On Wednesday November 23rd, 2022, I saw my 112th Division One College Basketball teams. On this occasion, I saw the St. Thomas Tommies take on the Milwaukee Panthers. St. Thomas is the 2nd team that I have seen out of the Summit. St. Thomas has a 4-2 record on the year. They most recently played Merrimack and they won 72-61. The leading scorer for St. Thomas is Riley Miller he is averaging 15.2 PPG. Milwaukee has a 2-2 record on the year. They most recently played Iowa State and they lost by a score of 68-53. The leading scorer for the Panthers is BJ Freeman and he is averaging 12.7 PPG.
Last year Milwaukee was one of the most disappointing teams in College Basketball. They had a top five recruit who never played and a coach who couldn't lead a team with talent. Now we enter to the Bart Lundy Milwaukee era. Only four players return for Milwaukee this year so I really had no idea what to expect. From the get go, St Thomas and Milwaukee seemed very evenly matched. Both teams struggled with turnovers and did not shoot great in the first half. I think the biggest problem for the Panthers right now is finding what works. 13 players got minutes in the first half for Milwaukee. I hope Coach Lundy starts to shorten that bench and give consist minutes. The first half was a very back and forth half. The biggest lead either team had was five points. Brooks Allen was a bright spot for the Tommies as he made three, three pointers to give him nine points at halftime. As for Milwaukee, Ahmad Rand was the man for Milwaukee in the first half. He went a cool 5-5 from the field to give him ten points at the half. Rand was very active on the offensive glass in the first half as he had three put back dunks. At the half, St Thomas was in the lead by a score of 35-33. Pretty much your average mid-major basketball game.
Early on in the game, I got the vibe St Thomas was the better team. They just needed to showcase it, which they didn't do in the first half. In the second half, St Thomas would find themselves up by as many as 11 points. A lot of this was due to leading scorer Riley Miller scoring 12 of his Tommie high 18 points in the second half. Miller hit three after three. Milwaukee still not being the most disciplined team had no answer for Miller. Milwaukee did manage to mount a late comeback down the stretch. The Panthers had four in double figures this game. Ahmad Rand had 18 points on a perfect 9-9 shooting. Justin Thomas had 14 points on a perfect 3-3 from the three point line, Angelo Stuart had 12 points and leading scorer BJ Freeman had 11 points. I think this Panther team has less talent than last year but might be a better team if that makes any sense? This group at times shows they can win as group at times, other times they were the same Milwaukee team that put their head down and played no defense. In this contest they fought hard but ultimately lost by a score of 76-72. As for St Thomas, they were the better team I thought but I don't think they will make much noise this year in the Summit League. I expect the Summit to run thru South Dakota State or Oral Roberts this year.
Following a nice Thanksgiving feast, I will be going to Chicago to watch Texas A&M and DePaul on Black Friday.
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