Panthers get run over by rival Phoenix in Horizon League opener, 70-58

Those hoping for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to hit the reset button with Horizon League play rolling around didn’t get their expectations met on Saturday. 

Opening conference play and taking on their top rivals after an up-and-down first month of the season, the Panthers were disjointed on both ends in a 70-58 loss to UW-Green Bay at the Resch Center. 

Playing without star wing BJ Freeman, averaging 19.5 points this year but out Saturday with an injury, the Panthers scored a season-low on offense while allowing the Phoenix to shoot nearly 50% overall from the field as well as from three-point range. 

The loss dropped the Panthers to 3-5 overall and 0-1 in the Horizon, a record that is indicative of a disappointing start to the year given expectations coming in. 

Green Bay, which won only three games all of last season, picked up its fourth win of the year already under first-year head coach Sundance Wicks.

Markeith Browning led the Panthers in scoring with 25 points after averaging only six per game coming in, but Milwaukee on the whole was unable to replace the offense it was missing with Freeman sidelined. 

"Markeith was a good playmaker for us, he really got to the basket," Panthers head coach Bart Lundy said. "He really broke their defensive shell. I thought he really competed."

The Panthers aside from Browning shot 13 for 35 (37%) from the field and missed seven of 10 free throws. 

The next-highest scorer was Elijah Jamison with eight points.

"We have other guys and I thought for the most part we got good shots," Lundy said. "We didn’t share the ball as well as we’d like, but I thought we just didn’t make shots and we had open ones."

Milwaukee’s offense wasn’t all bad. It shot 44.9% from the field – it entered the day under 40% for the season – but hit only 5 of 17 threes and went 50% from the free throw line on 18 attempts. The Panthers pulled down offensive rebounds on 11 of their 33 misses but were only able to turn those into seven second-chance points.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix torched the Panthers from deep, hitting 12 of 26 threes, including nine in the first half as they pulled out to a 39-25 lead after 20 minutes. 

"I didn’t think we pressured their shooters as well as we needed to in the first half," Lundy said. "They hit a couple in the second half that were on broken floors against our press and that was it. If we had that type of intensity in the first half, they probably don’t make nine.

"They made shots but (the problem) was us."

Milwaukee jumped out to a quick 13-7 lead through five minutes but a 14-3 Green Bay run flipped the lead for good. 

After Browning scored on a layup to draw within 26-23 with 5:37 to go in the half, Will Eames, Noah Reynolds and Rich Bhyre each drained a three-pointer during an 11-0 Phoenix run to go ahead by 14.

The Panthers found a rhythm on defense out of intermission, allowing just one field goal in the first seven minutes of the second half, but had dug such a grand deficit for themselves that a 9-0 run could only cut the deficit to eight.

They never got any closer than seven points down the rest of the way, and even that margin didn’t last one defensive possession. 

The Phoenix buried the Panthers with balance. Reynolds scored 17 points on 7 for 13 shooting and added eight assists to lead the host’s attack. Oshkosh Lourdes graduate Preston Ruedinger and Foster Wonders scored 12 points apiece, Catholic Memorial graduate Rich Byrhre added 10 and Clarence Cummings had nine.

It was the second straight time Green Bay defeated Milwaukee, going back to a stunning upset at the Panther Arena in February.

The Panthers return to the floor Wednesday at St. Thomas (MN), though it's unclear if Freeman will suit up.

"He has an injury," Lundy said. "And he’s going to be out for a period of time."