by Troy A. Sparks
sparkstroy@hotmail.com
An undersized Marquette men’s basketball team endured their first major test over the Thanksgiving weekend in the Old Spice Classic Tournament in Orlando, FL. They made it to the finals before losing 57-56 to Florida State after blowing a 17-point lead.

The Golden Eagles lost another double-digit lead at home Dec. 5 against North Carolina State in a 77-73 defeat.

The UWM men’s team rebounded in a nice way after winning two games in the NIT Season Tipoff Thanksgiving weekend and another road win at Bowling Green. The Panthers began their Horizon League season with two home games at the U.S. Cellular Arena, Dec. 3 and 5. A 57-52 win over University Illinois-Chicago was followed by a 69-64 loss to Loyola.

What was really interesting was that the Panthers shot worse than the Flames (29 percent to 35 percent) in last Thursday’s game and still won.

“When you looked at our percentages, we didn’t help ourselves,” coach Rob Jeter said. “The key is to take away the other team’s opportunities.

“A team scores 52 points, shoots 35 percent . . . That usually get you a win, not just a five-point win.”

UWM was behind most of the first half last Saturday against the Ramblers and trailed 36-26. The Panthers rallied early in the second half to tie the game at 44. But Loyola kept UWM at arm’s length in their narrow victory. Senior guard Ricky Franklin led the Panthers with 17 points. The Ramblers had three players in double figures, led by Geoff McCammon’s 18.

UWM (6-4, 1-1 Horizon) began a four-game non-conference schedule Tuesday with crosstown rival Marquette (7-2) at the Bradley Center. The Golden Eagles won 71-51. Marquette held UWM’s leading scorer, James Eayrs (pronounced AIRS) to two points.

Marquette coach Buzz Williams was disappointed in his team allowing two UWM reserve players to score one-fourth of their team’s points.

“The thing we got to get better at is that 17 of their 51 points came from two guys off the bench, No. 52 (Jason Averkamp, seven points) and No. 23 (Anthony Hill, 10 points),” he said. “You can’t let a guy that’s coming off the bench whip you, because that could be the guy that wins them the game.

“And we thought we did a good job on No. 55 (Eayrs). Nothing against 23 or 52, but we can’t allow them to score 25 percent of (UWM) points. That’s no good.”

Jeter said a team like Marquette applies pressure on both ends. He wants his Panthers to compete the entire game. “Can you compete for 40 minutes?” Jeter said. “And that’s the one thing we still have to do. We have to do a better job for 40 minutes of staying disciplined and sticking to our game plan.”

The Marquette men will run into an angry Wisconsin team in Madison on Dec. 12. The Badgers were upset by UW-Green Bay on the road. Wisconsin was ranked in the Top-25 before the UWGB game.

The Marquette women’s team is a perfect 4-0 at home. They were 1-1 in the Cancun Palace Resort Tournament in Mexico almost two weeks ago, beating Cleveland State and losing to Duke. The other loss was to Michigan on the road. The Golden Eagles play two Big Ten teams in a row. They beat Illinois Dec. 9 on the road. Angel Robinson scored 32 points to upset the Illini in Champaign, IL, 65-55, snapping Illinois’ seven-game win streak. The Golden Eagles will play in-state rival Wisconsin Dec. 11 at home.

Head coach Terri Mitchell has her players focused on team unity. They lost sophomore center Georgie Jones after she left the team for personal reasons.

Coach Sandy Botham’s UWM women’s squad is trying to get over the losses of one of the best player in school history, Traci Edwards. Right now, they have a 4-3 record going into a road game at Northern Iowa this weekend.

Bucks Weekly Report

by Troy A. Sparks
sparkstroy@hotmail.com

There’s so much to say about the Milwaukee Bucks’ good start at home in the month of November. They were 7-3 before they hit the road for games at Memphis, San Antonio, New Orleans and Oklahoma City. After beating Memphis, the Bucks lost the last three road games and a home game against Orlando last Saturday.

The honeymoon for rookie guard Brandon Jennings is over. As word spread throughout the NBA that he dropped 55 points on Golden State, the “double-team” strategy was in effect. In the game against the Hornets, Milwaukee had a slim lead in the fourth quarter before going into overtime and losing. Last Friday’s national coming out party on ESPN showcased Jennings against Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant. Jennings was held to 12 points. Durant had 33.

Milwaukee was on a four-game losing streak entering Monday’s game against the visiting Chicago Bulls. And the Bulls were also on a four-game skid, so somebody had to lose. Jennings was the talk of the league until his recent setbacks on the road. At times, he played like a rookie should, still learning on the job.

Bucks head coach Scott Skiles encouraged Jennings to take over the scoring load while guard Michael Redd recovered from a knee injury. Credit forward Ersan Ilyasova and guard Luke Ridnour for contributing. The injury bug also hit center Andrew Bogut,who had a leg injury. Both Redd and Bogut missed a total of 95 games last season. Add forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who’s day-to-day with a foot injury. Recently, Redd went back on the injured list.

Bogut played well in his return to the lineup against the Bulls Monday. He had 16 points in the first half. Milwaukee led 48-44. Chicago kept up with the Bucks but still trailed after three quarters 77-72.

The game was still close in the fourth with the Bucks holding a 1-point lead over the Bulls and guard Charlie Bell at the free-throw line with 7.1 seconds left in regulation.

“I’m shooting like Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) right now,” he said. O’Neal is one of the worst free-throw shooters in NBA history. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

Bell missed the first and made the second free throw to give Milwaukee the 99-97 win. Bogut had 22 points.

Skiles admitted Monday that without Bogut’s presence in the lineup, they don’t have a chance to win. “(Bogut’s) having a very good year,” Skiles said. “He’s scoring the ball. He’s rebounding the ball. We’re a totally different team with him out there. “

Jennings agrees: “All I have to say is 22 (points) and 15 (rebounds). That’s all I’m going to say on that. . . . Welcome back. I wasn’t expecting a lot of that. You got to see the big difference when (Bogut) is out there.”

“We really wanted to this one, especially going on the road,” said Bell. “We didn’t want to drop another, our fifth straight, going on the road. We wanted to get a win.”

The Bucks hit the road this week at Washington and Detroit. In Wednesday’s game against the Wizards, Skiles was ejected for arguing calls with officials. Assistant coach Jim Boylan took over the coaching duties. Milwaukee, at 9-8, lost their fourth straight road game in a 104-102 defeat. They play at Detroit Friday before returning home for three games at the Bradley Center against Cleveland, Toronto and Portland.