UW-Milwaukee turns it on late to avoid a scare from Division 3 opponent Luther

Bart Lundy was not pleased with his team’s showing at altitude against Colorado earlier in the week, and the first 30 minutes Friday night were about correcting the missteps in its play to this point for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

“Let’s just say our team is a little bit in flux,” the Panthers head coach said. “Had a really short leash with certain things that could happen on the court. Guys would do those certain things and they would come out, and so our rhythm was not great. It was more about us playing the right way.” 

The final 10 minutes, though? That’s a different story.

“I think that in the last 10 minutes, we really found what our identity was,” forward Langston Wilson said. “I think we were kind of searching and figuring it out as players and buying into what coach is talking about our defensive identity.” 

A frenetic push to the finish line from Milwaukee led to a final result of an 85-56 win over the Luther Norse in a non-conference contest at the UWM Panther Arena, but the ride up until that point wasn’t always breezy. 

Throughout much of the contest, the Panthers (2-2) were getting challenged by the Division III Norse, who went 9-15 and finished second-last in the American Rivers Conference last season. 

If it weren’t for a slew of turnovers forced by the Panthers, a seven-point advantage at halftime may have instead been a deficit. Milwaukee shot just 34% from the field and 2 of 8 from the free-throw line as it took a 35-28 lead into the break over the challengers from Decorah, Iowa. 

A Luther three-pointer by Andrew Lazinbat cut the Panthers lead to 57-50 at 10:29 of the second half, sending some waves of reality rippling through the arena. 

Still, Lundy was generally pleased with the style of game his team was playing, even if the results weren’t optimal to that point. 

“I think the first 30 minutes set up the last 10,” he said. “I’m not upset with anything that happened in the first 30.”

BJ Freeman, who scored a game-high 23 points after a rough shooting night Tuesday at Colorado, poured in four consecutive points to spark a 16-0 run that ballooned the Milwaukee lead to 23 and put the game out of reach. 

Freeman added six rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block while shooting 50% from the field and hitting three triples.

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The game-deciding run was punctuated with a Wilson poster dunk after a pair of nifty passes around the rim from Freeman and Markeith Browning.

Browning only scored two points but was lauded by both Lundy and Wilson for his unselfishness as well as his ability to set the tone on defense.

Wilson played a key role in Milwaukee’s defensive effort during its run, blocking a pair of shots as the Panthers forced five turnovers while holding the Norse scoreless for four minutes, 40 seconds.

Luther went nine minutes and six seconds without a field goal before finally cracking the drought by hitting a three with just over two minutes left in the game.

“I think at one point I don’t remember them getting the ball past halfcourt for a two-minute stretch,” Wilson said. “You’re constantly going against that pressure, it’s extremely hard. You saw it in the last 10 minutes when we broke through.”

Wilson scored 14 points for the Panthers, setting a career high for the University of Washington transfer, and he added four rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 16 minutes. 

Elijah Jamison scored 15 points in 18 minutes on 6 for 11 shooting to round out the Panthers double-digit scorers.

Lundy will walk away happy with his team’s effort from wire to wire in the turnover margin.  

The Panthers forced 25 Norse turnovers in an effort led by Kentrell Pullian’s five steals, and were able to generate 21 fastbreak points largely as a result of that defense. On offense, meanwhile, the Panthers turned it over just a school-record three times

“Three,” Lundy replied when asked which number he was happier with. “I know it’s my personal record because I’ve never had a team do it. We traditionally have not played very well against a packed-in defense, which they were tonight. So we were getting in the paint on two feet, playing off two feet to make an easy play and not trying to make the hard plays.” 

Through four games, the Panthers haven’t quite hit the ground running as many expected they would. They played disjointed at times in a season-opening win over D-3 UW-Stout, had a fairly strong showing in a loss to Providence on the road but followed it up by getting blown out at Colorado earlier this week and struggled to put Luther away until the final portion of the game Friday.

Lundy and Wilson preached patience, though, as well as optimism that the Panthers have started to find out what their identity is.

“I think people thought this team was going to be ready-made,” Lundy said, “but it’s just not the way it works. We got a lot of new pieces and just have to continue to get better. From my seat, I felt we played the right way for large portions of the game. And that’s all I can ask for as a coach.”