12.21-22 Northeastern & Alabama State

[Jimmy Lemke]

Coming off the Panthers' loss to Wisconsin, they head to New Orleans to face Northeastern and Alabama State in their second in-season invitational.

Word is Matt Tiby had the team in the gym shooting the day after the Badger game, which was an off-day for the Panthers. That's pretty indicative of what kind of effect he has had on this team and this program. He played poorly against the Badgers and instead of stewing in it, got off his ass and made it work.

We would be nowhere near the same team if we didn't have McWhorter and Tiby. Here's to hoping we go take out NU and ASU.

[MayorCK]

Westin Holiday Classic (@ New Orleans, La.))

Milwaukee vs. Northeastern

Day: Saturday

Date: Dec. 21, 2013

Location: New Orleans, La.

Time: 4:00 pm CT

Coverage
Radio: WISN (AM 1130)

[lutzow10]

Are they on tv/online anywhere? If so do u guys want to get together and watch?

[Jimmy Lemke]

I really wanted to go. Oh well. Worst case I can listen to Bill and Kevin.

[lutzow10]

We all wanted to go. Just a matter of not having enough money :/

[Jimmy Lemke]

http://uwmupdate.com/wisconsin-milwaukee-basketball/compare_stats/northeastern

[MayorCK]

For those interested, as I always am, according to ESPN we are ranked #77 in the RPI as of Monday morning.

[Jimmy Lemke]

The RPI is really irrelevant until January 15th.

[Jimmy Lemke]

Very important to mention that Quincy Ford for NU is out for the year. Ford averaged 12.5 ppg a year ago and was their top returning scorer. They're pretty bad without him.

[lutzow10]

Did he get hurt after they almost got that upset against Florida State earlier in the season? I mean only losing by 8 to Harvard is also a decent outcome. On a scale from 1 to 10 how confident are people about us winning this game?

[BBF]

Here in NOLA enjoying the weather, ambience, food and music. I'll try to give a report after the game tomorrow, although chances are good that won't happen until Sunday. Or Monday. :)

[MayorCK]

The RPI is really irrelevant until January 15th.

There's our annual post by Jimmy telling me the RPI is irrelevent in non-conference. Haha! Still going to report it though.

[Jimmy Lemke]

What an awful game. Content to jack up threes in the second half and not touch it down low.

[Jimmy Lemke]

What is worse? Last year's loss at UIC or tonight's debacle against Northeastern?

[Jimmy Lemke]

Also: Jordan Aaron has got to be one of the most inefficient players in basketball. And he's a terrible defender. He literally is on the floor to chuck threes, put up circus shots and handle the ball.

[panther9193]

Just when I think this team may be starting to turn a corner after years of mediocrity and worse, a loss like this occurs to bring me back to reality.

[BBF]

Back from NOLA. The weather was great until Sunday, when it rained all day. The food was amazing, the City was fantastic. Devlin Fieldhouse at Tulane is a great little (3500 seat) basketball facility. The team played two good halves, one mediocre half and one terrible half, so I guess getting 1-1 out of that is about what you could reasonably expect.

I don't know how Bill called the NE game and I assume it wasn't available on video anywhere. NE came out in the second half with their hair on fire and our guys didn't match that intensity. They put a trap on that didn't really cause many turnovers, but ate up the first ten seconds of the clock, then fell into a collapsing zone that we seemed incapable of solving. Matt Tiby's foul trouble that knocked him off the floor almost as soon as the half started really hurt us, as did JO's decisions and his indecision. There was a lot of offense-killing dribbling on the perimeter while our bigs were cutting and moving, followed by a poor shot. Meanwhile we got abused on the boards when NE was on offense. A bad performance all around. You have to work very hard to lose a 19 point halftime lead, but we did it.

Alabama State was a tomato can. At least it allowed us to regroup. JJ showed some life after a very forgettable performance against NE, which was good to see. Austin got untracked from three. I don't know where we would be without Kyle this year. He's having a great senior year.

We are 10-4, and I feel strongly we could be 12-2, as I think we should have beaten Loyola and NE. (And I'd happily take a rematch with DePaul with fresh legs.) But obviously we won a couple that the other guys think they should have won, so it evens out. Non-con games are just prelude to the league games. The real season starts on January 2. This team has the potential to be in the mix, and nobody was predicting that six weeks ago. Our guard play needs to get better. Matt has to stay on the floor. JJ has to start playing like an upperclassman. Kyle has to keep on keepin' on.

I'm looking forward to every game.