Panthers Head To Drake For BracketBusters ContestFeb. 15, 2007 Game #28 • Sat., Feb. 17 • Drake (14-13, 5-11 MVC) • 7 p.m. Of Note: Panthers looking for second road win; Drake beat Wichita State Wednesday night
UWM: 8-19, 5-9 Horizon; has dropped five of last six
Drake: 14-13, 5-11 Valley; 9-4 at home this season
Arena: Knapp Center (7,002)
Tickets: Available through the Drake Ticket Office, located in
the Knapp Center, or online at www.drakebulldogs.
org. Tickets should also be available at the arena on
the day of the game.
TV: None
Radio: WOKY (920AM) - Bill Johnson play-by-play
Online: Live stats and audio at uwmpanthers.com
• Game #28 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball team heads back outside Horizon League play for a BracketBusters contest Saturday at Drake. The game tips off at 7 p.m. CST. • History Lesson Despite being only six hours apart, the two schools have met just once in men's basketball. That meeting came on Jan. 18, 1992, when UWM claimed a 47-46 win in Des Moines in just its second season as a Division I school. The two schools have met more commonly in other sports, including a game between the two sides in women's basketball this past November. • Busting The Bracket UWM is participating in BracketBusters for the fifth-straight season, one of just 18 schools in the nation that have been part of the event since its inception. The event has worked wonders for Milwaukee, delivering high profile opponents and games throughout its history. UWM is 1-3 in Bracket Busters games, with losses at Southern Illinois (2003 @ buzzer), vs. Manhattan (2004) and vs. Missouri State (2006). The Panthers also claimed a win at Hawai'i in 2005. • Down In The Valley When Drake was announced as UWM's BracketBusters opponent for this season, head coach Rob Jeter jokingly said the Panthers could soon apply for membership in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bulldogs are UWM's third opponent from the Valley this season, with Milwaukee already having played at Northern Iowa and at Missouri State. The Panthers are looking to break a bit of a slide against the Valley, as UWM has lost five-straight against the MVC since beating both Indiana State and Missouri State during the 2002-03 season. • Return Engagement Part of the BracketBusters arrangement is a return game between UWM and Drake next season at the U.S. Cellular Arena. And, with the addition of the Bulldogs to Milwaukee's non-league slate next year, the 2007-08 home schedule is looking better than ever. Wisconsin will make its first appearance on UWM's homecourt since 2001-02 in the first-ever meeting between UWM and UW at the U.S. Cellular Arena. The non-league home slate also includes games with Northern Iowa, Sam Houston State, Central Michigan and South Dakota State. Plus, Valparaiso officially joins the Horizon League for next season, adding another attractive league home game to the schedule. • We're Connected The Drake and UWM's men's basketball programs actually have rather deep ties, thanks to the background of four different head coaches. Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter and Drake head coach Dr. Tom Davis are both graduates of UW-Platteville, with Davis helping the Pioneers to the NAIA Tournament and Jeter leading UW-P to the NCAA Division III title in 1991. Former UWM coach Bo Ryan, a longtime head coach at UW-Platteville, established deep ties with Davis while Ryan was the head coach at UW-P. And, former UWM head coach Bruce Pearl was an assistant for Davis at Boston College, Stanford and Iowa, and considers Davis his mentor in college coaching. • Far Away In February UWM continues its road-heavy February schedule by wrapping up the regular season with three-straight away contests. In all, UWM is playing five road games and one home game in the month, with the Panthers looking to improve on a 1-12 road record over the final few weeks of the season. Trouble on the road is nothing new for teams in the Horizon League. In league play, the road team is just 26-38 this season. Meanwhile, Horizon League teams overall have compiled a 36-79 road record. • Saluting The Seniors UWM has a pair of seniors on this year's roster who are quickly seeing their college careers wind down. Each player played their final regular season home game as a Panther Wednesday night, while both hold out hope for playing a home game in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament. Kevin Massiah has played in 53 games in his UWM career, starting 18 games this season. He enters Saturday's contest with 282 points and 186 rebounds in his Panthers' career. Massiah's college career also includes two years at Western Kentucky and one season at Schoolcraft Community College. Nick