Bruce Pearl, who guided UW-Milwaukee to the Round of 16 in the 2005 NCAA tournament with two upset victories, had left for Tennessee. The transition under the new coach, Rob Jeter, a former assistant and associate head coach at Wisconsin, was not going smoothly.
"Coach Pearl and Coach Jeter had different ways," the senior guard Chris Hill said. "It was a little rough at the beginning."
There was a tug of war between the senior-dominated team and Jeter, who did not press as much as Pearl did. Jeter also installed a swing offense, a more deliberate attack than the freewheeling one used by Pearl.
But as the season progressed, the Panthers and Jeter collected themselves. That partnership was on display in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday at Veterans Memorial Arena as 11th-seeded UW-Milwaukee ran away from sixth-seeded Oklahoma to win 82-74 in the Minneapolis Regional.
The senior guard Boo Davis scored 26 points and the senior forward Joah Tucker added 24 to lead the Panthers (22-8) into the second round against third-seeded Florida today. The Gators defeated 14th-seeded South Alabama, 76-50, in another first-round game on Thursday.
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