Horizon League Basketball: Milwaukee Panthers one game away from history

Milwaukee entered the Horizon League basketball tournament at 8-23 but are one game away from the Big Dance.

In the history of the NCAA Tournament, nobody has danced with more than 20 losers. Are the Milwaukee Panthers going to be the team to break that? Entering the Horizon League final, the Panthers have 23 losses and are still alive for an automatic bid.

Prior to the Horizon League Tournament beginning, UWM was on a nine-game losing streak and fell to last place in the conference. Things looked very bleak for the Panthers, but that did not change the mentality of the LaVall Jordan’s team. For the first time all season, they have won three straight games, and have looked good while doing it.

Their first round opponent was seventh-seeded Detroit, who they destroyed by a score of 85-60. In that high scoring battle, the Panthers were led by 31 points from Jeremiah Bell off the bench while Brock Stull added 20. Then, Milwaukee turned their attention to second-seeded Valparaiso, who played without star player Alec Peters.

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Nonetheless, the Crusaders entered the game as favorites over the Panthers, who then turned around and played arguably their best defensive game of the season. Milwaukee held Valpo to just 41 points. Only one player scored in double figures in the entire game, and that was Cody Wichmann, who scored 11, despite being only 3-of-13 from the field.

That gave Milwaukee their second win in the tournament, but the Panthers still had the University of Illinois-Chicago waiting for them in the semifinals before making the championship. The Flames were the sixth seed entering the tournament and were coming off an upset win over the three seed in Green Bay.

In their third game in four days, the Panthers still looked like they had fresh legs on Monday night. Milwaukee used double-digit performances from four of their five starters to upset UIC. After holding a four-point lead at halftime, UWM never gave UIC the lead for the rest of the game. The Flames tied it up with 3:47 left to play, but then the Panthers retaliated with a closing run of 13-7.

Next: The projected field with less than a week until Selection Sunday

The Horizon League final will pit the 10th seeded Panthers against the fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky Norse, who are the only higher seeded team to win a game in this tournament. The potentially history-making game will be played on Tuesday, March 7th at 7:00 p.m. ET.