by Parker Fields
Now, I know Future NBA Lottery Pick Patrick Baldwin Jr. didn’t play, but still, there was a game and it was a pretty good one, so let’s get into it.
This game was sloppy in the first half, to say the least, especially for Milwaukee. Milwaukee could not consistently even get shot attempts off during their offensive possessions. You could tell early that NKU was going to make Milwaukee work for their points.
Both teams shot poorly from the field as a unit, however, NKU dominated the offensive glass with 11 offensive rebounds compared to Milwaukee’s 3. Milwaukee could never get anything going in the first half offensively due to NKU’s ball pressure in their zone defense which led to NKU
getting into passing lanes and causing lots of turnovers. NKU shot just 39 percent in the first half but were able to shoot 14 more shot attempts than Milwaukee due to their offensive rebounding.
Milwaukee made just 7 field goals and shot 32 percent from the field. The only bright spot for Milwaukee was Vin Baker Jr. son of former NBA player Vin Baker having 10 points in the half which is 7 more points than his season average. There were no other real bright spots for the Milwaukee team.
The Second half looked like it was likely about to be more of the same as the first half as Sam Vinson hit a three on the Norse’s first possession and was already up to 16 points on the night. From there, it was a whole different game. NKU went on about a 9-minute scoring
drought and Milwaukee cut the lead to 40-37 before Marques Warrick hit a three to end the drought. NKU then got a little boost after a couple of threes in a row and they extended
their lead back to 47-37. From their Milwaukee just continued to get stops on the Norse and slowly were scoring to chip away. Milwaukee’s zone defense they went to in the second half made it very difficult for the Norse to get anything going on offense.
Deandre Gholston continuously came up huge for Milwaukee with no bigger shot than his drive to the lane and finish to give Milwaukee their first lead since 4-2 at 53-52 with about 4 minutes to play.
From there they never let up the lead again. The Norse continuously got good looks on the offensive end but just could not convert on any of them.
That was the game, the Norse blew a 17-point second-half lead and had lost the game 61-55 to Milwaukee. In the half, the Norse shot a
horrible 19% from the field and 20% from three. You can’t shoot like that and expect to win a game.
Milwaukee was led by Deandre Gholston and Vin Baker Jr. with 14 points apiece. As a team, they shot 43% from the field for the game and 35% from three and had 14 turnovers.
NKU was led by Sam Vinson with 18 points, Marques Warrick with 13 points, and Chris Brandon with 8 points and 18 rebounds. As a team, the Norse shot just 29% from the field and from three in this one.
NKU will look to shake this one off and bounce back as they host IUPUI on Thursday at 7:00
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