The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team used a strong second-half push to overtake the St. Louis Billikens 82-71 in front of a crowd of 4,235 brave-hearted souls at the U.S. Cellular Arena on Saturday, Dec. 3.

As the snow continued to fall outside of the building, the now 2-2 Panthers kept warm by shooting 52.4 percent from the field in the second half. The 2-2 Billikens are now the 11th consecutive foe to fall to the Panthers at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

The Panthers employed some hard-nosed basketball tactics while scoring 51 second-half points.

“We just stayed committed to being aggressive towards the rim, got some fouls, got some easy outside looks and the game just opened up for us,” coach Rob Jeter said.

When a basket by Joah Tucker put the Panthers ahead at 45-44 with 13 minutes, 44 seconds left in the game, the Billikens saw their final lead of the game slip away.

Tucker scored 23 points, leading the Panthers. Chris Hill pitched in 16 and Adrian Tigert scored 14 for UWM. St. Louis was led by Tommie Liddell, who had a career-high 22 points.

The game appeared to be Liddell’s and St. Louis’ to lose at first, as the Billiken shot 8-for-11 from the field en route to 17 points and a 33-31 lead at halftime. But UWM refused to play into St. Louis’ desired game play, and from the first whistle of the second half, outscored the Billikens 51-38.

“Saint Louis is a team that could make you take a lot of outside shots and make you become very impatient,” Jeter said. “We did a good job of moving the ball and getting it inside and, eventually, they’re going to have to come out of there and you’re going to wear them down. I thought that’s what happened.”

St. Louis coach Brad Soderberg, who coached briefly at UW-Madison, has seen UWM play over the years. He made no secret of the fact that he is impressed with how Jeter has the Panthers playing.

“I just want to make mention of the job Robbie and his staff are doing, particularly when you think about the expectation he is under, especially with a Sweet 16 team and all of the seniors and all of that stuff,” he said. “I just want to acknowledge the fact that they are doing a real nice job and that they’ve got the right man for the job here in Milwaukee, He’ll do a really good job.”

The Panthers next play against Hawaii at 7 p.m. Dec. 10 as part of BracketBuster Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPN.

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