Teacher Beats Student In Rivalry Game
MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan is glad he doesn’t have to physically play against Rob Jeter.
“With that jump hook he’d kill me,” Ryan said.
Jeter, the head coach for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, once played for Ryan at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the late 1980s into the early 90s, and coached under Ryan at Platteville and Wisconsin. Jeter was also an assistant for Ryan when Ryan coached UW-Milwaukee for two seasons.
But for the third straight year, Ryan beat Jeter in coaching when Ryan’s Badgers defeated Jeter’s Panthers 61-39 on Wednesday at U.S. Cellular Arena.
“Teacher kind of gives it to the pupil,” Jeter said.
It was the 15th straight time overall the Badgers (7-2 overall) defeated their instate rival from Milwaukee (3-7). The last victory by Milwaukee against Wisconsin was in the 1992-93 season at the UW Fieldhouse. All-time against the Panthers, the Badgers are 24-1.
But Wednesday night marked the first time since the 2001-02 season the game was played in Milwaukee. For the past five years, the game was played in Madison as part of the contract between the two schools.
The court seemed like a neutral floor Wednesday with about half of the 10,017 in attendance dressed in the Wisconsin red and the other half in the Panthers’ gold.
Unfortunately, the Panthers couldn’t impress one of its larger crowds this season. Playing a perennial top-25 team after losing six straight games yourself doesn’t make things any easier.
“UWM is going to be fine,” said Ryan, who won his 532nd career game. “As long as they keep listening to (Jeter), they’ll be fine.
“I’m glad it’s over. It’s still a game. He’s providing for his family… I’d rather not coach against him.”
When asked if it’s hard to play against his old coach and mentor, Jeter said it was slightly easier because he just wants to impress Ryan with what he is trying to do.
“He can see what we’re trying to do,” Jeter said. “To be one of the guys to keep us down hurts him… Best respect I can pay to him is kick his butt.”
Playing against the coach who recruited them meant a little bit to the Badgers’ players as well, wanting to show him why he recruited them in the first place.
“Me and coach Rob have a great relationship,” Wisconsin’s Marcus Landry said. “He’s a great guy.”
Landry was one of the many players on Wisconsin’s roster who was originally recruited by Jeter to go to Wisconsin.
Leading the Badgers was Landry with a game-high 16 points. He paced three players in double figures. Brian Butch scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds, and Trevon Hughes scored 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half.
Milwaukee was led by Torre Johnson’s 10 points. Paige Paulsen, who came into the game averaging more than 14 points per game, scored just two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Tim Flowers, Ricky Franklin and Marcus Skinner all had six points for the Panthers as well.
The big stat of the night was the rebounding margin. Wisconsin outrebounded the Panthers 37-16, including 15-5 on the offensive end.
“They’re big,” Jeter said. “They’re a tough matchup for us. They just wore us down.”
In what looked like was going to be a respectable game with Wisconsin leading only 31-21 at halftime, the game quickly turned against the Panthers.
The Badgers started the second half on a 11-4 run. With the exception of Paige Paulsen getting two points on a goaltending call, the Panthers didn’t score a field goal until 11 minutes remained in the half.
UWM’s offense never got in sync in the second half, hitting just 38 percent from the field, and 41 percent for the game. Wisconsin, on the other hand, shot 51 percent for the game, including 63 percent in the first half.