Hansen, meanwhile, has spent four years at UWM, the first three as a walk-on before earning a scholarship for this season. The Appleton native has played in 24 games this season and 64 games in his career. • Logjam In The League Even as the Panthers turn their attention toward a non-league BracketBusters contest, most thoughts continue to focus on the league standings and seeding in the upcoming league tournament. Butler and Wright State continue their battle for the top two seeds while Loyola has now secured the third seed. Cleveland State also knows it will be the ninth seed. Meanwhile, UW-Green Bay and Youngstown State are in position to secure the fourth and fifth seeds, while UWM, UIC and Detroit are part of a three-way tie for sixth place. That seeding is particularly important, as the sixth seed hosts a first-round game while the seventh and eighth seeds will have to play on the road. While a number of things could change during the final week of the league season, UWM's contest at UIC next Wednesday could likely secure one of those teams into the sixth spot in the league standings. Each team owns an important tiebreaker advantage over Detroit, with the Panthers owning a win over Wright State and UIC having a win over Butler. • At The Doctor's Office Charlie Swiggett tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee at practice Jan. 8 and had surgery to repair the knee Jan. 25. Swiggett had started 12 of the first 17 games of this season, averaging 5.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. A true freshman from Chester, Pa., and Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., Swiggett was the first true freshman to start a game for the Panthers since the 2001-02 season. Meanwhile, walk-on Michael Bendall also had knee surgery recently and will be sidelined the remainder of the season. • The Challenges Continue With a relatively difficult BracketBusters assignment, it now seems safe to say the Panthers have faced one of the most-difficult non-league slates in school history. Wisconsin is back up to third in the coaches' poll while Washington State stands 11th. Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Michigan and Sam Houston State also seem destined for postseason play. In all, UWM's 10 non-league losses have come to teams that have combined for a 171-89 record through Feb. 12. The Panthers had the 71st most-difficult non-league schedule in the country. • The Story Inside The Story UWM knew the 2006-07 season wouldn't be easy, with a difficult schedule and a young, inexperienced squad. Perhaps the biggest hurdle to overcome is pulling out close games once you are in a position to win. The Panthers are starting to find more and more ways to close out close games, standing 4-2 in games decided by five points or less. UWM is also trying to learn the lessons of a number of tough losses early in the season, as the Panthers were tied or ahead in the second half of six of its losses. Some of the notable tough losses from earlier this season: 11/15 @ Michigan - UWM leads by five in second half and was still within four points with one minute left 11/26 vs. Tenn. Tech - UWM was within two at the 2:48 mark before making just two of its final nine shots down the stretch 11/29 @ Central Michigan - UWM goes up 57-55 on an Avery Smith three with 4:30 left before CMU finishes on 21-4 run 12/2 @ Oakland - UWM forges a 61-all tie with 3:17 left before the Grizzlies hit late free throws to claim the win 12/10 vs. Youngstown State - UWM is up one with 3:02 left and then missed a free throw to tie with two seconds left 12/30 vs. #15 Butler - UWM leads by eight in the first half and by a point with 4:08 to go before falling 1/6 @ Loyola - UWM leads by six in the first half and is still within a point with under nine minutes to play 1/25 @ Detroit - UWM rallies to force OT on a last-second shot by Avery Smith • Youth Is Officially Served Everyone knows the Panthers are fielding a young and inexperienced team in 2006-07 after losing seven seniors and two other scholarship players following last season. To no one's surprise, the nine Division I starts UWM had on its roster at the start of the year were the fewest of any team in the nation. Plus, all nine of those starts came from Paige Paulsen while he was at Northern Illinois two years ago. Milwaukee also ranks 16th among schools with the fewest career Division I games played on their roster. And, of the 251 games played entering this season among UWM players, 62 came at other Division I schools while another 41 came from walk-ons. Fewest D1 Starts (entering season) 1. Milwaukee - 9 2. Davidson - 30 3. San Jose State - 37 4. Stetson - 47 5. Southern Mississippi - 49• A Lot Of Fresh Faces When you lose seven seniors