge and never looked back. Saturday, the game really seemed to turn late in the first half. Milwaukee went up seven on two occasions and seemed poised to build the lead even further. But YSU was the one that built its own seven-point lead and Milwaukee would never lead by more than three points the rest of the way.
News and Notes: After doing it both games this weekend, Milwaukee has now been in double figures in offensive rebounds in 13 of the first 19 games of the season. Opponents have also hit double-digits 13 times … J.J. Panoske is now averaging 8.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in his last seven outings … the Panthers have now had 11 double-figure efforts off the bench this season. UWM had three this weekend, with Austin Arians doing it twice and Ryan Haggerty once … Thursday also marked the third time this year the Panthers had two players reach double figures off the bench in the same game … Milwaukee had 34 assists in two games over the weekend after collecting just 18 in its first three games combined … Jordan Aaron averaged 9.5 assists per contest in the two games … Aaron and Paris Gulley each played all 40 minutes Saturday after Gulley also played all 40 minutes Thursday … Cleveland State shot just 33.8 percent from the field Thursday, becoming just the fifth Panther opponent this season to shoot less than 40 percent from the field.
Up Next: UWM is at UIC Wednesday before hosting Green Bay Friday.
