MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee women's basketball team turns its focus to the Wisconsin Badgers with a 6:00 pm tip from the Kohl Center on Sunday. In the Panthers last contest, they battled hard at Minnesota and held a 33-31 halftime lead but ultimately fell, 77-61. Milwaukee was plagued by turnovers, committing 33 in the game which led to 35 points for the Golden Gophers.
 
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
Wisconsin opened the year with back-to-back wins over North Florida and Wofford but fell in its most recent game on the road, a 74-57 decision.
 
Last season, the Badgers finished 15-18, their best record in nearly a decade. Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis returns a plethora of talent including All-Big Ten Media Honorable Mention honoree Imani Lewis. Lewis ranked second on the team with an average of 12.2 points last season and leads Wisconsin this year.
 
Additionally, the Badgers return seniors Kendra Van Leeuwen and Suzanne Gilreath. Van Leeuwen led the team in assists with 140 on the season. Gilreath holds the season records for three-pointers made (55) and attempted (170). 
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
The two met last year for the third consecutive season and despite a 24-15 advantage after one quarter, the Badgers earned a 68-57 victory.
 
Nine different players scored for Milwaukee led by Sydney Levy's 11. Jamie Reit finished with nine points and five six boards. The Panthers outrebounded the Badgers but hit just 32.8 percent of their shots from the field.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Badgers own a 3-20 all-time record against Milwaukee, but the Panthers have won two of the last three meetings. In 2017, Milwaukee earned a 67-64 win at Madison on year after topping the Badgers 80-63.
 
WHATS ON TAP?
Following the three-game road trip, Milwaukee returns to the Klotsche Center to host Arkansas Pine Bluff on Tuesday, November 19. Milwaukee will then hit the road the face DePaul and Columbia before a stretch of six straight contests at home.
 
YOU HEARD RIGHT
Freshman Tadri Heard has played significant minutes in her first year for Milwaukee and leads the team with an average of 10.7 points per game.
 
At Purdue, Heard poured in a game-high 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting. She followed that with seven points against Minnesota. In the last two games, Heard is 6-for-10 from beyond the arc.
 
LONG RANGE SUCCESS
Milwaukee has hit at least six three-pointers in all three games this season, connecting on at least 40 percent in each contest. In the season opener, Milwaukee went 6-for-11 from long range. After hitting seven against Purdue, the Panthers finished 11-for-20 (55 percent) from the arc at Minnesota. As a team, Milwaukee is shooting 50 percent from three-point range, which leads the Horizon League and ranks second in the nation.
 
MILWAUKEE RUNS DEEP
In just three games, the Panthers have already piled up 86 bench points. Milwaukee has showed that depth with 11 different players earning minutes and each one contributing in the points column. The Panthers have nine different players averaging at least 10 minutes per game.
 
LOCKING DOWN THE ARC
Milwaukee has improved its three-point defense in each game so far this season including dominating the arc against Minnesota. After allowing 15 three-pointers against Parkside, the Panthers lowered that number to nine at Purdue. Against the Gophers, Milwaukee held Minnesota to just four three-pointers on 24 attempts (16.7 percent.)
 
FISCH LETTIN' IT FLY
On Thursday, Alyssa Fischer came in off the bench to provide a spark for Milwaukee as she knocked down four three-pointers in five attempts. The redshirt senior led the Panthers with 12 points and added three rebounds at Minnesota. Last season, Fischer led the team, hitting 40.6 percent of her shots from deep. The Manitowoc, WIs. native ranks third on the team with 60 career triples.
 
WE'LL TAKE SOME MOORE
Anaiah Moore came finished 3-for-4 from the floor at Minnesota, scoring a career-best seven points. Late in the game against the Gophers, Moore tossed up an entry pass that found the bottom of the net for her first triple of the year. The sophomore added a rebound and assist on Thursday.
 
SOMETHING TO PROVE
Milwaukee was predicted to finish fifth in this year's Horizon League preseason poll. The Panthers earned 57 total poll points and were picked to come in behind Green Bay, Wright State, IUPUI, and Youngstown State. In the 2018-19 preseason poll, Milwaukee was also chosen to finish fifth in the Horizon League.
 
NON-CONFERENCE RECAP
Last season, the Panthers picked up five non-conference victories. Milwaukee topped Columbia and Purdue Fort Wayne at home and took down UC Riverside, North Dakota, and North Dakota State on the road. That marks four straight years with at least five non-conference wins for the Panthers.
 
SIZING UP THE BIG TEN
The Panthers have three Big Ten teams on the schedule this season and despite falling twice a year ago, they have found some success in recent years. In 2017-18, Milwaukee edged Wisconsin (67-64) and Northwestern (66-57). That marked the second straight win over the Badgers as Milwaukee took down their in-state rivals 80-63 in 2016-17.
 
