With Tuesday's impressive comeback victory in the rearview mirror, the Milwaukee men's basketball team looks to continue the momentum when it hosts game two of the Belfast Hall of Fame Classic. The Panthers welcome Albany to UWM Panther Arena Friday evening, set for a 7 p.m. tip. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+, will have live statistics available and will be carried on WISN AM 1130 with Scott Warras on the call. All links are posted on the MKE website.

LOOKING AT THE GREAT DANES
Albany is coming off a 22-10 season a year ago, finishing 10-6 in the America East. The 2018-19 roster features six returning players but, like Milwaukee's situation, just three of which saw playing time last season (one starter). The Great Danes welcomed nine newcomers after having to replace all but 14 percent of scoring from last season lost to graduation and transfer.

This year, the squad is off to a 2-3 start, falling to Holy Cross in overtime Nov. 20 to snap a two-game win streak. Three players score in double-figures, led by Ahmad Clark (16.6 ppg) and Cameron Healy (16.4 ppg). Devonte Campbell adds 11 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
The game on Tuesday will be the first-ever between the two programs on the hardwood.

LAST GAME
Darius Roy scored 27 points and Carson Warren-Newsome added 21 to lead the Milwaukee men's basketball team to a come-from-behind, 92-87 victory in overtime against LIU Brooklyn Tuesday night at UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (1-4) trailed the Blackbirds (3-2) – a team that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago – by eight points with just over four minutes remaining and by five with 1:19 on the clock, with Warren-Newsome sending the contest to overtime with a circus layup following a steal with just 13.8 seconds left.
 
Roy's career-high included an 11-for-12 showing at the free throw line, chipping in four rebounds and three assists, while also shooting an efficient 7-of-11 from the floor.
 
Warren-Newsome set a career-high for the second straight game, coming off the bench to pour in his 21 on 5-of-8 shooting which also included an 11-of-12 effort from the charity stripe. Warren-Newsome added five boards and three assists, and made the play of the game to send the night to extra time.

SOPHOMORE SURGE
Carson Warren-Newsome continues to be a bright spot in the early-season offense. In the home opener against North Dakota Nov. 10, he finished with 12 points - all coming in a 92-second span in the second half when he buried four straight 3-pointers. Against FIU Nov. 13, he chipped in 10 points and added a career-high 7 rebounds. Then, at Cincinnati, Warren-Newsome got the call in the starting lineup and put together the best outing of his young collegiate career - finishing with a career-high 18 points (topping the 16 he scored against Green Bay last season) while adding six rebounds and a career-best 7 assists. He finished 4-for-4 from long range against the Bearcats.

He waited all of one game to top that, going for another new career high against LIU Brooklyn Nov. 20. He finished the night with 21 points, making 5-of-8 field goals - including a game-tying circus layup following a steal to force overtime with just 13.8 seconds remaining - and 11-of-12 from the free throw line.

FOWL SHOTS
The Panthers opened up the week of Thanksgiving with a steady trip to the foul line against LIU Brooklyn Nov. 20, finishing the night with a hefty 33 makes in 41 attempts from the charity stripe. That impressive effort marked a tie for the seventh-most made free throws in a game in school history, with the 41 tries tied for ninth. The last time a Panther team made more than 33 was against Loyola (34 on 3/3/09) and the last time more were attempted was against Central Michigan (42 on 12/19/07). Most impressive? The team went a perfect 10-for-10 from the line in the overtime period.

QUICK READJUSTMENT
Darius Roy set a new career-high in points scored for the fourth time in five games when he poured in 27 against LIU Brooklyn Nov. 20. Roy played at the NCAA Division I level as a freshman, so the level of competition is nothing new to him. However, his transition back into it has been pretty seamless - leading the team in scoring in each of the first three games while resetting his NCAA-highs in points scored each time. He did it again against the Blackbirds, going 7-of-11 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the line. His prior best coming into 2018-19 as a freshman was 9 points against Oglethorpe back on Dec. 7, 2016. In his debut in the opener at Boston College Nov. 6, Roy led the way with 15. In the home opener against North Dakota Nov. 10, Roy poured in 18 and added six assists and four steals. He then topped that with 19 points at FIU Nov. 13.

