UWM has a rough start in the Black & Gold Classic

It’s been one topsy-turvy week for the UW-Milwaukee Panthers.

Just four days after registering one of their most impressive victories in the past few seasons with an upset at Iowa State, they followed up with one of their most deflating losses.

A step slow all night on defense and stone-cold on the offensive end, the Panthers were drubbed by Division II Concordia-St. Paul, 69-55, in the first round of the Black & Gold Classic Friday at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

“It's very disappointing,” coach Pat Baldwin said. "The one thing we told our guys about is the hangover effect from something like (beating Iowa State). But I don't want to use that as a crutch -- Concordia was really good tonight, and we weren't.

"They had a lot to do with that. They took away some of our guys that can score, and they decided to not play some of our guys on the perimeter."

BOX SCORE: Concordia-St. Paul 69, UW-Milwaukee 55

Concordia-St. Paul, which finished 6-25 and in last place in the 16-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference a season ago, shot 69.2% from the floor in the first half and 64.3% from three-point range (9 for 14) in opening a 22-point lead by intermission.

It was a disjointed night from the start, with the teams first needing to wait out a triple-overtime opener between Elon and Florida International, and then another 30-minute or so delay brought about by a leaky roof and subsequent wet spots in front of Concordia’s bench.

Luckily the leak was situated directly above a catwalk in the arena, so a strategically placed bucket underneath it solved the issue and game eventually tipped off just before 9 p.m.

"I don't think that contributed to our performance, and if it did then I need to correct it," Baldwin said. "I just think Concordia was ready to play tonight. It didn't bother them." 

The Panthers were also without Bryce Barnes, their starting point guard who injured his ankle several days earlier in practice. Fellow sophomore August Haas filled in and scored a team-high 13 points in 37 minutes in his stead and Brock Stull scored 12, but it was slim pickings after that offensively.

Overall, UWM shot just 29% from the floor and 15.2% from beyond the arc (5 for 33).

"We certainly missed his energy and his fire out there on the floor," Baldwin said of Barnes. "But when we have everybody else suited up, they need to make sure that they're ready to play in his absence."

The Panthers showed signs of life coming out of the locker room to start the second half, scoring 11 of the first 13 points to narrow the deficit to 49-36 just prior to the first media timeout.

But Concordia answered with eight straight points from there and eventually held on for the upset. The Golden Bears -- who were playing the game as an exhibition, no less -- got 20 points from Bryndan Matthews and 18 from Cody Carlson on 7-for-7 shooting (4 for 4 from three-point range).

They shot a collective 56.3% for the game.

"We had to try something, and I felt some different energy than we had in the first half," Baldwin said of his team's brief second-half charge.

"But we can't be a front-running team and use offense as an opportunity to feel good about ourselves, if the ball goes in. We still have to defend -- which we weren't doing a great job of.

"We missed a three that could have cut it to 10, and you could almost see the air come out of us a little bit."

UWM won't have much time to stew over the loss, with a 5:30 p.m. matchup with Florida International looming.

"It's good and bad," Baldwin said. "I won't wash this away. I'll have this in my gut, and I hope our players don't forget about this, either, and take this into tomorrow's game. We have to be a lot more hungry, a lot more aggressive and attack a little bit more, too.

"I do hope it sits with them."

Baldwin said Barnes's availability will be a game-time decision.

Elon 95, Florida International 85 (3 OT): Dmitri Thompson's one made field goal was huge, as his three-pointer sent the game into overtime, and the Phoenix outlasted the Panthers from there in the opener.

Dainan Swoope had 26 points and six rebounds to lead four players in double figures for Elon (2-2), while Steven Santa Ana added 21 points and eight rebounds.

Eric Lockett's 21 points and 13 rebounds paced Florida International (1-2).