MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Panthers wrap up their four-game trip away Milwaukee with Boise State as part of the Nevada Nugget Classic. Tipoff is scheduled for 12:00 pm CT and can be seen on the Mountain West Network. The game will also feature live stats and live audio with
Matt Menzl on the call.
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
Head coach Gordy Presnell begins his 18th season at the helm for the Broncos, totaling over 300 wins. Presnell has a relatively young roster with nine underclassmen, five juniors, one senior, and one graduate senior.
The Broncos were picked to finish seventh in the Mountain West Preseason Poll, totaling 140 points just two behind Nevada.
Boise State dropped its first game of the Nugget Classic 68-53 to North Dakota State after being held to just 36.7 percent from the floor.
Elodie Lalotte leads the Broncos with 15.3 points per game, doing most of her damage inside and from the free throw line (14-of-19). Abby Muse also provides a strong presence down low, averaging 11.3 points and a team-best 9.7 rebounds per contest.
LAST TIME THEY MET
This marks the first time Milwaukee and Boise State are meeting. This weekend marks the program's first-ever trip to the state of Nevada.
SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has only met a Mountain West opponent on seven occasions including Friday's loss to Nevada. The Panthers are 2-0 against Air Force and 1-0 against San Jose State. MKE is 0-2 against New Mexico and fell to Fresno State in 2018, the most recent matchup against the Mountain West.
WHATS ON TAP?
Milwaukee will return home to the Klotsche Center to open Horizon League play with Green Bay on Thursday, December 1 at 7:00 pm.
LAST TIME OUT
Nevada held Milwaukee to 34.5 percent from the field and used a big second half to hand the Panthers a 64-47 setback on Friday evening.
CERA LEADING THE WAY
Angie Cera got it going from three-point range for the Panthers, hitting three of six attempts. She led the team with 11 points on Friday, her second time this season leading MKE with 11 points.
Cera is currently tied for the team lead with 8.4 points per game and is the Panthers' top three-point threat, hitting seven triples at a 30.4 percent clip.
STACKING UP SWIPES
Milwaukee totaled a season-high 11 steals against Nevada on Friday, more than doubling its season total.
Kamy Peppler totaled four steals while
Jada Donaldson added three.
The 11 steals marks the most for the Panthers since totaling 12 on February 12, 2022 against Detroit Mercy. Last season, MKE was 5-2 when recording at least 10 steals.
NEAD CHIPPING IN EVERYWHERE
Kendall Nead did a little bit of everything on Friday, totaling six points, an assist, and season-high seven rebounds.
This year, Nead is averaging 6.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.
PROGRAM FIRST
In the loss to UIC, Milwaukee was held without a free throw attempt for the first time in the Panthers' NCAA Division I history, a span of 932 games.
UIC was whistled for 12 fouls, but none of them put the Panthers at the line.
Prior to Wednesday's game, Milwaukee had been averaging nearly 20 free throw attempts in the first three games of the season.
Without looking at individual box scores for every team across the NCAA, there's no database in women's college basketball to find how many times a team did not have a free throw attempt, but it did happen earlier this season. Saint Peter's was held without a free throw in a loss to Seton Hall on November 11. On the men's side, it has happened just 40 times in the last 10 years including once this season, according to Sports Reference. On November 11, John Brown was held without a free throw in a loss to Oral Roberts.
DEFENSE ON LOCK DOWN
The Panthers' defense has been solid to start the season, holding opponents to 61.0 points per game on 38.0 percent shooting, both of which rank in the top four of the Horizon League. Milwaukee also ranks third in the league with 4.40 blocks per game, led by
Megan Walstad's nine swats.
Milwaukee held UIC to just 44 points on November 16, a season-low for opponents. It is the lowest for an opponent since holding Oakland to 41 points on February 12 last season.
With the Panthers scoring just 43 points, it marks the first time since February 7, 1974 that both teams failed to reach 44 points or more.
WITMERSHAUS WORKIN'
Emma Wittmershaus finished 5-for-10 from the floor for 10 points against UIC, her third straight game in double figures.
