UW-Milwaukee coach Bart Lundy talks with guard Aaron Franklin (29) in an exhibition game against UW-Parkside on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal SentinelSun, November 23, 2025 at 4:59 AM UTC·2 min readIt’s a sign of progress for the UW-Milwaukee Panthers that their recent road trips have created tough nights for Texas Tech and Wichita State.
But it’s also a sign of where their aspirations are set that the second of those games, a 75-58 loss at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita in which the Panthers led much of the night, was ultimately a frustrating outcome.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMilwaukee, which challenged itself with a rigorous non-conference schedule this year, led by as many as 11 late in the first half and was still on top with just over 12 minutes to play.
Then, the wheels fell off.
The Panthers hit just six field goals the rest of the way while being outscored by 20.
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The first half surge showed all that the Panthers are capable of. After a sluggish start featuring four turnovers in the first four minutes put the Shockers out to an early lead, the guests rattled off a 15-0 run in which they held the Shockers scoreless for nearly seven minutes.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was the type of suffocating defense the Panthers want, running the Shockers off the three-point line and funneling everything into a difficult two-point look.
When Stevie Elam hit a three, his second of the half, with 5:45 to go, Milwaukee grabbed a 26-15 lead.
But the Shockers scored 60 points over the final 25 minutes of the game, undoing UWM's excellent defensive effort up to that point.
UW-Milwaukee coach Bart Lundy talks with guard Aaron Franklin (29) in an exhibition game against UW-Parkside on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Kenyon Giles, after being limited to only three shot attempts in the first half, scored 18 of his game-high 24 in the final period. Twelve of those points came in the final six minutes, after the Shockers had reclaimed the lead thanks to an 11-1 run following a 43-40 Milwaukee lead.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOffensively, the Panthers were stuck in mud against one of the nation’s best interior defenses. They shot just 35.6% and hit six threes while their leading scorer on the night, Danilo Jovanovich, took just six field goal attempts. Seth Hubbard was their only other double-digit scorer with 10 points but shot just 5 for 13 from the field.
The heftiest portion of the Panthers’ non-conference tests are in the past, but a few still remain. A trip to Akron on Nov. 29 will match them up with one of the best mid-majors in the country. And, of course, a game at the Kohl Center against Wisconsin looms on Dec. 30.
There have been positives, no doubt, to draw from losses at Indiana, Texas Tech and, now, Wichita State. Perhaps more importantly, some of the Panthers' flaws have been on display, too.
With Horizon League play not far around the corner, it won't be long until we see how much the Panthers took from these lessons.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UWM can't pull off upset at Wichita State as defense falters late
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