Milwaukee at Auburn Game Notes

Fresh off a 21-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance, the fourth in program history, Milwaukee opens up the 2014-15 season at Auburn Friday night. The Panthers are 17-14 in season openers as a NCAA Division I program and 6-3 in lid-lifters under 10th year head coach Rob Jeter.

Milwaukee is aiming for its first win over a current member of a power conference since an 82-74 victory against Oklahoma in the 2006 NCAA Tournament in Rob Jeter's first year as head coach. The Panthers are playing arguably the toughest nonconference schedule in the Horizon League with four contests versus power conference foes - at Auburn (Nov. 14), at Oklahoma State (Nov. 21), vs. Wisconsin (Dec. 10) and at Arkansas (Dec. 22).
 
After racing out of the starting blocks to a 7-2 mark in November last season, Milwaukee will be looking for a similar start in 2014-15.  In fact, since the start of the 2011-12 campaign, the Panthers are 14-7 (.667) in the opening month of the season.
 
The Panthers have won four of their last five games played away from the newly named UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. A year ago, UWM posted a 4-2 record in true road games in non-league play. Milwaukee won 10 true road games overall and 14 total contests outside of Milwaukee in 2013-14.
 
Junior forward Matt Tiby was recently named to the 2014-15 Lou Henson Award Watch List. One of 40 players overall and three from the Horizon League named to the list, Tiby averaged 12.0 points and
6.5 rebounds per game last year. The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Mid-Major Player of the Year.
 
ABOUT THE TIGERS
Auburn posted a 14-16 ovrall record last season and returns two starters from that squad, including senior guard KT Harrell, who averaged 18.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in 2013-14. The Tigers, under first-year head coach Bruce Pearl, also will benefit from the addition of transfer Antoine Mason, the leading returning scorer in the nation, who tallied 25.6 ppg at Niagara University a year ago. Dating back to last season, Auburn has lost seven of its last 10 contests. Last Friday, the Tigers rolled to a 94-58 victory over West Alabama in their only exhibition contest of the preseason. Mason (22) and Harrell (21) each scored over 20 points and Auburn's pressure defense forced 29 turnovers.
 
SERIES STUFF
This is the first-ever meeting between Milwaukee and Auburn. The Panthers are 1-4 all-time against current members of the Southeastern Conference and are looking for their first win versus a SEC foe since stopping Alabama, 83-73, in the NCAA Tournament in Cleveland in 2005. The coach of the Panthers at that time was current Auburn front man Bruce Pearl. That win was Milwaukee's first ever in NCAA Tournament play as a Division I program.
 
FAMILIAR FACE
Milwaukee will be seeing a familiar face Friday night as former Panthers head coach Bruce Pearl leads Auburn into the 2014-15 season. In four seasons as the bench boss at Milwaukee from 2001-05, Pearl guided the Panthers to a remarkable 86-38 (.694) record and three posteseason appearances, including a pair of trips to the NCAA Tournament. Pearl led Milwaukee to its first-ever Division I NCAA Tournament berth in 2002-03, then piloted the Panthers to the NCAA Sweet 16 10 years ago (2004-05).
 
FAMILAR FACE PART 2
Two of Pearl's former players, who also played under current Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter, are members of the Panthers' staff - director of basketball operations Chris Hill and video coordinator Allan Hanson. Both players were members of the NCAA Sweet 16 team in 2005 and of Jeter's initial squad at Milwaukee that won a game in the NCAA Tournament in 2006. Hill appeared in 116 games in his UWM career and averaged 6.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg and 2.6 apg. With Hill on the roster, including his redshirt year, Milwaukee won three Horizon League regular-season titles, three Horizon League Tournament crowns and played in three NCAA Tournaments, while racking up 108 wins, including three in the NCAA Tournament. Hanson knocked down 93 three-point field goals in his career and averaged 4.4 ppg.
 
TURN THE BEAT AROUND
After winning only eight games in 2012-13, Milwaukee engineered the best turnaround in the nation in 2013-14 by posting 21 victories for a 13-game improvement in the win column. Milwaukee has now won 20 or more games four times under Rob Jeter and seven times in the last 12 years.
 
BUSY OPENING STRETCH
Milwaukee will be a busy team in the first couple of weeks of the season playing seven games in 16 days. Only three of those games will be at home and the Panthers will play in four different states during that two-week, season-opening stretch.

TIBY TIME
Junior Matt Tiby is primed for a big season in 2014-15. The emotional leader of the Panthers squad, the 6-foot-8 forward made an immediate impact in his first season of Division I basketball last year, ranking third on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg), while leading the club in rebounding (6.5 rpg). Tiby, who scored in double figures on 24 occasions in 2013-14, got his season off to a hot start a year ago, posting 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the season opener at Loyola Chicago. Through his first four games of the year, Tiby pitched in 17.5 ppg and 9.5 rpg. A 2015 Preseason Second Team All-Horizon League selection, the Urbandale, Iowa native recorded six double-doubles a year ago and scored in double figures on 24 occasions, five times topping the 20-point mark. Milwaukee went 5-1 last season when he posted a double-double. Earlier this week, Tiby was named to the Lou Henson Award Watch List. The award is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Mid-Major Player of the Year. Tiby is one of three Horizon League players - Keifer Sykes (Green Bay) and Tyler Lewis (Cleveland State) are the others - on the watch list. Tiby collected 10 points, 13 boards and five assists in last week's exhibition game versus UW-Platteville.
 
