There’s still a long ways to go, but the UW-Milwaukee Panthers have built themselves some breathing room atop the Horizon League standings.
By virtue of an 88-81 victory over the vastly improved IU-Indianapolis Panthers on Sunday afternoon at the Klotsche Center, UWM – the preseason pick to win the conference – is 3-0 in Horizon League play for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
The Panthers used an 11-2 run sparked by a pair of Jamichael Stillwell baskets just after the final media timeout to grab control, then used 13-for-16 shooting from the free-throw line over the final 1 minute 50 seconds to salt the game away.
“This one was important because now we go 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 Purdue-Fort Wayne on Jan. 8.
BOX SCORE: UWM 88, IU-Indy 81
Youngstown State sits at 4-0 currently, with UWM (10-4, 3-0) the only other undefeated team remaining in the league.
“We had to defend our home going into this stretch,” Lundy continued. “Oakland will obviously be a rematch of the championship game (of last season’s Horizon League Tournament), the Detroit trip is always tough and then Fort Wayne is an extremely good team. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but to be sitting 3-0 does give you a little leg up.”
Senior guard Themus Fulks scored a career-high 26 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists in 34 well-rounded minutes to lead four Panthers in double figures.
Kentrell Pullian added 20 points, Erik Pratt 11 (nine in the first half) and Stillwell put up his ninth double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds for UWM.
“We feel like we’re the best team in the conference,” said Fulks. “But it doesn’t matter what we feel. We have to prove it every single night.”
Stillwell sets a school record
Stillwell, the 6-foot-8 junior, is now all alone in the UWM annals having recorded five straight double-doubles.
He passed BJ Freeman – who set the previous mark last season – thanks to a game-turning sequence that began with his strip of Indianapolis guard Paul Zilinskas at midcourt.
Stillwell finished the play by soaring to the basket with a two-handed jam, then after the Jaguars sunk a pair of free throws he scored on a pretty driving layup on the baseline to give the Panthers a 74-72 lead with 2:39 remaining that they wouldn’t relinquish.
“His intensity amped up,” Lundy said of Stillwell. “He knows when winning time is, and not everybody’s like that. I don’t often get distracted by the crowd, but when he got the steal and the dunk, our crowd was loud. That’s a good sign, to hear a loud crowd in here.”
Stillwell is now averaging 13.4 points on 49.3% shooting and an even 12 rebounds (including 57 offensive). He ended the day .2 rebounds per game behind Northern Arizona’s Carson Towt for the Division I lead.
“I feel like from the first game we’ve played, he’s made tremendous strides,” Fulks said of Stillwell. “Coming from junior college, he had to make the adjustment a little bit the first 2-3 games, get settled in. Figure out what he was really good at, you know?
“And I feel like now he knows it. He’s really good at rebounding the basketball, being a lockdown defender, and he’ll score the ball as well.”
Themus Fulks is showing his all-around game
When it was pointed out to Lundy that perhaps it was a surprise that the 6-2 Fulks, a transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette who was signed specifically to fill a glaring void at point guard, is leading the Panthers in scoring at 15.4 points per game, the coach was quick to point something out.
“Well, I knew he was a good point guard, but I’ve always kind of known Themus as a scorer – he led the state of North Carolina in scoring as a senior,” he said of the Winston-Salem, N.C. native who averaged 9.2 points and six assists per game in leading his team to the NCAA Tournament last year.
“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 really can get into the paint. He also can distribute, and that makes him dangerous.
“He’s tricky. Getting into that mid-range, he’s got some tricks in the bag.”
Fulks, who has gone for 23 and 26 in his last two games against Division I opponents, hit 6 of 10 shots (none of which were three-pointers) and 14 of 16 free throws.
His 53.8% shooting on the season is outstanding, and only Stillwell (73) has shot more free throws than Fulks (68).
“Coach Lundy gives me a lot of freedom out there,” Fulks said. “I’m just trying to make the right play. I’m not really thinking, ‘I need to score this, I need to pass this.’ I just try to read what the defense gives me and make the best play for the team.”
Panthers getting to the free-throw line at will
Led by Fulks, UWM hit 27 of 37 free throws for the game (73%), with the 37 attempts tying a season high set against Cleveland State on Dec. 5 and the 27 makes 10 more than Indianapolis attempted for the game.
Through 14 games the Panthers have shot 342 free throws, an average of 24.4 per game that should put them around the top 30 teams in Division I come Monday.
“It’s huge,” acknowledged Lundy. “The margins that we work as a team to create are on the glass (UWM won there as well, 36-26) and with the free throws. We won by 10 on the glass and made 10 more than they attempted; that gives you a good chance.
“If we make a few more threes, then we’re cooking. I think that’s coming.”
Just as important is making the free throws, something UWM has struggled to do at times this year. On Sunday, the Panthers hit 20 of 27 in the decisive second half with the 13-for-16 finish in the final 1:50 crucial.
“After practice, coach tells us to make 50,” said Fulks, a 75% marksman on the year. As a unit, UWM is shooting 66.4%; it entered Sunday ranked 321st out of 350 Division I teams at 65.6%
“I think repetition and everybody just really dialing in, locking in, taking the time to realize that these free throws can win games and lose games will help us.”
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