Team #97 - Northern Kentucky

On Wednesday February 9th, 2022, I saw my 97th Division One College Basketball teams. On this occasion, I saw the Northern Kentucky Norse take on the Milwaukee Panthers. Northern Kentucky is the 10th team that I have seen out of the Horizon. The Norse comes into this matchup with a 12-10 record. They are currently 4th in the Horizon League with an 8-5 conference record. Their most most recent game was against Detroit Mercy on Saturday February 5. They lost the matchup against Detroit Mercy by a score of 74-68. Marques Warrick has been the leading scorer for Northern Kentucky averaging 14.4 PPG.  Milwaukee comes into this matchup with a 7-17 record on the year. The Panthers are a disappointing 5-10 in conference play. Good enough for 9th in the League. They most recently played at Cleveland State on Sunday February 6th, a matchup that they lost by a score of 84-71. The Panthers were without starter Joey St. Pierre who was out with back issues. However, they did return start Patrick Baldwin Jr in the last week. PBJ has struggled to find his rhythm since his return. I am hopefully he has a great game against the Norse. DeAndre Gholston has been the leading scorer for Milwaukee, averaging 15.3 PPG. 

After Milwaukee won the first matchup at Northern Kentucky, I figured I was in store for a very good game. The game started and it was quickly 7-2 Milwaukee. Patrick Baldwin Jr had five of the seven and I figured he was well on his way to a big night. Well, the Panthers wouldn't score for another seven minutes. At this point it was 21-10 in favor of Northern Kentucky. The Norse ran an extended 2/3 zone. This gave Milwaukee all kinds of issue. Many shots were taken right at the end of the shot clock. Milwaukee tried to claw back a few times in the 1st half. They cut the Northern Kentucky lead to four on a couple of occasions. But at the end of the day, Milwaukee did not have enough offense to keep up with Northern Kentucky. At the half, Northern Kentucky lead 30-22. Patrick Baldwin Jr lead Milwaukee in scoring with seven points. He scored all but two of these in the opening minutes of the game. Sam Vinson lead Northern Kentucky with eight points at the half. Vinson, I thought easily could have had 10-15 points at halftime. He was 2-7 from three, all the looks he had were wide open. 

Milwaukee seems to figure things out right before halftime. They got some looks that were much improved and I thought they might make it close in the second half. However, Northern Kentucky had other ideas. The first 16 points of the half were scored by Northern Kentucky. It was a very impressive run to watch in person. Northern Kentucky took full control of the game from this point and never led by less than 20 points. Moral of the story in this 2nd half. Northern Kentucky scored a lot, Milwaukee scored a little. I left this game at the under eight time out to a flurry of boos from the Milwaukee faithful. Even, some fans yelling at Patrick Baldwin Jr that he is a bust. Now I for one do not think PBJ is a bust. I think he is in a tough roll at Milwaukee. They do not have a whole lot of talent at all. I still think his best fit would have been at Duke. He can be a great three point shooter in an offense when all he has to do is that. I saw it first hand against Robert Morris when he went 6-6 from three. Duke has struggled to find good three point shooting on some occasions and has relied on Joey Baker and Bates Jones. Not to turn this into a post about Duke basketball. Don't worry we have one of those coming soon. I really think he would have helped Duke this year and helped his draft stock. Regardless, Northern Kentucky would go on to win this game 75-39. The 39 points scored by Milwaukee are the lowest I have seen this year. Like I said this game got very ugly in the 2nd half. Chris Brandon lead the Norse in scoring with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Meanwhile, no Milwaukee Panthers scored more than ten points. PBJ had eight for the Panthers. 

My next game will be Friday February 11th as Milwaukee takes on Wright State. Hopefully the Panthers make this contest more competitive.