UWM Panthers left gasping for air in blowout loss at No. 25 Colorado

The first matchup against a nationally ranked opponent for UW-Milwaukee's men's basketball team in nearly two years didn't go close to as well as hoped.

In fact, it turned out to be an unmitigated disaster.

Playing in the high altitude, the Panthers fell behind by double digits in the opening minutes, failed to respond and were summarily blown out by the No. 25 Colorado Buffaloes, 106-79, at the CU Events Center in Boulder on Tuesday night.

It was the second consecutive road loss for UWM (1-2).

But unlike their 79-69 loss at Providence last week that saw them put together a competitive second half, the Panthers put up little fight over the final 20 minutes and trailed by as many as 38 points with just over 10 minutes to go.

BOX SCORE:Colorado 106, UW-Milwaukee 79

"This is probably the worst team basketball that we've played since I've been here," second-year coach Bart Lundy said afterward. "A lot of lessons. We've just got to grow from them."

Colorado (3-0) shot a blistering 62.5% in the first half, then spent a good portion of the second half in the low 70s before finally finishing the game at 58.7% (37 for 63).

Included in that was a lights-out performance – 13 for 20 (65%) – from three-point range. The Buffaloes also assisted on 25 of their 37 total makes.

As a result, Colorado became the first team to score 100 against UWM in regulation since Marquette registered a 100-80 victory on Nov. 22, 2008.

"The fight was bad, and we just didn't play the game the right way," said Lundy. "We did the last 8 minutes, but it was way too late."

UWM, meanwhile, shot just 37% (27 for 73) with reserve guard Zach Howell leading the way with 15 points.

The die was cast before the first media timeout was even called as the Buffaloes hit seven of their first nine shots in jumping out to a 16-4 lead.

As a result, Lundy yanked his entire starting five – Elijah Jamison, Kentrell Pullian, Markeith Browning II, BJ Freeman and Faizon Fields – and brought on Howell, Angelo Stuart, Erik Pratt, Aaron Franklin and Darius Duffy.

"They didn't start out with any kind of defensive mind set," Lundy said. "We weren't sharing the ball. I think everybody in the building was tired of watching that."

It wound up not making a difference.

Colorado kept the pressure on and by intermission had opened a 53-33 lead. There were positive moments here and there in the second half but overall it was one to forget for the Panthers, who next host Division III Luther College for homecoming at 7 p.m. Friday.

"We talked at halftime about getting stops and stopped them once in the first 17 possessions of the second half," Lundy said. "So, not very good. But they're a really good team. They might be a top-10 team."

Browning finished with 11 points and Jamison 10 for UWM.