and two additional players in one graduation class, you would figure to have a lot of new players on the roster. Well, UWM's expansive 2006-07 roster includes 20 players, with 16 of those players in either their first or second year in Milwaukee. Ten players from that group are in their first year at UWM. Officially, the Panthers returned five letterwinners this year, and only 16 Division I teams around the country returned fewer than that. But, it should be noted two (Nick Hansen and Michael Bendall) of the five letterwinners were walk-ons, with Hansen earning a scholarship this season. • The New Guys In Action It is one thing to have a lot of newcomers on a roster, but it is another thing to have them playing prominent roles just months into their careers. Of the 10 players that saw action Wednesday against Loyola, six of them are playing for the first time in Milwaukee and four of them are playing in their first competitive basketball season in two years. Ricky Franklin sat out of both practice and games last season while Paige Paulsen was only eligible for practice after transferring. Plus, Sam Mauldin sat out last season at Birmingham Southern with a knee injury and Kaylan Anderson redshirted during his first year in Milwaukee last season. This season, 840 of UWM's 1721 points scored (48.8 percent) and 484 of 938 rebounds (51.6 percent) have come from newcomers. • Number Crunching While UWM is looking to a number of new faces to contribute, the group of players with Division I college experience is also being asked to contribute far more than ever before. For example, Avery Smith, Kevin Massiah and Allan Hanson have all easily surpassed the total number of points they scored in their college careers entering this season. A breakdown of how many points UWM's key offensive contributors had entering the season and how many points they have scored this year: Player Entering `06-'07 In `06-'07 Avery Smith 147 409 Paige Paulsen 218 302 Kevin Massiah 84 221 Allan Hanson 107 206• A Career Night ... Every Night One other way to look at just how much inexperience the Panthers are putting on the floor this season is to compare the stats of nearly any game this season to the career highs for UWM's most experienced players entering this year. For example, Allan Hanson entered this season with a career high of 10 points (vs. Detroit last season) and 17 minutes played (at Wyoming last season). This year, Hanson has equaled or surpassed his career high in points 11 times while playing more than 17 minutes in every game this season, starting 26 of the 27 contests. Meanwhile, Avery Smith has equaled or surpassed his career high in points (10) 19 times this season, while also equaling or passing his career high in minutes (26) 18 times. Finally, Kevin Massiah has gone past his career high in points (7) 20 times while surpassing his career high in minutes (20) in 19 of the last 24 games. • Last Time Out UWM missed 13 of its first 15 shots and could never get on track in falling, 66-56, to Loyola Wednesday night at the U.S. Cellular Arena. The Panthers trailed by 12 points in the first half before rallying to within four points early in the second half. But, the Ramblers steadily pulled away from there in securing the third seed for the upcoming league tournament. Paige Paulsen scored 16 points to lead Milwaukee, which shot just 37 percent from the field and was outrebounded, 39-27. • Much To Say About Massiah Senior Kevin Massiah is seeing his collegiate basketball career wind down, but the Toronto native certainly seems to have saved up some of the best basketball of his career. Massiah just missed out on the first double-double of his career Feb. 5 at Wright State, scoring eight points to go with a collegiate-best 11 rebounds. He then added eight points and seven rebounds Wednesday against Loyola. Massiah has reached double figures in points in three of the last six games and has done it a total of 11 times this season. He also has seven or more rebounds in 10 games. Massiah leads the Panthers in field goal shooting at 47.3 percent while sitting third on the team in scoring (8.2 ppg) and second on the team in rebounding (5.5 rpg). • Paige Pours It On Junior Paige Paulsen may have snapped himself out of a recent offensive slump with a strong performance on the offensive end Wednesday night. Paulsen led the Panthers with 16 points, knocking in a pair of three-point shots while making 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Paulsen averaged 17.5 ppg in wins over UIC and Wright State in January, earning Horizon League Player of the Week honors. Since then, Paulsen had averaged just 8.6 ppg in five games. On the season, Paulsen is second on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg). • Youth