“Our problem is on the defensive end, we can talk about offense all we want but it’s on the defensive end that we have not made the commitment.” – Rob Jeter, UWM men’s basketball head coach

Though the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s basketball team has fought back in their last two outings after being down by 15 and 10, the Panthers couldn’t comeback against Drake last Saturday night, losing 80-59.

“We’ve been putting together 20 minutes of solid basketball, tonight I don’t know if we put up five minutes of solid basketball,” said Panther head coach Rob Jeter. “It’s none other than as a head coach getting these guys ready to play and getting them to do things that we ask.”

The Panthers lost their second game of the year, both to teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, in a rematch of last years Bracket Buster, which the Bulldogs also won 78-56.

“I’m not going to blame anybody for this performance other than the fact that my inability to get these guys to play the way they need to play, the way that I know how to play this game and we’ll figure it out, because that’s my job, to do that,” said Jeter.

Drake went out to a quick lead, taking a 40-30 advantage at the half after an early 9-0 run in the first half to go up 18-9. The Panthers never came close after that, going down by as much as 23 three different times.

“Our problem is on the defensive end, we can talk about offense all we want but it’s on the defensive end that we have not made the commitment,” said Jeter.

Senior Paige Paulsen had another solid night with 11 points and six rebounds. Roman Gentry had a team-high 12 points in his first game as a non-starter but said he felt more comfortable after playing off the bench all last season.

It was a three-point shooting show for the Bulldogs as they went 13-for-26 behind the arc, just four short of their all-time record. Josh Young led the way for the Bulldogs, hitting six threes for a game- and career-high 24 points for the Bulldogs’ third win of the year. Young has 13 three-point baskets in his last two games and Drake hit a season-high 13 treys, the most since 2000.

The Panthers did show improvement in the loss, upping their free throw shooting percentage to 70.8 percent in the game. Senior Torre Johnson and junior Ricky Franklin each contributed with nine points.

“Every game prepares us for all our games,” said Jeter. “This game showed our inability to stop guys on the perimeter and the inside.”

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