Every Thursday, we send out the great OnMilwaukee Weekend Preview filled with awesome things to do. Some of those awesome things are sports-related; many are not. So every Monday, we recap what happened in the world of Wisconsin sports while you were out doing all those other awesome weekend things.
Friday
Hangovers beat Milwaukeeans, as usual: Happy New Year, everyone!
Saturday
Bucks beat Timberwolves, 95-85: On an emotionally charged night in Minneapolis, Milwaukee overcame a terrible start – missing their first 11 shots, seeing Giannis Antetokounmpo fall hard on his face and chip a tooth and losing an enraged O.J. Mayo to ejection – to beat the Wolves. Big men Greg Monroe and John Henson combined for 34 points and 14 rebounds, as the Bucks finished their four-game road trip with a 2-2 record. They now return home, where they've gone 9-6 and won some of their biggest games.
Badgers beat Scarlet Knights, 79-57: It was a Zak Attack in Madison, as the redshirt junior and former walk-on from Germantown, Wis., put on a Show(alter), scoring a career-high 21 points on perfect 8-for-8 shooting. Freshman Ethan Happ had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Wisconsin evened its Big Ten record at 1-1 (as did new head coach Greg Gard) with a big day from a balanced offense.
Golden Eagles lose to Hoyas, 80-70: Marquette, coming off a home loss to Seton Hall in its Big East opener, started slow again against Georgetown, unable to come back from a 19-point deficit in Washington, D.C. Redshirt sophomore Duane Wilson, a guard from Dominican, scored a game-high 17 points and hit all three of his 3-pointers, but the Golden Eagles’ frontcourt tandem of Luke Fischer and Henry Ellenson shot a combined 8 of 26 in the loss. The Hoyas were 22 of 23 from the free-throw line.
Panthers lose to Raiders, 84-82: After a strong nonconference start, including wins over Big Ten teams Wisconsin and Minnesota, UW-Milwaukee lost its Horizon League opener at home in overtime against Wright State. Senior forward Matt Tiby scored a game-high 23 points, and guard Akeem Springs added 19, but the Panthers lost their third overtime game of the season.
Admirals beat Monsters, 3-1: Rookie forward Max Gortz scored two power-play goals in the first period and goalie Juuse Saros stopped 32 of 33 Lake Erie shots, as Milwaukee won at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. It was the good-looking Admirals’ sixth victory in seven games.
Wave lose to Comets, 5-4: On the road against mighty Missouri, Milwaukee fell behind 3-0 in the first quarter and 5-1 by the end of the third. The Wave scored three goals of their own in the fourth period (including two by forward Ian Bennett just 16 seconds apart), but it wasn’t enough to come all the way back.
Sunday
Packers lose to Vikings, 20-13: With the NFC North title on the line, Green Bay’s offense couldn’t get going until late in the game, and it was ultimately too late (though it had another Hail Mary attempt), as Minnesota won at Lambeau Field and ended the Packers’ four-year reign as division champions. The Vikings were outgained on offense by more than 100 total yards, out-possessed by more than 10 minutes and committed two turnovers, but they returned a third-quarter Aaron Rodgers fumble for a touchdown and kept the Packers out of the end zone until the fourth quarter, when play-calling gaffes hurt the hosts. Green Bay still made the playoffs as a Wild Card and plays at Washington on Sunday.
Admirals lose to IceHogs, 3-2: Wrapping up its busiest week of the season, Milwaukee finally lost at home to Rockford, the first time in four meetings between the teams at the Bradley Center, in the overtime defeat. The Admirals, who went 3-2 in their five games in six days, did successfully convert their first penalty shot since 2012, courtesy of Matt White in the second period.
Wisconsin women lose to Michigan State, 77-67: On the road in East Lansing, Mich., the Badgers battled foul trouble and fell to the 24th-ranked Spartans. Dakota Whyte scored 14 points but had to sit in the first half because of whistles, as Wisconsin out-fouled Michigan State 22-16.
Marquette women lose to Seton Hall, 99-68: The Golden Eagles missed their first nine shots and fell behind 15-0 to start the game in East Orange, N.J. They never recovered and were routed by the Pirates.
UW-Milwaukee women beat Chicago State, 55-48: In their final nonconference game, the Panthers took down the Cougars in Chicago. UWM outrebounded its foe, 42-22, and Sierra Ford-Washington scored 16 points in the win.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