Off The Bench Freshmen Roman Gentry and Ryan Thornton continue to show progresss in their play off the bench. Thornton was the big player in Wednesday night's loss to Loyola, pitching in with nine points. He has now made at least one three-pointer in four of the last five games. Meanwhile, Gentry has played 18 or more minutes in four of the last five games and has scored in seven of the last eight games. • Stumbling On Offense There is no getting around it ... the Panthers find themselves in the midst of a deep offensive slump. UWM is averaging just 52.2 points per game in its last four outings, shooting just 34.1 percent from the field in that span. The Panthers had a similar stretch earlier in the season, shooting less than 40 percent from the field in 11 of the first 12 games of the season. But, UWM then shot 40 percent or better in eight of 10 games. On the season, Milwaukee is shooting 37.9 percent from the field while averaging 63.7 points per game. • Pouring In The Points Avery Smith scored 10 points Wednesday night in the loss to Loyola, snapping a streak of two-straight games where he failed to reach double figures. That stretch broke a streak of six-straight double-figure efforts, though Smith remains UWM's top scorer. He has passed the 30-point mark twice this season, scoring 32 points against Detroit Jan. 25 after scoring 36 at Oakland Dec. 2. Smith is the fourth Panther in recent years to record two 30-point games in a single season. Joah Tucker had two during the 2004-05 season, while Dylan Page had two in 2003-04 and Clay Tucker had two in the 2002-03 campaign. Avery Smith actually did much of his early damage off the bench, including his 36-point performance at Oakland. That effort tied for the 13th-best single-game performance in UWM's Division I history while it was also the single-best scoring performance off the bench in the school's Division I history. Smith leads the Panthers in scoring at 15.2 ppg. He has also led the Panthers in scoring 13 times this season, while reaching double figures 20 times. He also has seven games with 20 or more points. • Cleaning Out The Notebook The Panthers have had 17 double-figure scoring efforts off the bench this season and have outscored their opponents off the bench in 20 of 27 games ... UWM collected a season-high 15 steals in its loss to UW-Green Bay Jan. 27. It was the third time this season the Panthers reached double digits in steals ... Jan. 25 in Detroit, the Panthers knocked down a season-best 14 three-point shots, equaling the most in a game for a UWM team since 2002. And, against UIC Jan. 17, the Panthers made a school record 12 three-point shots in the first half ... The Panthers have collected 10 or more offensive rebounds in 20 of 27 games this season, including 23 offensive boards vs. Detroit Jan. 4 and then 19 offensive boards in its loss Jan. 27 against Green Bay ... UWM has used six different starting lineups this season and eight different players have earned starts for the Panthers. Seventy-five of the 135 starts for UWM this season have come from players who did not play for the Panthers a year ago ... Junior Avery Smith is topping UWM's scoring list while averaging 15.1 points per game. He is vying to become the first non-senior to lead UWM in scoring since the 2001-02 campaign, when Clay Tucker topped the scoring charts at 17.6 points per game ... UWM continues to have a wide array of players contribute offensively, with eight different players reaching double figures in a game this year. • The Future In The Spotlight UWM signed four players to National Letters of Intent in November, and the group continues to get rave reviews. The recruiting class has been rated as the top class in the Horizon League while Chicago Simeon's Tim Flowers is ranked as the 72nd-best player in the country by Hoop Scoop Online. Flowers and teammate Kevin Johnson each tallied double-doubles when Simeon beat top-ranked Oak Hill Academy on ESPN Jan. 18, while the two are part of a Simeon team looking to win a second-straight Illinois state title. Meanwhile, Notre Dame Prep's Deonte Roberts scored the game-winning basket for his team in a nationally-televised win over The Patterson School at the Spalding Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., in January. Roberts is a 6-foot-2 guard who was a two-time all-stater at Saint Bernard's High School in St. Paul, Minn., before heading to Notre Dame Prep. UWM's other fall signee is Anthony Hill of Bradley Tech. UWM will also add transfers Torre Johnson (Oklahoma State), Deion James (Tulsa) and Joe Allen (St. Mary's, Tex.) to the active roster next season. • Up Next UWM plays at UIC Wednesday night.
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