Home sweet home.

The phrase that decorates countless pillows, picture frames, and doormats across the country applies in sports as well.

Visiting players come in and have to deal with people they have never met. The noise heard and pressure felt by a player walking into a visitor’s arena cannot be fully understood until you experience it.

The arena in which a game is played has a significant effect on the outcome. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Detroit-Mercy split two overtime games this season, and it should come as no surprise that the squad wearing the white home jerseys also celebrated a victory.

UWM has been sizzling at home as of late. It’s no secret that the Panthers have won their last three games at home and are 6-5 at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

Over the past two seasons, Milwaukee was a combined 26-3 at the Cell. Their last loss at home by 10 points or more came on Feb. 17, 2000, against Butler. One of the greatest players to pass through the program, Clay Tucker, was only a freshman and he missed that game because of a season-ending injury.

Current Butler star A.J. Graves’ older brother Andrew scored 25 points in that match. Current Panther Allan Hanson was an eighth grader.

To put it simply: the Panthers are rock stars in Milwaukee.

The road is a much different story. UWM has one road victory this season. The one road victory, a couple weeks ago against Cleveland State, was a solid contest. However, CSU is the worst team in the Horizon League. As it stands, Milwaukee is 1-10 on the road, far from an impeccable record.

Four road games remain for the Panthers, and all are against teams who are perennial contenders in the conference, including Butler, University of Illinois-Chicago, UW-Green Bay and Wright State. UWM did well in all four games at the Cell, but every one of those teams has a tough arena.

Hinkle Fieldhouse was the site of one of the greatest games in UWM history, but they got muscled out last year by the Bulldogs. The past two seasons, the best ones in Panthers history, have something in common.

Not only do they feature NCAA Tournament wins, they also feature losses against UW-Green Bay at the Resch Center. The Panthers were runaway favorites and got embarrassed on national television by the Phoenix last year.

The UIC Pavilion is a death trap for UWM, where they’ve dropped three of four. Don’t count out Wright State, who ended a four-game Milwaukee winning streak by beating the Panthers in Dayton last year.

While UWM has been a great team at home, the work needs to be done on the road. No one would argue that Milwaukee was better at the beginning of the year then they are now, but they are far from where they want to be.

That’s why UWM loves the friendly confines of Milwaukee. Home is where the victories are, apparently. However, they’re going to have to win on the road if they want to break even this season in the Horizon League.

Road, unforgiving road.

> Comments