WIL THE THRIL
Wil Sessoms showed off his potential at FIU Nov. 13, putting in a very productive output on the court. Once he subbed into the game, he sparked the Panthers to a halftime lead with nine points and four rebounds in just seven minutes prior to intermission. His line at the end of the night yielded a near double-double, finishing with 17 points/9 rebounds, shooting an efficient 7-of-9 from the floor and doing it all in just 16 minutes of playing time.

He posted a similar line against LIU Brooklyn Nov. 20, finishing with 13 points and 9 boards in 24 minutes of play (5-of-9 from the floor).

DeANDRE DOUBLE-DOUBLE
It didn't take long for DeAndre Abram to record his first double-double as a Panther, scoring 12 points and grabbing a dozen rebounds against North Dakota in the home opener Nov. 10. It also marked the second of his career, with his first coming in a 27 point/10 rebound outing against Wagner back on Dec. 22, 2015.

At two games, Abram's statline is the quickest double-double for an MKE newcomer since James Haarsma went for 15 points and 12 rebounds in his second game in uniform back in the 2011-12 campaign (vs. Northern Illinois, Nov. 14, 2011).

He followed that up with another in his third outing, going for 11 points and 15 rebounds against FIU Nov. 13.
 
AND WE'RE OFF
A couple of different looks to the season opener, which saw Milwaukee playing its opening game of the season on the road for the first time in three years. The team is now 17-12 in season openers since returning to the NCAA Division I ranks full-time in 1990-91 following the loss to Boston College (a victory over La Crosse a year ago had marked three in a row in season openers). In all, the team has now posted a 4-11 mark in season openers played away from home. More impressively, the Panthers are 24-4 in that same span in home openers, claiming wins in 17 of the past 18 (13 in a row at one point).

MORE TV TIME
The Milwaukee Athletic Department announced a partnership with My24 Sports to air games during the 2018-19 Milwaukee basketball season.

WVTV My24 Milwaukee provides entertainment programming and local sports broadcasts in Milwaukee and nearby communities. The Panthers are now part of a My24 Sports lineup that includes the Milwaukee Admirals and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The partnership will allow My24 Sports to carry four select Milwaukee Panthers games live starting November 10th with the men's home opener against North Dakota that wrapped up Homecoming Week festivities. The other men's game will be Jan. 5 vs. Youngstown State.

NOT UNPRECEDENTED
It has been quite some time since the Panthers have played a home-and-home in the same season against someone outside of the Horizon League, which is what they will be doing against North Dakota when the road game gets played Dec. 9. While pretty rare in the schedule, it is not unprecedented - the last occasion was back in 2002-03, when the Panthers and Mississippi Valley State battled on a pair of occasions, with MKE coming out on top both times (77-75 home/83-75 away).

AA ON HIS WAY
In his first game as a Panther, Amir Allen finished a basket short of a double-double (8 points) while collecting a team-high 11 rebounds. While Brock Stull was able to collect 10-plus rebounds in the opener two years ago (against MSOE), Allen's performance was the first outing of 10-or-more boards against an NCAA DI opponent in the season opener since Matt Tiby had 12 against Denver to open the slate in 2015-16. Allen is also the first Panthers to grab double-digit rebounds in his MKE debut since James Haarsma went for 17 in his first game in a Milwaukee uniform against Southwest Minnesota State November 12 of 2011.

BALDWIN'S YEAR-ONE RESUME
In his first season on the bench, Pat Baldwin led the Panthers to 16 victories, an improvement of five wins over the prior season while also finishing four spots higher in the final Horizon League regular season standings.

