MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Panthers will look to rebound at home on Thursday night with a 7:00 pm tipoff against Northern Illinois. Milwaukee will get a full dose of home cooking as it hosts six straight games during the month of December. That marks their longest home stretch since 1982-83 when the Panthers began the year with six consecutive contests in Milwaukee.
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois has opened the season 3-4 with a pair of overtime victories over North Dakota State and Colorado State. Over Thanksgiving weekend, the Huskies earned a win over Tennessee Tech before falling to South Dakota. Thursday's game is Northern Illinois seventh straight on the road dating back to November 10.
 
Led by redshirt senior Courtney Woods' 18.4 points per game, Northern Illinois is averaging 66.6 points and shooting 36.6 percent from the floor. Woods is nearly perfect from the line, shooting at a 92.5 percent clip (37-for-40).
 
Riley Blackwell has been solid for the Huskies, leading the team with 5.9 rebounds per game and adding 9.1 points per contest in 27 minutes. The junior is shooting 44.8 percent from the floor.
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
The two teams had an epic battle in 2016 as Northern Illinois outlasted Milwaukee 114-104 in double overtime. Three different Panthers recorded double-doubles led by Steph Kostowicz' 30 points and 11 rebounds. The Huskies' Ally Lehman poured in 48 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in the thriller.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Northern Illinois owns a 10-9 all-time advantage over Milwaukee, but the Panthers have had the edge as of late. Milwaukee has won three of the last four and eight of the last 10 matchups against the Huskies. The Panthers are 5-3 at home against NIU.
 
WHATS ON TAP?
Following Thursday's tip, Milwaukee will host a cross-town battle with Marquette on Sunday, December 8. The Panthers remain at the Klotsche Center for four more games after that, hosting until December 30.
 
FOLLOW THE PANTHERS LIVE
Matt Menzl is back for his fourth year as the play-by-play voice of the Panthers on the Black and Gold Network. Links for audio along with any TV coverage can be found on MKEPanthers.com.
 
BATTLING ON THE BOARDS
Through seven games, Milwaukee holds a positive rebounding margin of 3.9, ranking the Panthers second in the Horizon League and 107th in the nation. Milwaukee has recorded at least 30 rebounds in all seven games and pulled in at least 45 on two occasions. The Panthers are also averaging 10.9 offensive rebounds per contests, reaching double digits in five of the seven games.
 
BANKING ON BISPING
Brandi Bisping has been solid all year for Milwaukee and leads the team with 8.3 points per game while ranking third with 4.1 rebounds per contest. Bisping has also been nearly perfect from the line, hitting 21 of 23 attempts, which leads the Horizon League and ranks 29th in NCAA Division I.
 
MILWAUKEE RUNS DEEP
In seven games this season, Head Coach Kyle Rechlicz has used four different starting lineups. Milwaukee has showed that depth with all 12 players earning minutes and each one contributing in the points column. In the seven contests, the Panthers have piled up 185 bench points already. Milwaukee has 10 different players averaging at least 14 minutes per game.
 
ODEGARD IN FOR 500
Senior Lizzie Odegard finished 2-for-4 from the floor with five points at Columbia to put her at 500 for her career. This season, Odegard is shooting 42.3 percent from the floor, the best mark of her four-year career. Odegard is averaging 7.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, both career-bests. Currently sitting at 423 career rebounds, she is also on pace for 500 boards.
 
TURNOVER TROUBLES
Teams coached by Kyle Rechlicz have been historically good at taking care of the ball with the top four marks for fewest turnovers in Milwaukee history during her tenure. So far this year, that is not the case as Milwaukee is averaging 22.9 turnovers per contest.  The Panthers bested their season average with 19 turnovers against Columbia but that marked just the second time this season MKE had less than 20 turnovers.
 
NON-CONFERENCE RECAP
The Panthers have four remaining non-conference games on their schedule. Milwaukee needs to win at least three of those games to extend its streak to five straight seasons with at least five non-conference wins. After facing NIU, Milwaukee takes on Marquette, Bowling Green, and North Dakota to wrap up its non-conference schedule.
 
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.
 
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.
 
EVERYONE CHIPPING IN
Bre Cera led the Panthers with 12 points against Columbia, marking the sixth different leading scorer for Milwaukee this season. Sydney Staver has led the Panthers scoring attack in two games but every other game as featured a new face atop the list.
 
FOR STARTERS
With the victory over Parkside, Milwaukee improved its record to 11-19 in NCAA Division I season-openers (dating back to 1990-91).
 
Head Coach Kyle Rechlicz is now 5-3 in season openers. In her Milwaukee debut, the Panthers dominated Chicago State 82-58 in 2012-13.
 
Milwaukee has now won three consecutive season-openers at home, the previous two coming in 2016-17 (76-68 over Western Illinois) and 2015-16 (70-48 over UMKC).
 
NEW FACES, SAME GOAL
Head Coach Kyle Rechlicz added two new faces to her staff in DéRonté Polite and Aaliyah Covington. Polite comes to Milwaukee with a plethora of coaching background, most recently at Lincoln College in Illinois for one season as head coach. Covington was hired as a graduate manager and video analyst in the summer of 2019 and is the younger sister of current assistant coach, Anya Covington.
 
EXPERIENCE IS KEY
The Panthers needed just two freshmen to fill their roster, returning 13 players from a season ago. Rechlicz has nine upperclassmen on her roster this season as Milwaukee brings back four of its top five scorers from 2018-19. Four players on the roster started in at least 20 games a season ago including McKaela Schmelzer (28), Megan Walstad (27), Jamie Reit (27), and Bre Cera (23). 
 
With the 13 returners, the Panthers have 81 percent of their scoring and 73 percent of their rebounding back for this year's campaign.
 
This year's group of seniors each have at least 55 appearances for the black and gold.
 
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF
Kyle Rechlicz added a pair of freshmen 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.
 
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 averaging 13.3 points and 9.4 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.
 
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.