But just when it seemed like another defensive disaster was brewing, the Raiders showed some resolve and said, “Not tonight.”
“Our defense was way better in the second half — probably the first 15 minutes,” coach Scott Nagy said.
“For us, the typical pattern is teams shoot better in the second half, and they didn’t tonight. That’s the difference. And us shooting almost 80% in the second half, that’s incredible.”
The Raiders started the second half on a 13-4 run and never relinquished control on the way to a 95-81 victory Saturday, snapping a two-game losing streak.
They built a 71-57 lead on a Tanner Holden layup with 10:39 to go, making 22 of 28 second-half shots (78.6%) and hitting 35 of 55 overall (63.6%).
The Panthers scored just 37 points after halftime and missed 13 of their first 19 shots. The Raiders built a 22-point lead with just over eight minutes to go.
“I think playing Green Bay and losing the way we did, I think a lot of us took that to heart,” Holden said of the 88-81 defeat Thursday.
“I felt terrible yesterday, like it was the end of the world. But I thought we came out today and had better energy. I thought we guarded really well.”
The Raiders (10-10, 5-4), who went into the game 349th out of 362 Division-I teams in defensive efficiency (giving up 1.132 points per possession), didn’t exactly put on a clinic on how to produce stops, but they made it difficult enough to allow their prolific offense to take over.
They took three charges, one by Trey Calvin and two by Alex Huibregtse.
Milwaukee coach Bart Lundy wasn’t happy about it, calling a timeout after a no-call on one of his players and sounding off to a referee.
Those count as turnovers, and Milwaukee had 16 to the Raiders’ nine.
All five starters reached double figures. Brandon Noel scored seven of the team’s first 10 points and finished with 23.
Holden had 20, Calvin 16, Huibregtse 14 and A.J. Braun 13.
“Our guys really pass the ball well and shared the ball,” Nagy said. “To have 21 assists and nine turnovers against these guys — that’s hard to do because they pressure the entire game.
“We did a great job of taking care of the ball, and if we do that, we obviously shoot a pretty good field-goal percentage generally.”
Milwaukee (9-10, 4-4) went 6 of 17 on 3′s after hitting 16 of 30 in the first meeting.
“If you compare the two games we played against them, it’s a night and day difference,” Holden said.
The Raiders were 0-3 against the Wisconsin teams and avoided losing all four meetings for the first time since 2003-04.
“Honestly, in the first half, I thought they made some tough shots. I thought our defense was pretty good,” Nagy said.
“It wasn’t perfect, but the thing is, everybody’s doing that against us, so the common denominator is what? It’s us defensively.
“But I still thought they made some tough shots.”
THURSDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Cleveland State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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