MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Milwaukee heads west to Nevada for a pair of games as part of the Nugget Classic. The Panthers open with host Nevada on Friday, November 25 at 4:00 pm CT before taking on Boise State on Sunday at 12:00 pm. Both games can be seen on the Mountain West Network. The games will also feature live stats and live audio with Matt Menzl on the call.
North Dakota State is also in the four-team field at the Nugget Classic which is sponsored by the Nugget Casino Resort.
SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK
Nevada put together a solid season a year ago, finishing 20-13 overall and 11-6 in league play. The Pack were invited to the WBI and picked up a win over Davidson in the postseason before falling to Cleveland State and Bowling Green.
Head Coach Amanda Levens returns nine players in 2022-23 including Mountain West All-Defensive Team selection and rising junior Alyssa Jimenez along with Mountain West All-Freshman Team guard Audrey Roden.
Through three games so far this season, freshman Kennedy Lee is pacing the Pack, averaging 13.0 points off the bench. Nevada has been solid on the defensive end, averaging 14.7 steals which ranks 11th in the country. The Pack is holding opponents to 22.2 percent (10-for-45) shooting from long range and 35.3 percent from the floor.
Nevada was picked to place sixth of 11 teams in the Mountain West. UNLV earned 26 of 28 first-place votes as they were picked to defend their title from last year.
LAST TIME THEY MET
This marks the first time Milwaukee and Nevada are meeting. In fact, this weekend marks the program’s first-ever trip to Nevada.
SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has only met a Mountain West opponent on six occasions. The Panthers are 2-0 against Air Force and 1-0 against San Jose State. MKE is 0-2 against New Mexico and fell to Fresno State in 2018, the most recent matchup against the Mountain West.
WHATS ON TAP?
Milwaukee will take on Boise State in the Panthers second game of the Nugget Classic. Tipoff is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
LAST TIME OUT
Down one with under 20 seconds to play, Milwaukee had one final possession to take the lead, but the UIC defense stood tall, and the Panthers fell 44-43 at Credit Union 1 Arena.
PROGRAM FIRST
In last Wednesday’s loss to UIC, Milwaukee was held without a free throw attempt for the first time in the Panthers’ NCAA Division I history, a span of 932 games.
UIC was whistled for 12 fouls, but none of them put the Panthers at the line.
Prior to Wednesday’s game, Milwaukee had been averaging nearly 20 free throw attempts in the first three games of the season.
Without looking at individual box scores for every team across the NCAA, there’s no database in women’s college basketball to find how many times a team did not have a free throw attempt, but it did happen earlier this season. Saint Peter’s was held without a free throw in a loss to Seton Hall on November 11. On the men’s side, it has happened just 40 times in the last 10 years including once this season, according to Sports Reference. On November 11, John Brown was held without a free throw in a loss to Oral Roberts.
DEFENSE ON LOCK DOWN
The Panthers’ defense has been solid to start the season, holding opponents to 60.3 points per game on 36.1 percent shooting, both of which rank in the top three of the Horizon League. Milwaukee also ranks second in the league with 5.25 blocks per game, led by Megan Walstad’s nine swats.
Milwaukee held UIC to just 44 points on November 16, a season-low for opponents. It is the lowest for an opponent since holding Oakland to 41 points on February 12 last season.
With the Panthers scoring just 43 points, it marks the first time since February 7, 1974 that both teams failed to reach 44 points or more.
WITMERSHAUS WORKIN’
Emma Wittmershaus finished 5-for-10 from the floor for 10 points against UIC, her third straight game in double figures.
It marks the first time in her career that the forward has scored at least 10 points in three consecutive games.
So far this year, Wittmershaus is leading the team with 9.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. She is shooting 45.9 percent from the floor.
BIG-TIME START
Grace Crowley is off to an impressive start for the Panthers after playing limited minutes last season.
The redshirt sophomore is second on the team with 8.3 points and tied for the team lead with 5.5 rebounds per game. Crowley is shooting 64.3 percent from the floor and 88.2 percent from the free throw line.
Crowley has scored at least eight points in three of four contests including a career-high 13 against Loyola Chicago. She’s gotten to the free throw line 17 times, hitting 15 from the charity stripe, which ranks second in the Horizon League.