Included in that record was an impressive 17-point (73-56) victory over a Loyola Chicago team that finished the season ranked No. 7 in the final USA Today Coaches Poll, advanced to the Final Four and posted 32 wins including contests over No. 5 Florida, No. 13 Tennessee, No. 22 Miami and No. 24 Nevada. MKE also handed Iowa State its first loss in a home opener in 20 years when it upended the Cyclones, 74-56, in Baldwin's second official game as head coach.

In the classroom, the team was honored as part of the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Awards for outstanding academic achievement. Milwaukee was one of just 35 men's basketball programs recognized nationwide and the only member of the Horizon League on the list after posting a perfect 1,000 four-year rate.

Five different school records were set over the course of the campaign, with Milwaukee advancing to the semifinals at Motor City Madness - the only league school to advance that far in each of the past two seasons.

THE PRICE IS WRIGHT
Newcomer Jake Wright brings plenty of experience at the NCAA Division I level, having spent two seasons at Miami (Ohio) after playing his freshman campaign at the Citadel. He brings a resume into the year that included 92 career games played (29 starts), 714 points and 192 made 3-pointers.

A deeper look shows Wright essentially serving as the senior DI member of the roster: In fact, in comparison, the three returning players for MKE (Bryce Barnes, Vance Johnson and Carson Warren-Newsome) had combined career totals of 127 games played, 35 starts, 275 rebounds and 667 points coming into the new campaign.

SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE
Sitting at 6.0 points-per-game early in the season, Jake Wright can get to within striking distance of reaching the 1,000-point barrier in his college career. He heads into Friday at 744.

A CHANCE FOR FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The roster features 15 players overall, with only Bryce Barnes, Vance Johnson, Carson Warren-Newsome and Tyler Behrendt on the active roster a year ago (DeAndre Abram was also on the roster, but was sitting out due to transfer regulations). So, the newcomers will have plenty of opportunity to shine in 2018-19. A look at the numbers shows the team will be among the least-experienced, in terms of NCAA DI action, in the country.

FEWEST RETURNING LETTERWINNERS
1 - Chattanooga
2 - UNC Asheville
2 - Drake
3 - MILWAUKEE
3 - Nicholls
3 - Duquesne
3 - Baylor
3 - Detroit Mercy
3 - Little Rock

FEWEST RETURNING MINUTES
7.0% - Mount Saint Mary's
7.9% - UNC Asheville
10.6% - Idaho
11.2% - Wichita State
15.2% - Middle Tennessee
15.2% - Chattanooga
16.5% - Oakland
17.4% - Drake
23.2% - Detroit Mercy
23.7% - MILWAUKEE
26.3% - Nicholls

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY
Courtney Brown, Jr., of Woodbury, Minnesota and C.J. Wilbourn of Normal, Ill., signed their National Letters of Intent.

Brown is a senior East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minn. He is coming off a junior campaign in which he scored 21.5 points-per-game (537 total) while leading the team to a 21-5 record. That comes off a sophomore season in which he tallied 19.6 a game. He chipped in 10 ppg as a freshman for the Raptors.
 
Wilbourn, a 6-foot-7 forward from Normal Community High School in Normal, Ill., averaged 11.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season. He hit 50 percent of his field-goal attempts, which included close to 40 percent from three-point range. He heads into a senior campaign that will be his third as a starter and fourth on the varsity. He added 28 blocks and 1.6 assists-per-game a year ago.

DEANDRE SET TO SOAR
After sitting out last season after transferring into the program, DeAndre Abram is set to embark on his Panther career. A veteran of two seasons at the NCAA Division I level with George Mason, Abram has scored 20 or more points in his NCAA career on a pair of occasions, with his collegiate-best coming when he piled up a double-double of 27 points and 10 rebounds against Wagner back in December of 2015. He entered 2018-19 with per-game averages of 5.9 points and 2.7 rebounds, making 14 starts in 41 games and had collected 112 rebounds and scored 242 points over his first two seasons. He filled the stat sheet with 15 points, 7 boards and 4 blocks in the exhibition and followed that with 9 points and 8 boards in the season opener at Boston College.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Newcomer Bobby Arthur-Williams brings along quite the resume from his time in junior college. A year ago, he averaged 17.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla. He posted 20 double-doubles on the season, including 14 in his final 16 appearances overall.

