What to Expect: IU basketball vs. Milwaukee

Milwaukee basketball

Indiana begins a five-game home stand tonight against Milwaukee at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers are 2-0 with wins against Alabama A&M and Marquette.

Milwaukee is 2-1 with home wins against Hampton and Little Rock and a loss at Wofford. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on FS1:

Indiana exploded for 100 points in Sunday’s blowout win against Marquette at the United Center, which featured a 27-point performance from Tucker DeVries and 23 from Lamar Wilkerson.

The Hoosiers shot 14-for-28 on 3s, 20-for-24 on free throws and committed only eight turnovers. The win earned respect nationally as IU is the third team out of the latest Associated Press top 25 poll.

Tonight, the Hoosiers begin a stretch of five in a row in Bloomington with only one of those contests against an opponent from a power conference.

Milwaukee was picked to win the Horizon League in the preseason and is currently ranked No. 191 in KenPom after starting the season at No. 212. The Panthers have won 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons under head coach Bart Lundy, who plays an up-tempo style.

It will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

MEET THE PANTHERS

The Panthers have three of the 10 players who received preseason honors in the Horizon League. Fresno State transfer Amar Augillard was a preseason All-Horizon League first team selection, while returnee Faizon Fields and Toledo transfer Seth Hubbard landed on the second team.

After finishing 14-6 in the Horizon League last season, Milwaukee’s top two scorers – Themus Fulks and Jamichael Stillwell – transferred to UCF.

Augillard, a redshirt senior guard, is the headliner on the roster. A former NJCAA Division I player of the year, he appeared in just 11 games last season at Fresno State before leaving the team in late December. In the 2023-24 season at Triton College, Augillard averaged 22.7 points per game and led his team to the national championship game.

After seven points in the season opener against Hampton and five points in a road loss at Wofford, Augillard made six 3-pointers and scored 25 points in a 92-72 win against Little Rock on Monday night in Milwaukee. Augillard has excellent size at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, but he has plenty to prove at the Division I level after struggling at Fresno State last season.

Hubbard is a 6-foot-4 senior guard who played two seasons at Western Michigan and a season at Toledo before opting to finish his career with the Panthers. He’s the team’s leading scorer through three games – 19.3 points per game – and is 8-for-15 on 3s after shooting just 31 percent from deep last season on 203 attempts.

Fields is the lone returning starter but has excellent size for a post player at the mid-major level. The 6-foot-10 graduate student from Memphis began his career at Chipola College before signing with Old Dominion for his sophomore season. Fields transferred to Milwaukee before his junior season. Last season, as a senior, he missed 11 games due to an injury. Before that injury-shortened season, he had been an elite offensive rebounder in each of the previous three seasons. Over 90 career Division I games, Fields has averaged 7.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocked shots while shooting 57.7 percent from the floor.

Senior forward Danilo Jovanovich, who played at Miami (FL) and Louisville before transferring to Milwaukee before the 2024-25 season, has started the first three games at the four. A Milwaukee native, Jovanovich barely saw the floor at Miami or Louisville, but averaged 5.3 points last season in 14.5 minutes per game for the Panthers. Through three games, he’s averaged a solid 8.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 27.7 minutes while shooting 52.6 percent. Jovanovich isn’t a 3-point threat.

JUCO transfer guard Isiah Dorceus came off the bench in the first two games but started in Monday’s win against Little Rock. An NJCAA Division I All-American last season at Dayton State Junior College, the 6-foot guard is a solid playmaker and has 15 assists through three games.

Milwaukee plays a deep rotation as all five of its guys who came off the bench in its last game are averaging double-figure minutes.

Freshman guard Stevie Elam started the first two games and had 28 points and shot 6-for-12 on 3s in those contests. The 6-foot-3 Michigan native came off the bench against Little Rock and scored just three points on 1-for-5 shooting in 12 minutes.

Esyah Pippa-White, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, had a strong game against Little Rock with 13 points and 3-for-5 3-point shooting in 22 minutes off the bench.

Another freshman guard, Josh Dixon, a Charlotte native, scored 11 points and made three 3-pointers in 18 minutes during Milwaukee’s 10-point loss at Wofford on November 8.

Aaron Franklin, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, will provide additional depth but is very limited offensively and isn’t a 3-point threat.

Another name to know is redshirt freshman Sekou Konneh, a Milwaukee native who was at DePaul last season but did not participate in any games. Through three games, the 6-foot-9 forward is averaging six points and 4.3 rebounds in 11.7 minutes.

KEYS FOR INDIANA

• Limit second-chance opportunities: Darian DeVries has made it no secret that improving IU’s defensive rebounding is a priority. In each of the last two seasons, Milwaukee has ranked in the top 16 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage. Last season, the Panthers grabbed 41.6 percent of their missed shots in Horizon League play.

• Defend without fouling: Through three games, Milwaukee has a free-throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 44.4 percent and the Panthers ranked 41st nationally last season in getting to the line. The Hoosiers were plagued by foul trouble in Sunday’s win against Marquette, but they were able to overcome it thanks to their elite offense. Milwaukee likes to play fast and attack quickly. IU must do a better job of moving its feet and stop picking up unnecessary fouls.

• Unselfishness and ball movement will lead to open 3-pointers: The Hoosiers put on a clinic offensively against Marquette. It’s not realistic for IU to make 3-pointers at such a high percentage, but IU can be a dangerous offensive team on a nightly basis if it sticks to its principles of sharing the ball and being unselfish. There are not many teams at the mid-major level that can match IU’s offensive firepower.

WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO

The KenPom projection has Indiana winning by 22 points with a 98 percent chance of a Hoosier victory. Bart Torvik also projects a 22-point IU win with a 95 percent chance of a win.

Milwaukee is a solid mid-major team that will challenge for an NCAA tournament bid out of the Horizon League. The Panthers have a pair of guards in Augillard and Hubbard who are capable of big scoring nights and a post player in Fields who is capable of causing problems on the offensive glass.

However, the Hoosiers should win this game convincingly in front of a home crowd that is likely to be more engaged now after Sunday’s impressive win against Marquette.

(Photo credit: Milwaukee Athletics)

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