TAKING ON TOP TALENT
In addition to three Big Ten teams, Milwaukee also faces Marquette, who finished 27-8 last season. The Golden Eagles topped Rice 58-54 in the first round before narrowly falling to Texas A&M 78-76 in round two. In total, Milwaukee takes on 10 opponents that won at least 15 games from a year ago including seven that tallied 20 victories.
 
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF
Kyle Rechlicz added a pair of freshman to this year's squad - Grace Crowley and Tadri Heard. Crowley joins the black and gold from nearby Homestead High School. She grabbed headlines statewide this past February after recording a triple-double in a big home win for the Highlanders. Crowley is a proven winner, guiding Homestead to three straight state titles.
 
Heard comes to Milwaukee from Argo Community High School in the Greater Chicago area. The guard joined the 1,000-point club during her junior season and finished the season averaging nearly 16 points, 6.7 assists, 3.1 steals, and 4.3 rebounds.
 
DISHING IT OUT
McKaela Schmelzer continued to distribute the ball at an impressive clip last year, ranking nationally in assists per game (3.9) and assist to turnover ratio (1.9). After dishing out 95 assists in her first season, fourth all-time for a Panthers freshman, Schmelzer added 114 in her sophomore campaign. Last season marked just the 18th time in program history that a Panthers player has cracked the century mark for assists in a season.
 
For her career, Schmelzer has totaled 209 assists and is on the verge of cracking the top-10 for Milwaukee career assists.
 
LOCK DOWN D
The Panthers held opponents to just 36.4 percent from the floor in 2018-19. That number ranked 29th nationally and topped the school record of 37.9 percent set by the 2017-18 squad.
 
Last year marked just the fifth time in program history Milwaukee has held its opponents to a sub-40-percent shooting clip for an entire season.
 
In the 30 games last year, the Panthers allowed the opposition to shoot better than 40 percent just nine times. MKE has held teams under 30 percent shooting an incredible five times.
 
Here's a list of the top defensive seasons thus far:
 
1. 2018-19: 36.4% (615-1690)
2. 2017-18: 37.9% (736-1940)
3. 2015-16: 38.8% (749-1928)
4. 2008-09: 39.0% (758-1942)
5. 2009-10: 39.7% (740-1864)
 
PANTHERS IN THE PROS
The Panthers have had a number of former players go on to play professionally after their time in the Black & Gold. Currently, Angela Rodriguez (Spain) and Steph Kostowicz (Greece) have taken their talents to the next level. Kostowicz is currently averaging 17 points and 13 rebounds for Sporting. Additionally, this summer, both Rodriguez and Kostowicz were members of the Wisconsin GLO, helping the team capture the 2019 Global Women's Basketball Association Championship after an undefeated season.
 
FROM DOWNTOWN
Fans catching the Panthers in action will see no shortage of offense as the top five marks for three-point field goal attempts in a season are during Kylie Rechlicz' tenure. Last season, the Panthers hit 222 triples, fourth most in school history. In fact, during Rechlicz' seven years, Milwaukee has hit at least 200 three-pointers each season. Prior to Rechlicz' tenure, the Panthers reached 200 made three-pointers just three times.
 
Milwaukee has recorded at least one triple in 520 straight contests. Under Rechlicz, the Panthers have recorded 50 games with at least 10 three-pointers and 18 more with nine triples. The run is a new Horizon League standard, topping the previous mark of 446 set by Loyola. The Panthers still have a ways to go for the NCAA record, however, which is held by Iowa State. Their run was still active at the end of the 2018-19 season at 770 (1995-present).
 
The 17 three-pointers against Bradley on December 4, 2012 is both a school and Horizon League record.
 
Last year, 13 different Panthers connected from downtown with seven recording at least 10 three-pointers made. Jamie Reit led the way with 54 triples.
 
As a team, Milwaukee averaged 7.4 three-point field goals per game which ranked second in the Horizon League and 65th in the country.
 
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All 15 of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN3/ESPN+. The three road Big Ten games can be found on the BIG10 Network while other road games will also stream live through ESPN.
 
Panther fans will also be able to listen to this year's games everywhere they go, as Matt Menzl calls all the action on the Black & Gold Network. Menzl will be courtside for all 29 regular season contests, as well as all postseason action. The Black & Gold Network is streaming live online and can be accessed at MKEPanthers.com.
 
BLACK & GOLD ON DEMAND
Panther fans can also re-live all of the action by listening to archived games on the Black & Gold Radio Network. All games are chronicled at mixlr.com/milwaukee-panthers/showreel where fans can re-live Matt Menzl's broadcast in its entirety.