Tuesday, November 17th, 5:30 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Pete Maravich Assembly Center (14,164) -- Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Television: None. Home Record: Indiana St. 1-0, UW-Milwaukee 1-0. Away Record: Indiana St. 0-1, UW-Milwaukee 0-0. Neutral Record: Indiana St. 0-0, UW-Milwaukee 0-1. Conference Record: Indiana St. 0-0, UW-Milwaukee 0-0. Series Record: Indiana State leads, 5-2.

GAME NOTES: The Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers and the Indiana State Sycamores remain in Baton Rouge for a second-round matchup in the NIT Season Tip-Off.

UW-Milwaukee fell to 1-1 on the young season yesterday with a 69-65 loss to a strong Western Kentucky squad, the class of the Sun Belt Conference. Milwaukee is a member of the Horizon League and figures to be one of the better teams in that league this season. The Panthers return three starters from a squad that won 17 games a year ago.

Last night, Indiana State dropped a 56-45 decision to LSU, a host team in this broad tournament. The Sycamores cruised to victory in their opener by an 88-58 final over Nebraska-Kearney on Friday, but the level of competition in that contest wasn't very high. ISU competes in the Missouri Valley Conference, and four starters are back from a lackluster 2008-09 squad.

Indiana State owns a 5-2 advantage in the all-time series with Wisconsin- Milwaukee.

Indiana State played tremendous defense against LSU yesterday, limiting the LSU Tigers to 34.3 percent shooting from the floor, including an 0-of-15 effort from three-point range. Unfortunately for the Sycamores, they were completely dominated on the boards, suffering a 50-28 rebounding disadvantage, including a 24-6 deficit on the offensive glass. Also, they connected on only 30.2 percent of their own field goal attempts, and the fact that they finished with just one assist in 40 minutes of basketball is absolutely ridiculous. The only player to reach double figures in scoring for ISU in the loss was Dwayne Lathan, as he tallied 12 points off the bench.

Five players scored in double figures for UW-Milwaukee in yesterday's loss to Western Kentucky. The Panthers got 13 points from James Eayrs, and Patrick Souter added 12 points off the bench. Ricky Franklin pitched in 11 points, while both Deonte Roberts and Tony Meier scored 10 points apiece. Milwaukee only connected on 38.7 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half and finished the game with a mere four points from the foul line. The team also had more turnovers than assists and permitted the Hilltoppers to shoot 51 percent from the floor.

Expect UW-Milwaukee to get the job done tonight in this neutral-site affair. The Panthers are simply a better team than the offensively-challenged Sycamores.

Predicted Outcome

Wisconsin-Milwaukee 60, Indiana State 50