It marks the first time in her career that the forward has scored at least 10 points in three consecutive games.
So far this year, Wittmershaus is leading the team with 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. She is shooting 43.9 percent from the floor.
BIG-TIME START
Grace Crowley is off to an impressive start for the Panthers after playing limited minutes last season.
The redshirt sophomore is averaging 6.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Crowley is shooting 64.3 percent from the floor and 88.2 percent from the free throw line.
Crowley has scored at least eight points in three of five contests including a career-high 13 against Loyola Chicago. She's gotten to the free throw line 17 times, hitting 15 from the charity stripe, which ranks second in the Horizon League.
MAGIC NUMBER
In college basketball, there is no perfect recipe for a win but for Milwaukee, field goal percentage has been a pretty good baseline.
In the last six seasons, Milwaukee is 84-25 (.778) when hitting at least 40 percent from the field. Bump that field goal percentage to 43 percent and the Panthers are 65-12 (.844).
When shooting under 40 percent since 2016-17, Milwaukee is just 24-58 (.338).
BENCH MOB
Milwaukee has been finding its depth early on this season with over 20 bench points in three of the first five contests.
Against Wisconsin, MKE starters were held down but the bench sparked a rally in the second half and finished with 24 points.
The bench accounted for 28 points against Loyola Chicago, led by
Grace Crowley's 13. Against Marquette, Crowley again paced the bench with eight points as the group accounted for 21 total.
GLASS WORK
Rebounding has been a strong suit of the Panthers in recent years but it was a different story against Marquette on November 13.
Milwaukee outrebounded opponents by an average of 5.0 per contest across the first two games but Marquette ended that. The Golden Eagles piled up 58 rebounds compared to 26 for the Panthers. It marked the most rebounds for an opponent since the 2013-14 season when Oakland pulled in 59 rebounds against the Panthers.
PRESEASON HONORS FOR WALSTAD
Megan Walstad was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League First Team following another impressive campaign in 2021-22. Walstad dominated down low, earning her second straight First Team All-League award last season. She led the team and was among the league's leaders in points per game (14.4), rebounds per game (9.1), field goal percentage (48.8), free throw percentage (88.9), and blocks per game (1.5). Walstad was also named to the All-Defensive Team for the second straight year.
Walstad joined a group of just three others in program history to earn All-League First Team honors on more than one occasion in the Panthers' Division I era and is just the second in MKE history to earn All-Defensive Team distinction multiple times.
Additionally, Walstad was one of 25 players to be named to the 2022 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year preseason Watch List.
MISS BASKETBALL IN THE HOUSE
Kamy Peppler was crowned 2022 Miss Basketball for Wisconsin but it's not the first time Milwaukee has had a student-athlete with that title arrive on campus.
In fact,
Megan Walstad earned that title in her home state of Minnesota after leading Eastview High School to a perfect 32-0 record as a senior.
Prior to that, just one other player in program history donned the title of Miss Basketball. Meredith Onson (2005-08) was a consensus Wisconsin Player of the year in 2002-03. Onson originally attended Boston University but transfered to Milwaukee for the 2004-05 season.
MILESTONE WATCH
Megan Walstad's name is already all over the Milwaukee record books but she has the opportunity to etch her name in a few more times.
For her career, she has already cracked the program's top 10 in the following.
- Points per game (9th, 12.4)
- Rebounds per game (4th, 7.6)
- Field goal percentage (4th, 50.9)
- Free throw percentage (5th, 84.0)
- Total rebounds (9th, 669)
- Total blocks (4th, 124)
- Double-doubles (6th, 19)
Additionally, Walstad could reach the top 10 in total points (currently 18th) and offensive rebounds (currently 12 away from 10th).
A LOOK AT THE NON-CONFERENCE
Per usual, Milwaukee will be tested in its non-conference schedule in preparation of the Horizon League slate.
Milwaukee has nine non-conference games set for 2022-23 highlighted by Marquette, Nevada, Minnesota, and Maine, all of which reached the WNIT or WBI.
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee basketball fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN+. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform.
ESPN+ offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) and cancel at any time.
For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.
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.
