State sports briefs: MU to play in former home arena when they face UWM

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MILWAUKEE - The UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball team will host Marquette for the first time ever. That’s one of the highlights of the Panthers’ schedule announced yesterday. They’ll host the Golden Eagles on November 27th at the U.S. Cellular Arena – which is across the street from Marquette’s home floor at the Bradley Center.

UWM will also host Northern Iowa on November 20th. That’s the team which knocked off Kansas to make the Sweet-16 in last season’s NCAA Tournament. Milwaukee will also play at Wisconsin on December eighth. They’ll open Horizon League play on December second against Youngstown State, and will have a New Year’s contest at Detroit. Five of Milwaukee’s final six regular season contests will be on the road.

U.S Cellular Arena, back when it was known as the MECCA, was Marquette's home gymnasium until the Bradley Center opened in 1988.

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The UW-Milwaukee men’s soccer team beat Marquette 4-2 last night to regain the Milwaukee Cup. Freshman Edison Crespo scored two late goals for the Panthers, which now lead the all-time series with Marquette at 26-9-3.

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Nevada-Las Vegas will play a relatively inexperienced quarterback against Wisconsin on Saturday night in the desert. Junior Mike Clausen only has four starts to his credit. And new Rebels’ coach Bobby Hauck picked him over senior Omar Clayton, who has started 23 games. Hauck, the brother of former Green Bay Packer Tim Hauck, is changing the offense from a spread formation to a two-running back format. And Hauck said he chose the left-handed Clausen as his quarterback because he’s more athletic than Clayton – and he has better running skills. Hauck is in his first year at Vegas, and he replaces the fired Mike Sanford. Hauck went 80-and-17 in seven years at the University of Montana.

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The Wisconsin small college football season begins this afternoon, when UW-River Falls plays Ohio Northern. The kickoff is at two o’clock in Ada Ohio. River Falls went 1-6 in the WIAC last year, and 3-7 overall. Coach John O’Grady announced earlier this week that he’ll retire at the end of the season. This is his 22nd year as the coach at River Falls. U-W Stout will open tomorrow night at Black Hills State in South Dakota. Other Wisconsin small college teams have their openers on Saturday.

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The new men’s basketball coach at UW-Green Bay will face a relatively tough schedule. Brian Wardle and his Phoenix squad will play at Marquette from the Big East, Wisconsin of the Big Ten, San Diego State and Wyoming from the Mountain West, and Buffalo and Miami-of-Ohio from the Mid-American Conference. UWGB will also host Duquesne of the Atlantic 10 on December eighth. Wardle says he’ll be most concerned about how the Phoenix are playing, rather than the non-conference wins-and-losses. He says he’ll know if his new team is doing well by looking at its rebound margin, and its defensive field goal percentage. If both keep improving, he says the Phoenix will be doing something right. Green Bay will play Marquette on November 17th at the CBE Classic in Milwaukee. The Badger game on December 13th in Madison comes on the heels of a Phoenix upset in overtime a year ago. UWGB will open its Horizon League schedule December second against Cleveland State.

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At the World Basketball Championships, Team USA crushed Tunisia 92-57 this morning in its final preliminary round game in Turkey. The Americans closed out the first round at 5-0, and will advance to the Sweet-16 games that begin tomorrow. Meanwhile, Milwaukee Bucks’ forwards Ersan Ilyasova and Carlos Delfino have helped keep their national teams undefeated. Ilyasova had 13 points and 13 rebounds for his native Turkey in a 79-77 win over Puerto Rico yesterday. Turkey is closing out its preliminary round today against China and former Bucks’ forward Yi Jianlian. Meanwhile, Delfino had 18 points and five assists for Argentina in an 88-79 victory over Jordan. Argentina is closing out its preliminary round action today against Serbia.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam