This FREEEEEEEEE throw situation.....

[Raiderfan]

Once again our FREE (you know, no one is guarding you while you shoot) throws killed us. We missed 13 tonight. A whooping 62%! This is getting so old. The first time we played UWM and lost in OT Jon Ramey had a classic line when he said "Milwaakee's best defense is putting us at the free throw line". That same quote applies to tonights game.

The key point in the game was when we where trailing 62-60 and Spencer gets fouled shooting a 3 and he proceeds to miss ALL 3 of his FREE throws.

I'm dissappointed.

Clank, clank, clank.........................

[Big D]

UWM only shot 69% from the free throw line. We actually had more points from the free throw line than they did 21-16. What really hurt us more than anything else is our lack of preparation, which makes no sense. Since Pearl has been at UWM, you know that you need to be prepared to break the press and defend against the 3. We did neither. We turned the ball over 15 times. Many coming against that press. In truth, I don't know why they only pressed us part of the game. 1 out of every 5 times they used it, they got us to turn the ball over. We also defended the 3 pt line horribly. UWM only shot 33% from 3 pt range (7 for 21), but they had open looks most of the night. If they would have been hitting their open threes and pressed us the whole game, they could have won by 20+.

[Raiderfan]

What blows my mind is that we out rebounded UWM 30-27 and we shot 55% from the field and still lost.

You're right Big D, our perimeter defense stunk. We struggled just to make and entry pass when they did press.

Some times I think Drew is in no man's land. He isn't quite big or strong enough to defend the other teams power forward and if he moves to the 3 he isn't quick enough to defend. Tucker ate Drew alive in the post then when Drew was playing the 3 Davis, a guard either dribbled pass him or pulled up for a quick 3. We were down 65-62 with 2:50 seconds left in the game and Drew is guarding Boo Davis and the guy behind me says "Drew hasn't stopped anybody all night, this guys going to school him" and wham, Boo Davis hit a 3 that bring the score to 68-62, game over.

[Big D]

2 other pet peeves that have been driving me nuts all year:

1. Our fans suck! No one shows up for the games. We had an announced crowd of a little over 4K. It is pathetic that we can't get a better crowd out to see the 3rd place and 1st place teams in the HL face off. The fans that were there sat on their hands most of the game. It gets 10 x louder at a cj girls basketball game than it does in the Nutter Center.

2. HL officials suck. I am not trying to blame them for our loss tonight, but we need to get rid of these clowns. They are completely pathetic. I bet there isn't a HL game played this year where the home team has been called for more fouls than the visiting team. It is hard enough to win on the road without being homered by the officials. Our officials also make different calls for different players. It is absolutely amazing how McCants gets away with pushing off all game long to get open before he shots. It is equally amazing how many phantom calls he got after he shot and missed. Wood was knocked to the floor 4 times tonight while driving to the lane and got no calls. Taylor got called for fouling McCants while he was shooting a 3 and Taylor was 3 full feet away from him when he released the ball. As long as we continue to keep these micky mouse officials in the league, the HL is going to continue to be a joke.

[Raiderfan]

I wish Dashaun would have force the issue a lot more on the offensive end in the first half. He was shut out, 0 points, then he came back to score 12 in the 2nd half. He is the man who runs the show and some times he needs to assert him self and create his shots. I will say this, Chris Hill gave him fits all night long.

UWM will be strong next year as well. They return Tucker, Boo Williams, Chris Hill, Tigert, and thier first 2 players off the bench. They only lose McCants and Wright.

Big D, watching McCants get preferencial treatment reminded of Rashad Phillip and how he would always use his left arm to create seperation and he never was called for it.

Was it just me or did Drew look lost tonight?

On the bright side Zach & Jordan both worked their butts off tonight. They fought for position all night long down in the paint.

[Raiderfan]

Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers
M FG FT TR A PF PTS
J. Tucker, F 19 8-14 0-0 3 2 5 16
A. Tigert, F 30 2-5 6-8 7 2 2 10
C. Hill, G 33 1-6 1-2 6 4 2 3
E. McCants, G 32 7-15 6-6 1 2 1 24
B. Davis, G 23 4-8 2-4 2 1 3 13
M. Pancratz, G 18 3-4 0-0 2 0 0 6
D. Wimmer, G 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
J. McCoy, F 11 1-1 0-0 0 1 2 2
J. Wright, F 21 1-1 1-2 5 2 3 3
R. Sanders, G 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0
D. Ford, C 9 1-2 0-1 0 0 2 2
Totals 200 28-56 16-23 26 14 23 79
.500 .696 Team Reb: 1


Wright State Raiders
M FG FT TR A PF PTS
D. Burleson, F 24 2-2 4-7 4 0 1 8
Z. Williams, F 39 6-9 5-7 8 2 3 17
Z. Boyd, F 25 3-6 1-2 2 0 2 7
D. Wood, G 39 3-10 6-9 3 5 3 12
E. Spencer, G 30 6-9 1-5 3 2 3 15
L. Shine, G 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
J. Taylor, C 23 1-2 0-0 3 2 4 3
J. Pleiman, F 19 2-4 4-4 5 0 4 8
Totals 200 23-42 21-34 28 11 20 70
.548 .618 Team Reb:

[bballraider]

Big D, as far as your pet peeves,

I agree that it is pretty sad when the first place team in the league comes to town and we get such a small crowd. But I disagree with you about the fans that did show up. This was one of the louder more active crowds we have had all year, but they didn't come to life until we started our comeback, but the crowd did come to life.

As far as your second one, I TOTALLY agree. This may have been one of the worst officiating teams I have seen ALL year. I also agree they weren't the reason we lost, poor perimeter and transitional defense, turnovers and free throws did us in tonight.

I do not think these guys were correct on even a third of their calls tonight against both teams. And the calls they didn't make were just as bad. I never thought I would ever hear myself say, I wished Hutchinson, Sanzere or Bova was are ref tonights. But the fact that I even make a statement like that shows how bad most of the HL refs are.

I can even deal with bad refs if they are consistently bad on both ends of the floor, but these guys were very inconsistent even on being bad.

[Big D]

Raiders can't 'spring' from early hole
Foul FT shooting proves costly in second straight loss

By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

FAIRBORN | Wednesday morning, Punxsutawney Phil stuck his head out of his Pennsylvania gopher hole and discovered there will be six more weeks of winter.

Wednesday night, the Wright State Raiders dug themselves out of a 15-point deficit only to find there will be more than three tough weeks of Horizon League play left, and finishing on top will be almost impossible.

At least they won't have to play the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee again — unless it's in the league tournament. The Panthers gave up all their lead and more, only to regroup and throw a 79-70 dirt pile on the Raiders in front of 4,134 at the Nutter Center.

"Any time you're down and you make a comeback, you use such a great amount of effort to make the comeback, and you're only tied or up by two," WSU coach Paul Biancardi said. "And they still have a lot of gas. They played nine guys double minutes."

It was the second straight loss for the Raiders, and second time they've lost to Milwaukee as they fell to 10-11 on the season and 5-5 in the league. Milwaukee remained the best overall team in the league at 16-5 and 9-2.

Most disappointing to the Raiders was shooting 54.8 percent for the game and losing. The idea was to take the ball inside and draw the foul. When they did that, though, they couldn't convert their foul shots.

Wright State made only 11 of 17 foul shots in the first half and did worse in the second, making 10 of 17. Milwaukee led 45-35 at the half, took the score to 53-38 and suddenly lost its shooting touch. The Raiders went on a 22-5 run to take a 60-58 lead with 6:41 to play led by sophomore guard DaShaun Wood, who scored all 12 of his points in the second half.

Two weeks ago in Milwaukee, the Raiders stormed from behind and kept the lead most of the game, leading by 11 with five minutes to play. Milwaukee, poised, overcame that to win. Now, the Raiders were behind most of the game, took the lead at nearly the same juncture and had the luxury of being home.

Milwaukee kept its same composure. Ed McCants, who finished with 24 points for the Panthers, was brushed on the arm while shooting a 3-point shot. He made all three free throws for a 61-60 Milwaukee lead. More than 90 seconds later, Wright State's Everett Spencer — who otherwise had a splendid game topped by 15 points — went to the line for three free throws as the Raiders trailed 64-62.

Spencer missed all three, the final landing in WSU hands for three shots from the field by three different players. All missed.

"We can't boil it down to one thing," Spencer said. "Milwaukee has a great team and it made runs. They kept their head and their composure."

Milwaukee also pulled away in the final two minutes even though the Panthers missed three of their final eight foul shots.

"I was very proud of the way our guys played in the second half," Biancardi said. "I don't think it was quite that way in the first half. You shoot 55 percent from the field, you should be winning games. The way we fought back, that was a good thing. It just wasn't enough."

In addition to missing 13 foul shots, the Raiders turned the ball over 16 times, with every player save for Lorenzo Shine — who wasn't in the game long enough — committing at least one.

"Sixteen turnovers," senior Zach Williams said. "Those are 16 opportunities you're not going to score."

Six games remain in the Horizon League, three at home, including the next two, Saturday with Loyola and Monday with Butler. The Raiders know what they have to do in those games to get out of the hole with Punxsutawney Phil.

Contact Marc Katz at 225-2157.
www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/0203wsubb.html

[Raiderfan]

I woke up this morning and I'm still disappointed in our play. It still amazes me that we struggled just to inbounds the ball against their press.

You're right Big D, you would have thought this was the first time our guys played against the UWM press, they played like they were surprised by it. I think Pearl showed mercy on us by not pressing the entire game.

I need to move on to Loyola.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

www.jsonline.com/sports/coll/feb05/298443.asp

Panthers pushed to limit
McCants and Co. rally on the road
By KEN PAXSON
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Feb. 2, 2005
Dayton, Ohio - UW-Milwaukee coach Bruce Pearl points to his team's hard-fought victory over Wright State on Wednesday as proof that the Horizon League is up for grabs, no matter who's sitting atop the standings.

For the second time this season, the league-leading Panthers had to come from behind to beat the middle-of-the-pack Raiders, posting a 79-70 victory at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in front of 4,134 fans.

"I don't know that we're the best team in the league," said Pearl, whose team is 16-5 overall and 9-2 in league play. "I've been in the league four years now and I don't think that you see the separation you might have in the past.

"Wright State was in the lead late in both games and that's not been the case against us, ever."

UWM senior Ed McCants agreed with his coach after scoring a game-high 24 points, including five down the stretch that put Milwaukee back in the lead for good.

"Every night you have to come and play," said the hot-shooting McCants, who made seven of 15 shots. "I think the league is very underrated right now. Records don't mean anything. Every game is close and it's very competitive."

Wednesday night was no different. Milwaukee, coming off a league loss Saturday at Green Bay, took control early and owned a 45-35 lead at halftime.

McCants sparked the Panthers with 17 first-half points, hitting 4 three-pointers.

"You can't spot a team like Milwaukee 10 points at the half and use all your energy to come back," said Wright State coach Paul Biancardi, whose team fell to 10-11 and 5-5. "It's very difficult to hold on against an opponent like them.

"They know how to win. Their kids are all experienced. They know how to hold leads and know how to come back when they are down."

The Panthers found themselves down Wednesday after squandering their biggest lead of the game, a 52-37 advantage with a little more than 18 minutes to go. Wright State scrapped together a 21-5 run and went ahead for the first time all night, 60-58, with 6:40 to play. The Raiders led by double-digits Jan. 17 at Milwaukee before the Panthers rallied to win, 71-66.

McCants scored 16 points in that victory and played a pivotal role again this time. The senior guard was fouled while taking a three-pointer and calmly sank all three shots to put Milwaukee back in front, 61-60.

McCants followed that up with a quick basket after a Wright State turnover that put the Panthers back in front for good, 63-60.

"It's their home crowd and this is a good team," McCants explained. "We know teams are going to go on runs. Our thing is to listen to our coaches and run the plays. Usually things work themselves out."

The Raiders stayed within three points until a three-pointer by junior guard Boo Davis gave the Panthers some breathing room, 72-66, with 2:20 left.

Wright State faded down the stretch, unable to hit free throws or shots while Milwaukee padded its lead at the foul line.

The Raiders made just 10 of 17 free throws in the second half and 21 of 34 overall (61.8%). After taking the lead, Wright State was held to one field goal for 6 minutes.

[ggwsu]

Here are my game observations.

* Drews minutes (24) reflected his play tonight. Honestly, if Jordan isn't in foul trouble I'm not sure Drew even plays 24 minutes. He had and off night. He is shooting right at 77% on his Ft's and last night he went 1-5. On defense Joah Tucker was to athletic for him and then, as another poster pointed out, when Jordan, Zach, and Drew were all in the game together towards the end and Drew was at the small forward he was matched up with Boo Davis, a 6-3 guard, an promptly let Davis drain a 3 that put Milwakee up six with just over two minutes to play. Defensively he struggled as well. Drew is one of my favorite players but last night he just had a poor game by his standards.

* I am sure coach Biancardi has tried everything to cure our poor free throw dilema but at todays practice I'd have them shoot free throws the entire practice. I know I'm blowing this out of proportion but we won't win many CLOSE games if we continue to perform so weak from the charity stripe.

* I'm not so sure we have a "go to" guy. Milwakee has McCants if they "need" a score but I don't thing we have that one person. I thought Dashaun or maybe Zakee might be that player but .........

* Speaking of Zakee, has any one seen his perimeter shot? He seems to have lost it over the last four or so games. It hurts our offense big time if Zakee can't hit the open three. I have to give him credit because he knew he is in a funk and at least he started driving to the basket to create his shot. The second half (I won't talk about the first half) he did a wonderful job defending McCants.

* Jaron, please shot the ball when you are open! This kid has a beautiful shot he just won't shoot. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes he just needs to shot when is is open.

* I thought Zach played hard all night long. Zach was the only Raider to CONSISTANTLY boxed out when rebounding. I highly recommend that folks spend some time just watching Zach and how hard he works for postition in the paint and how sound he is when rebounding/boxing out. My only gripe is that in the second half he had zero (0) fouls and yet let UWM go up for basically two uncontested layups. I would prefer that he fouls them and makes them earn it at the line. If Zach had a couple of fouls already I can understand him not "challenging" UWM players but with "0" fouls he should have hammered them.

* Everett Spencer played one of his better games of the season. Yes he had some of his trade mark turnovers (but not as many as usual) but he is starting to "believe" in himself offensively. I love his drive to the lane where is stops for that short pull up jumper. I am fairly certain that he has had two charging fouls in three consecutive games.

* How in the world can you shoot 55% from the field and lose?

* Dashaun struggled against the Hill kid. Hill is just as quick as Dashaun. I like Dashaun's more aggressive approach the second half. Even though Hill was on him like fur on a Weasel he still took it to the hole strong and created "some" offense. I just wish he would have been assertive the first half.

* The more I watch Jordan play the more I'm convinced of two things. First, he needs to start, we need his presence in the paint from the beginning. Second, who ever is his back up next year will see 15 minutes per game because he is so aggressive he is foul prone. I just wish every player on the team played as hard and FEARLESS as Jordan.

* We lost this game in the first half! Our defense was non existant!

I have a feeling that four or more teams are going to be sitting at 9-7 in the Horizon League and we're going to need a mathmatican to figure out who finished where.

Go Raiders!!

[keithfromxenia]

big d, if we ever start playing like a true contender for league honors our attendance will come back. right now, we cannot defend our turf against a good team, we cannot win 3 games in a row, i think we have only beaten one team with a winning record.there is nothing going on at the nutter to attract the casual hoops fan right now. honestly this team looks like the nqrfpt team. the not quite ready for prime time team. with cleveland state coming on we are going to have to battle for a home game. sat's game with loyola now could be big. i may be wrong but it seems like butler and ysu are the only teams out of the hunt for the 6th seed. and maybe butler has a shot, i don't remember their schedule. but i think someone in that middle of the pack group is going to end up on the road. i just hope it is not us. wouldn't it be nice if the raiders were no longer considered a middle of the pack team??? GO RAIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Grunge84]

The bottom line guys is that UWM is already at where Biancardi aspires to be. It's hard to be patient as a fan after such a long drought of any real measurable success but......the core group has been established and additional roster depth (UWM envy noted) (assuming no roster attrition) is on the horizon (pun intended). I am as guilty as the next guy of having unrealistic expectations, but we have to keep reminding ourselves of the roster mess that Biancardi inherited. I can't think of any "young , non-deep teams" through the years of following the Raiders that were able to be the class of the league. I'm confident the next few chapters of the book should have a much better storyline.

GO RAIDERS!!!