Previewing the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers

Later today, we'll be tipping it off against Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers from Anderson Arena.  It is our second home game, and our first D1 home game.

BG is 1-2 with a couple road losses that were to pretty big teams, but not close games.  Coach says we are a work in progress, and the game Saturday looks to be a decent test.

UWM is a good team, but they aren't Xavier or Iowa.

They are 4-2 on the season, but they have not had a really solid test yet this year.  They lost to WKU and Indiana State, who are both good (like top 120 teams), and beat Concordia and Hillsdale (non-D1) and Colgate and Texas State, both pretty weak opponents.

They were 17-14 last year, and are picked to be 4th in the Horizon League.  You can argue about the varying strengths of conferences, but last year the MAC had a losing record against the Horizon.

Tone Boyle is an all-conference guard who is coming back, and F James Eayrs was on the all-newcomer team in the league last year.

Also, in the pre-season, there was talk that Ricky Franklin was hitting the books to get another year of eligibility, which he apparently did because he is their second leading scorer.

In fact, they lost one starter off last year's team.

They pump up a ton of 3s, although their efficiency is not that good, and they do give up 3s on the defensive end.

College Basketball Stats by StatSheet.com

Offensively, they are getting 1.08 points per possession, which is actually pretty decent, and their defense is holding right at one point per possession, which is on the low end of being decent.

So for both teams, we have what is a first good test.  This team will be a challenge for the Falcons, but it would be nice to see us come around at home, and pick up the victory.