There’s still a long way to go, but the UW-Milwaukee Panthers have built some breathing room atop the Horizon League standings.
With an 88-81 victory over the much-improved IU-Indianapolis Panthers on Sunday afternoon at the Klotsche Center, UWM – the preseason pick to win the conference – is 3-0 in conference play. Horizon League for the first time since 2011. 12 season.
The Panthers used an 11-2 run sparked by a pair of Jamichael Stillwell baskets right after the final media timeout to take control, then used 13-of-16 shooting from the free-throw line over the final minute 50 seconds to salt the score. game away.
“It was big because now we’re going on the road for three straight,” said coach Bart Lundy, whose team takes its four-game winning streak to Oakland on Jan. 2, followed by games at Detroit Mercy on Jan. 4 and at Purdue. -Fort Wayne on January 8.
BOX NOTE: UWM 88, IU-Indy 81
Youngstown State is currently 4-0, with UWM (10-4, 3-0) being the only other undefeated team remaining in the league.
“We had to defend our home before that stretch,” Lundy continued. “Oakland will obviously be a rematch of the championship game (from last season’s Horizon League tournament), the trip to Detroit is always tough and then Fort Wayne is an extremely good team. We have our work cut out for us, but to be sure Sitting 3-0 gives you a little boost.”
Senior guard Themus Fulks scored a career-high 26 points, along with five rebounds and five assists in 34 full minutes to lead four Panthers in double figures.
Kentrell Pullian added 20 points, Erik Pratt 11 (nine in the first half) and Stillwell had his ninth double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds for UWM.
“We feel like we’re the best team in the conference,” Fulks said. “But it doesn’t matter how we feel. We have to prove it every night.”
Stillwell sets school record
Stillwell, the 6-foot-8 junior, now stands alone in the UWM annals after recording five straight double-doubles.
He passed BJ Freeman – who set the previous mark last season – thanks to a decisive sequence that began with his strip of Indianapolis guard Paul Zilinskas at midcourt.
Stillwell finished the game by rising to the basket with a two-handed jam, then after the Jaguars made two free throws, he scored on a nice layup on the baseline to give the Panthers a lead from 74-72 with 2:39 to play. that they would not give up.
“His intensity has increased,” Lundy said of Stillwell. “He knows when to win, and not everyone is like that. I don’t often get distracted by the crowd, but when he made the steal and the dunk, our crowd was strong. It’s a good sign to hear a loud crowd here.”
Stillwell now averages 13.4 points on 49.3% shooting and even 12 rebounds (including 57 offensive). He finished the day 0.2 rebounds per game behind Northern Arizona’s Carson Towt for the Division I lead.
“I feel like since the first game we played, he’s made huge strides,” Fulks said of Stillwell. “Coming from junior college, he had to adjust a little bit in the first 2-3 games, settling in. Find out what he was really good at, you know?
“And I feel like now he knows that. He’s really good at rebounding the ball, being a blocking defender, and he’ll score the ball, too.”
Themus Fulks shows his all-round game
When it was pointed out to Lundy that it was perhaps a surprise that the 6-2 Fulks, a transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette who was signed specifically to fill a glaring void at point guard, led the Panthers with a score of 15.4 points per game. , the coach was quick to point out something.
“Well, I knew he was a good point guard, but I always knew Themus as a scorer – he led the state of North Carolina in scoring as a (high school) senior,” he said of the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, native who averaged 9.2 points and six assists per game to lead his team to the NCAA tournament last year.
“He’s a good point guard, he picks and chooses spots. Today was a good game because he recognizes when the other team is in the bonus and can really get into the paint. He can also distribute , and that makes him dangerous.
“He’s delicate. Coming into this mid-range, he has a few tricks up his sleeve.”
Fulks, who scored 23 and 26 in his last two games against Division I opponents, made 6 of 10 shots (none of which were three-pointers) and 14 of 16 free throws.
His 53.8% shooting on the season is exceptional, and only Stillwell (73) has shot more free throws than Fulks (68).
“Coach Lundy gives me a lot of freedom,” Fulks said. “I’m just trying to make the right play. I’m not really thinking, ‘I have to score this, I have to pass that.’ I just try to read what the defense gives me and make the best play for the team.”
The Panthers get to the free throw line at will
Led by Fulks, UWM made 27 of 37 free throws in the game (73%), with the 37 attempts tying a season high against Cleveland State on Dec. 5 and the 27, 10 more than Indianapolis had tried for the match.
In 14 games, the Panthers have shot 342 free throws, an average of 24.4 per game, which should put them among the top 30 teams in Division I on Monday.
“It’s huge,” Lundy admitted. “The margins we work as a team to create are on the glass (UWM won there too, 36-26) and with free throws. We won by 10 on the glass and made 10 more than what we they had tried; that gives you a good chance.
“If we make a few more threes, then we’re cooking. I think it’s coming.”
It is equally important manufacturing free throws, something UWM has struggled to do at times this year. On Sunday, the Panthers made 20 of 27 in the decisive second half with a 13 of 16 in the crucial final 1:50.
“After practice, coach tells us to shoot 50,” said Fulks, a 75 percent shooter this year. As a unit, UWM shoots 66.4%; it entered Sunday ranked 321st out of 350 Division I teams at 65.6%
“I think the repetition and everyone really tuning in, locking in, taking the time to realize that these free throws can win games and lose games will help us.”
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UWM defeats IU-Indianapolis to improve to 3-0 in Horizon League
