Sports
What channel is UW-Milwaukee's men's basketball game in Horizon League semifinals tonight? Time, TV, streaming – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball team still has a shot to make the NCAA Tournament, but it’ll need wins Monday and Tuesday to make it happen.
Here’s how you can follow the Panthers’ progress:
The Panthers are the fourth seed in the Horizon League Tournament and, after upsetting No. 3 seed Green Bay on March 7, will face Northern Kentucky at 8:30 p.m. CT Monday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.
If Milwaukee wins, it’ll face top seed Oakland or No. 7 seed Cleveland State in the championship game Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT. That game will also air on ESPN2, and the winner will earn the Horizon League’s automatic berth for the NCAA Tournament.
Milwaukee last made the field as a No. 15 seed in 2014, with a first-round loss to Villanova, 73-53. Milwaukee was also a No. 5 seed in the 2014 Horizon League tournament but defeated No. 1 Green Bay in overtime and No. 3 Wright state en route to the title. The Panthers, as many remember, won NCAA Tournament games in back-to-back seasons in 2005 and 2006, making the Sweet 16 in the first of those appearances.
It’s unclear and hinges primarily on the strength of other teams that make the field. It seems as though the Panthers would be a strong candidate to play in Dayton for one of those “play-in games” as a 16th seed, but also just as likely that they again hold a No. 15.
BJ Freeman, a second-team all-conference player who has overcome injury this year, has been a monster for the Panthers with four straight double-doubles — a school record — and has scored 20 or more points in nine straight games.
Milwaukee had some tense moments in an 83-79 win in the first round over Detroit Mercy, a team that came into the contest with just one win all season. UWM then pulled the upset over third-seeded Green Bay in the quarters, 95-84. At the same time, the Horizon No. 2 seed (Youngstown State) and No. 4 seed (Wright State) also lost their games, leaving the No. 1, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 squads.
Milwaukee beat Northern Kentucky on Feb. 17, 73-62, after dropping an earlier game, 90-72.
The Panthers defeated Cleveland State twice this year and lost both games to Oakland, though both were close calls (100-95 and 91-87).
Marquette will certainly make the field, and Wisconsin fans should feel pretty comfortable that the Badgers will garner an at-large bid, too. So when’s the last time three teams made the NCAA Tournament from the state of Wisconsin?
For that, you have to go back to 2006, when UW-Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Marquette all made the field. Oddly enough, Cinderella entrant Milwaukee was the only one of the three to win a game; Wisconsin fell to Arizona and Marquette lost to Alabama.
In 2014, Marquette did not join Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee in the mix. When UW-Green Bay made the field in 2016, Marquette also wasn’t in the field.
The UW-Green Bay women have the No. 2 seed and won their semifinal, 64-55 over Purdue-Fort Wayne, also in Indianapolis. That advances the Phoenix to the final against Cleveland State in an 11 a.m. game Tuesday for the Horizon League title. The Phoenix have an outside chance to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team but probably need to win the league tournament to claim that spot.