MAGIC NUMBER
In college basketball, there is no perfect recipe for a win but for Milwaukee, field goal percentage has been a pretty good baseline.
In the last six seasons, Milwaukee is 84-25 (.778) when hitting at least 40 percent from the field. Bump that field goal percentage to 43 percent and the Panthers are 65-12 (.844).
When shooting under 40 percent since 2016-17, Milwaukee is just 24-57 (.338).
BENCH MOB
Milwaukee has been finding its depth early on this season with over 20 bench points in three of the first four contests.
Against Wisconsin, MKE starters were held down, but the bench sparked a rally in the second half and finished with 24 points.
The bench accounted for 28 points against Loyola Chicago, led by Grace Crowley’s 13. Against Marquette, Crowley again paced the bench with eight points as the group accounted for 21 total.
GLASS WORK
Rebounding has been a strong suit of the Panthers in recent years, but it was a different story against Marquette on November 13.
Milwaukee outrebounded opponents by an average of 5.0 per contest across the first two games but on Sunday, Marquette ended that. The Golden Eagles piled up 58 rebounds compared to 26 for the Panthers. It marked the most rebounds for an opponent since the 2013-14 season when Oakland pulled in 59 rebounds against the Panthers.
FREE THROW PHENOMS
Despite an uncharacteristic performance against Marquette, the Panthers have been solid once again from the free throw line.
MKE currently sits second in the Horizon League and 20th nationally with a 79.7 free throw percentage.
Statistically speaking, the Panthers have the second-best percentage from the charity stripe over the last two seasons combined. MKE has hit 82.1 (691-842) percent of its foul shots trailing only Iowa (878-1065).
MKE set the NCAA single-season record in 2020-21 with a mark of 83.8 percent, only to have the Hawkeyes top it last year with a percentage of 84.6.
POUR IT ON
The Panthers had four players reach double figures in the win over Loyola Chicago with Megan Walstad’s 15 points leading the way. Grace Crowley and Kendall Nead each added 13 points while Emma Wittmershaus chipped in 11.
Last year, MKE was 6-2 when at least four players reached double figures.
PANTHER DEBUTS
A handful of Panthers made their career debuts for the black and gold with Kamy Peppler and Jessi Giles earning starts against Wisconsin.
Peppler finished with seven points in 20 minutes while Giles had five points and a rebounds in 23 minutes.
Anna Lutz, Hallie Majoros, and Justina Hernandez have also seen the floor for the first time after a redshirt year in 2021-22. Lutz has scored eight points on 4-for-7 shooting while Majoros has gone 1-for-3 from long range and Hernandez has dished out three assists in two appearances.
PRESEASON HONORS FOR WALSTAD
Megan Walstad was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League First Team following another impressive campaign in 2021-22. Walstad dominated down low, earning her second straight First Team All-League award last season. She led the team and was among the league’s leaders in points per game (14.4), rebounds per game (9.1), field goal percentage (48.8), free throw percentage (88.9), and blocks per game (1.5). Walstad was also named to the All-Defensive Team for the second straight year.
Walstad joined a group of just three others in program history to earn All-League First Team honors on more than one occasion in the Panthers’ Division I era and is just the second in MKE history to earn All-Defensive Team distinction multiple times.
Additionally, Walstad was one of 25 players to be named to the 2022 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year preseason Watch List.
MILESTONE WATCH
Megan Walstad’s name is already all over the Milwaukee record books but she has the opportunity to etch her name in a few more times.
For her career, she has already cracked the program’s top 10 in the following.
- Points per game (9th, 12.4)
- Rebounds per game (4th, 7.6)
- Field goal percentage (4th, 50.9)
- Free throw percentage (5th, 84.0)
- Total rebounds (9th, 669)
- Total blocks (4th, 124)
- Double-doubles (6th, 19)
Additionally, Walstad could reach the top 10 in total points (currently 18th) and offensive rebounds (currently 12 away from 10th).
A LOOK AT THE NON-CONFERENCE
Per usual, Milwaukee will be tested in its non-conference schedule in preparation of the Horizon League slate.
Milwaukee has nine non-conference games set for 2022-23 highlighted by Marquette, Nevada, Minnesota, and Maine, all of which reached the WNIT or WBI.
