Photo by Liam Hanely
UWM Panthers play Robert Morris
UW-Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball team play Robert Morris (Dec. 6, 2025)
Grit. Resolve. Toughness. Those are words that Matt LaFleur might use to describe his Green Bay Packers team after a December victory over NFC North rivals the Chicago Bears.
They are also phrases that UWM men’s basketball head coach Bart Lundy employed to characterize his team following their 74-72 victory over Robert Morris on Saturday.
Milwaukee won its Horizon League opener via a buzzer-beating tip-in from senior guard Seth Hubbard, who extended a long left arm to improbably put back a missed Isaiah Dorceus three-pointer with 0.2 seconds remaining.
For Lundy, it was a defining game for the Panthers after a rough few weeks.
“I thought we showed the best grit that we've had all year in the second half,” Coach Lundy said after the game. We figured out if we don't guard, we're not very good. That tonight helped us. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”
Welcome Rest
As the rest of the Horizon League tipped off on Thursday, Dec. 4, Milwaukee was the odd team out on opening night due to the imbalance of an 11-team league. The extra two days of preparation were much needed for Coach Lundy’s squad, which had endured a demanding five-game stretch to close out November that featured four road games against top-100 teams.
“We finally had a week of practice here where we could focus on the things we had learned over this tough road stretch,” Lundy remarked, “and had enough healthy bodies to do that.”
Early on, UWM looked fresher than RMU, which needed a late comeback to erase an 11-point deficit and defeat Green Bay in Titletown on Thursday.
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In the opening minutes, the Panther offense ran through big man Danilo Jovanovich. “D-Lo,” as fans and teammates know him, scored or assisted on each of his team’s first three field goals. Jovanovich was in the midst of a hot streak, averaging 17 points per contest over his last four games while shooting 65.9% from the field, and he appeared on track for another big showing.
But the Colonials locked in defensively, and the UWM forward did not score again in the first half. While Jovanovich did not have the same box score impact as he did in previous games, Lundy still thought the senior forward was very impactful.
“In the first half, we were playing [Jovanovich] on the short rolls,” Lundy noted, “and the ball was in his hands more. Second half, they adjusted to take D-Lo away on the short rolls, but it opened up the guards. D-Lo is not the biggest, strongest guy, so it's a tough matchup for him, and I thought he had an excellent game.”
As the lead alternated, both teams battled for control. UWM sharpshooter Seth Hubbard, scoreless for the first 13-plus minutes, came alive. He hit four straight shots for a personal 10-0 run. The senior’s spurt gave the hosts a six-point advantage heading into the final moments of the half.
The reigning Horizon League champs responded. The Colonials ended the half on a 13-0 run, holding Milwaukee scoreless for the final 3:40 as they opened up a seven-point lead. RMU forward DeSean Goode contributed an and-one and a pair of three-pointers during this stretch. Goode finished with a game-high 26 points.
The visitors maintained their momentum early in the second frame, extending their advantage to as many as 12 points.
An experienced Milwaukee team answered back. The Panthers used strong defense to hold RMU scoreless for more than four minutes, allowing the preseason conference favorites to slowly chip away at the deficit.
Clamping Down
Photo by Liam Hanley
UWM Panthers - Isaiah Dorceus
Isaiah Dorceus inbounds the ball for the UW-Milwaukee Panthers (Dec. 5, 2025)
For Lundy, the second-half shift was less schematic and more a result of increased defensive effort. The Panthers held the Colonials to just 29% shooting over the last 20 minutes.
“The message at halftime was that we didn't play very tough, especially in the last little bit,” Lundy said. “I was pretty upset with our group, thought we had given in defensively. There weren't really any adjustments; it was just me getting on them. But they responded and found the toughness that we've been looking for.”
The Panther offense, while not always graceful, was effective. Bart Lundy’s team eschewed outside shots for aggressive drives to the hoop, sometimes finishing through contact, but more often earning a trip to the charity stripe.
After just three first-half free-throw attempts, Milwaukee took 25 shots from the line in the second period, hitting 18—an encouraging showing for a team that entered the day ranked 350th in the country in free-throw percentage.
“We got eight straight stops,” Lundy noted. “That fueled our break, and we got to the free-throw line because we got the stops. It's a contrast; they want to play half-court, and we want to get up and down. If you don't get stops, you can't get up and down. We were getting out in transition, getting to the rim in transition, and that's where a lot of the fouls came.”
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UWM’s lead grew to as many as six points with five minutes remaining, only for Robert Morris to reply.
The Colonials used Milwaukee’s blueprint: strong defense leading to hard drives and free throws at the other. A Josh Hill tip shot made it a one-possession game again with 3:36 remaining, setting up a tension-filled final few minutes.
Late Drama
Milwaukee held its lead for nearly the final 10 minutes of the game, only for Robert Morris to tie the score at 72 with 10.4 seconds left after DeSean Goode sunk a putback following a scramble under the basket.
A Panthers team that thrives on pace and chaos did not use its final timeout and chose to push the ball down the court with Isaiah Dorceus. The transfer guard created space and attempted a three-pointer, only for his shot to hit off the back iron and carom to the left.
Hubbard, who had been at the left wing, crashed toward the basket as Dorceus released the ball. He got inside position on his defender and reached back with his left arm as the ball seemed to sail over him and into the grasp of the RMU’s Darius Livingston.
At full stretch, the Toledo transfer somehow pulled the ball from Livingston’s waiting hands and directed it toward the basket. Livingston’s fingertips slowed the ball, allowing Hubbard’s put-back to sail high off the top left corner of the backboard, then deflect down into the basket as the buzzer sounded.
Surrounded by teammates, Hubbard ran toward mid-court and stood on the scorer’s table, acknowledging the home crowd with a raised hand before jumping down to continue celebrating with fans along the baseline.
Like NFC North football in December, conference play just means more. “I knew I had a chance,” Hubbard said of his game-winner, “so my mind was just ‘crash,’ because that's what I'm taught to do in practice. I just [saw] the ball, and I knew I had to get it up, so I'm like, ‘hey, I'm going to just tip it in,’ and God took it from there for me.”
The officials put 0.2 seconds back on the clock, but Robert Morris was unable to make anything from a full-court inbound heave, giving the Panthers a 1-0 record in Horizon League play—a gritty start for the preseason conference favorites.