ON POINT
Milwaukee will benefit from the steady play of an experienced point guard this season. Redshirt senior Steve McWhorter's play was instrumental in the Panthers making a late-season run a year ago. A veteran who serves as coach on the floor, the Racine, Wis., native averaged 7.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4.0 apg and 1.5 spg. Not known as a big scorer, McWhorter did reach double digits on 13 occasions a year ago and the Panthers went 11-2 in those contests. In 2013-14, he started all 35 contests and through the first five games of the season, pitched in 10.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4.2 apg and 1.4 spg, while connecting on 59 percent (20-for-34) of his field goal tries. In three seasons on active rosters at both Indiana State and Milwaukee, McWhorter has helped his team reach the postseason on three occasions (2 NCAA, 1 CIT)
 
AUSTIN POWERS PANTHERS
Another Panther who got off to a tremendous start last season was three-point specialist Austin Arians, who scored in double digits in each of his first eight appearances to the tune of 13.0 ppg on 41 percent (15-for-37) shooting from beyond the arc. One of the top long-range shooters in the Horizon League, the junior forward led the squad by draining 37 percent (65-for-177) of his shots from downtown a year ago. Arians poured in 10 or more points 22 times during his sophomore campaign and the Panthers posted an impressive 16-6 ledger in those contests. Dating back to last season, Arians, who sat out last week's exhibition game versus UW-Platteville with an ankle injury, is producing 13.5 ppg on 38 percent (10-for-26) shooting from three-point territory. In his last 15 games versus non-Horizon League opponents, the Stoughton, Wis., native is accounting for 12.8 ppg and has reached double figures in all but two of those outings. In last year's NCAA Tournament loss to Villanova, Arians notched a team-high 17 points and added five rebounds, and in his last two games versus power conference opponents, is averaging 13.0 ppg and 5.0 rpg, while connecting on 50 percent (7-for-14) of his three-point attempts.
 
AKEEM THE DREAM
One newcomer who is expected to play a major role for the Panthers this season is transfer Akeem Springs, who comes to Milwaukee by way of Northern Illinois University. The 6-foot-4 guard made quite an impression is his unofficial debut in the Black and Gold, springing for a team-high 15 points and four rebounds in Milwaukee's exhibition victory over UW-Platteville last week. During his lone season at NIU in 2012-13, Springs averaged 7.7 ppg and narrowly missed out on recording his first career double-double by going for a season-high 21 points and nine rebounds against the team he currently plays for. Springs got off to a fast start that season, averaging 11.0 ppg over the first nine games.
 
SITTING THIS ONE OUT
In addition to Scotty Tyler, a transfer from Idaho State University, who must sit out the 2014-15 season due to NCAA rules, Milwaukee freshman guards Brock Stull and Derek Rongstad will redshirt. A tremendous all-around athlete who also was a standout football player at Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, Ill., Stull totaled 1,194 points in his prep career. Meanwhile, Rongstad was a prolific three-point shooter during his prep career at Middleton High School in Middleton, Wis., connecting on 105 triples.
 
NAME GAME
The 2014-15 season will be MIlwaukee's first in the newly named UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, which was previously know as U.S. Cellular Arena. In June, the University entered into a 10-year partnership agreement with the Wisconsin Center District that includes the naming rights to the facility and a long-term downtown home for the Panthers. UWM will also host major concerts and other programming at the arena.
 
FROM THE HARDWOOD TO THE GRIDIRON
Former Milwaukee forward Demetrius Harris has joined the likes of former college basketball players Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham and made a career as a tight end in the National Football League. The 6-foot-7 Harris, who starred at UWM for two seasons (2011-13), was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs' practice squad last year before earning a spot on the active roster this season. Before breaking his foot in pregame warmups last weekend, he had appeared in eight games this year and caught three passes for 20 yards. Harris averaged 9.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game at Milwaukee in 2012-13 and is the first Panther to play in the NFL since 1983.
 
AIR APPARENT?
Freshman guard Justin Jordan brings some interesting bloodlines to the Milwaukee program. The Davidson, N.C., native is the son of Larry Jordan and the nephew of former NBA great, six-time NBA champion, Hall of Famer and current Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan. Justin played last season at Hargrave Military Academy and contributed 13 points, eight assists and four steals per game. He is expected to see action off the bench this season, spelling Steve McWhorter at the point guard position.
 
NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
Milwaukee will be looking for another successful opening month to springboard it to a great season. Last year, the Panthers established a school record with seven wins in November. The previous best was five, set in both 2009 and 2011.
 
OUT OF CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
Milwaukee has prevailed in 16 of its last 22 non-conference contests and the Panthers are seeking their first true road win (non-neutral site) in a season opener since a 69-68 decision at Central Michigan in Bo Ryan's first game as head coach at Milwaukee on November 20, 1999.
 
UP NEXT
Following Friday's opener at Auburn, the Panthers return home for a brief two-game homestand during which they will host Minnesota-Crookston (Nov. 17) and IUPUI (Nov. 19).