Milwaukee vs. UW-Platteville
November 6, 2014
Milwaukee, Wis. – 7 p.m.
 
After a month of practice, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball team will take the floor for its first and only exhibition contest in preparation for the 2014-15 season Thursday night when it welcomes UW-Platteville to UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. The Panthers are coming off a 21-win season and NCAA Tournament berth, their fourth postseason appearance in the last nine years and despite the loss of their top two scorers from a year ago, return three starters in senior Steve McWhorter, and juniors Matt Tiby and Austin Arians.
 
Scouting UW-Platteville
The Pioneers are coming off of a 16-11 season, during which they won four of their final five games of the year. Despite the loss of 2013-14 leading scorer and rebounder Chas Cross (15.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg), Platteville returns senior forward Jim Stocki (12.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and guard Eric Gerber (11.2 ppg) and Boston Johnson (10.8 ppg).
 
Pride of the Pioneers
Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter is no stranger to UW-Platteville. The Chicago native, who is a member of the UW-Platteville Athletics Hall of Fame, captained the Pioneers to the 1991 NCAA Division III title and was an all-conference and all-region performer there. Following his stellar playing career at Platteville, Jeter returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach under the legendary Bo Ryan, and helped guide the program to a remarkable 108-6 record, two NCAA Division III titles and four conference championships. In September, Jeter was inducted into the Plattevile Hall of Fame for the fourth time, this time along with the remainder of the 1998 team that won the national championship. Jeter served as an assistant coach on that 1998 squad. 

Tiby Time
Junior Matt Tiby made quite an impression in his first season with the Panthers, averaging 12.0 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game, while making 225 trips to the foul line on the year. A Preseason Second Team All-Horizon League pick this season, the Urbandale, Iowa native was named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team last year after helping the Panthers to the title by putting up 11.0 ppg and 6.0 rpg in four games. He keyed Milwaukee's huge semifinal win at top-seeded Green Bay by tallying 15 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Last season, he scored in double figures on 24 occasions.
 
New Name, New Amenities
Thursday's game versus Platteville will be the program's first in the newly named UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. In June, the University and the Wisconsin Center District announced a 10-year partnership agreement that included naming rights to the downtown facility formerly known as U.S. Cellular Arena. In addition to the new name and signage, a new overhead video board as well as corner video boards were installed in the arena, while new seats were put in in the lower bowl.
 
Looking Ahead
Milwaukee officially opens the 2014-15 season at Auburn next Friday (Nov. 14). The Tigers are coached by former Milwaukee front man Bruce Pearl, who is in his first season at Auburn. Pearl guided the Panthers to an 86-38 (.694) record in four seasons at Milwaukee.