PUSHING THE PACE
Head coach Pat Baldwin spoke at preseason media day about his desire to see his team push the ball offensively, with thoughts of possibly hitting the 100-point mark on a more regular basis a possibility. That may have been music to newcomer Darius Roy's ears, as he directed an offense last season at Connors State College in Warner, Oklahoma, that put up 90.3 points-per-game. He led the nationally-ranked Cowboys to a 31-4 record and an appearance in the Elite Eight of the NJCAA National Basketball Tournament after earning the No. 12 national seed in the event. Roy started all 35 games, averaging 12.8 points, 5.5 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game, while shooting 48 percent from the floor, 41 percent from three-point range and 76 percent from the free throw line. He led the Panthers with 22 points off the bench in the exhibition win over CUW.

A DENT IN THE RECORD BOOK
Five different school records were set a year ago. Individual marks included career field-goal shooting percentage (Brett Prahl at .638 [261-409]) as well as a trio of rebounding marks set by Bryce Nze (season total, season average and offensive total). In addition to the solo efforts, the Panthers set a new program mark with 125 blocked shots - eclipsing the former mark of 118 set back in 2003-04. The squad also came within striking distance of a few others, finishing sixth in field goals made at 834 (record is 879) and fifth in field goals attempts at 1872 (1950).

GETTING TO 70
When the offense hit the 70-point barrier a season ago, the results were very positive at 11-5. Hitting shots always helps too, with the Panthers finishing 14-4 in games in which they shot 45 percent or better from the floor. A lead at the half proved just as valuable, with the Panthers posting a very solid 13-3 ledger when leading at intermission last season.

WELL, THAT'S PRETTY GOOD, MAN
A newcomer to the hardwood this season, redshirt senior walk-on Elijah Goodman is no stranger to Panther Athletics. Goodman is also a three-year member of the Milwaukee baseball team, appearing in 32 games on the mound. He has a career record of 8-4 to go with a 3.65 ERA, striking out 89 batters in 120.2 innings of work. He also made a great on-court MKE debut, adding a game-high 14 rebounds in 17 minutes of action in the "Black & Gold" scrimmage in front of a large contingent from the baseball team in the stands cheering on their teammate that night. Goodman was named Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division 1 Second-Team All-State as a senior at Brookfield Central High School after leading the state in rebounding at 15.9 per game. He also scored 13.8 points-per-contest his final season.

VANCE CAME TO PLAY
Vance Johnson continued to adjust to the NCAA Division I level a season ago, putting together his best outing of the season against Oakland Dec. 28. In just 14 minutes off the bench, he netted a season-best 10 points while tying a season-high with 6 rebounds. He made 4-of-5 shots from the floor and also blocked a pair of shots.

He improved on that in the win at Cleveland State Jan. 6. Starting for the third game in a row, Johnson established a new season high in both points with 11 and rebounds with 8. He went 7-10 from the free throw line and played a season-high 22 minutes as well.

CARSON CAN DO IT
The play of Carson Warren-Newsome continued to improve as his freshman season went on. CWN was one of the highlights against UIC Jan. 10, scoring a season-high 14 points while collecting a season-best five rebounds.

He was given the starting assignment the next game at Green Bay Jan. 15, once again setting a season high in points when he finished with 16. After taking 53 total shots in his first 13 games in a MKE uniform, the freshman recorded 30 field goal attempts combined over the two outings against the Flames and Phoenix.

PANTHERS NOW ON DEMAND
The Panthers now have their own channel on the iHeartRadio platform. This gives fans the opportunity to listen to podcasts of Panther games that have been played, as well as podcasts of the "Panther Sports Report" after they are aired. It allows fans of Milwaukee basketball the opportunity to listen to these events on demand. The channel can be accessed at the following address:
www.iheart.com/podcast/uw-milwaukee-mens-basketball-28721732/

RAMBLING ON
The Panthers put on quite an impressive performance in the victory over Loyola Dec. 16 last season, claiming a 17-point win over a team that came into the game with a 10-1 record, ranked No. 3 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll that week and had just beaten No. 5 Florida earlier that month.

The defense limited the Ramblers to 38.5 percent (20-of-52) from the floor overall, and just 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from distance to a team that came in as one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country at 44.6 percent.

NEVER COUNT OUT THE PANTHERS
Milwaukee had a tough go of it against Elon in the first half Nov. 19 of last season, finding themselves down by as many as 19 points (at 46-27) in the first 20 minutes. The second half was amazing, with Jeremy Johnson capping the impressive turnaround with the winner with 0.9 left on the clock as Milwaukee pulled off the amazing comeback to claim the title trophy in the "Black & Gold Shootout". No MKE team had come back from as many as 19 points for nearly a decade. You have to go all the way back to an 81-75 victory over UC Davis on November 15, 2008. That day, the Panthers made up a 24-point halftime deficit, trailing 51-27, with 54 points in the second half.

BALDWIN MADE IT LOOK EASY
A season ago, Milwaukee was 4-1 through five games, giving Pat Baldwin the best five-game start to an MKE head coaching career in the NCAA Division I history of the program. Going back through time (LaVall Jordan 2-3; Rob Jeter 3-2; Bruce Pearl 2-3; Bo Ryan 3-2; Ric Cobb 2-3; Steve Antrim 1-4), only Jeter and Ryan even reached three victories through their first five games.

It also marked the best five-game start since the Panthers went 5-0 to open the 2004-05 campaign. At 4-1, the start equaled the five-game marks of 2015-16, 2013-14 and 2011-12.

BACK ON THE FOX FAMILY
The Panthers will make their FOX Sports Wisconsin debut against Drake Dec. 6, the first of four men's contests which will be broadcast live on the statewide network. The Milwaukee Athletic Department announced the new agreement back last year. The agreement again calls for a minimum of five games to be aired this season, with the potential for more in future years of the deal.
 
Rush Media Company will handle production of all the games, with a distribution agreement in place with FOX Sports Wisconsin for the airing of the contests. FOX Sports Wisconsin is an affiliate of FOX Sports and the television home to the Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks. The regional sports network also televises select college and high school sports and nearly 2,600 hours of locally produced programming every year. The network reaches more than 1.5 million homes statewide and provides live streaming content via the FOX Sports GO app.

HE'S THE CHIEF
Former Milwaukee forward Demetrius Harris (2011-13) is once again on the active roster for the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, catching five passes in nine games (1 start) for 94 yards and two touchdowns this season. In fact, this is his fifth campaign with the Chiefs, having made 30 starts in 56 games over his first four seasons. Coming into 2018, Harris had caught 45 passes for 441 yards, including three touchdowns. The first Panther to play in the NFL since 1983, Harris played two seasons at Milwaukee and helped the team to a College Basketball Invitational appearance in 2012 before putting up 9.1 ppg and 5.3 rpg in 2012-13. The 6-foot-7 Harris made his NFL debut when he appeared in eight games as a tight end for the Chiefs in 2014 and hauled in three passes for 20 yards before suffering a season-ending foot injury during warm-ups against Buffalo in early November.

IT'S OUR HOUSE
Although the building is not new and has been the site to many historic basketball moments in Milwaukee history, this is Milwaukee's fifth season in an arena that bears its name - UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. In July of 2014, the University and Wisconsin Center District entered into a 10-year partnership that included naming rights to the facility formerly known as The MECCA and most recently, U.S. Cellular Arena.

UP NEXT
The Panthers will pack their bags for the next step of the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic, heading across the globe to take on Buffalo in Northern Ireland Friday. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network, set for an early Milwaukee start time of 4:30 a.m.