Tuesday State Sports Briefs: UW-Madison vs. UW-Milwaukee in men's hoops tonight

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MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin men's basketball team will play at UW-Milwaukee tonight. Both teams are 8-and-2.

Badgers' senior point guard Jordan Taylor hopes to get over a four-game slump in which he's only made 29-percent from the floor, and 17-percent from three-point range. Taylor says he has not lost confidence in his shot -- and he denies that he's hampered by right ankle surgery from late July. Sophomore Ben Brust leads the 14th-ranked Badgers with 12 points off the bench.

Wisconsin will take on a Milwaukee team that's having its best start in almost two decades. Before losing to Northern Iowa last Saturday, the Panthers had their best record since 1992. And their 8-2 mark is still Milwaukee's best in nine years. Coach Rob Jeter says the Panthers can only get better. That's because they've missed at least one projected starter in all of their games so far. Sophomore forward Kyle Kelm injured a shoulder on Saturday, and he's questionable for tonight. Also, Panthers' junior guard Lonnie Boga has been out all season with a bad shoulder. He made 14 starts a year ago.

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The UW-Green Bay men's basketball team will host Michigan Tech tonight. The Phoenix are 4-6 overall. But they're only 2-6 outside the Horizon League. And according to Real Time RPI.com, Green Bay had the seventh-toughest schedule in all of college basketball for games played through Sunday. The Phoenix played six schools that are in the Top-100 of the RPI Rankings, and a seventh team that's close. And Green Bay won just one of those games, that being over Wyoming at home on November 19th. Green Bay's six losses all came on the road to Marquette, Wisconsin, Indiana State, Virginia, North Dakota State, and Duquesne. But UWGB coach Todd Wardle said his team learned a lot in those games. He said they saw almost every possible style of offense-and-defense and a lot of great players. And Wardle said it should prepare his team for what lies ahead. UWGB will play a Michigan Tech squad that's 5-3. Senior center Mike Hojnacki leads Tech with almost 13 points and two rebounds per game.

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A men's-and-women's basketball double-header is scheduled tonight in the Midwest Conference. Knox College travels to Appleton to play Lawrence. In non-conference games tonight, the Beloit College men host the Milwaukee School of Engineering. And the UW-Platteville men are at home against North Central.

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UW-Whitewater moved up six places to 13th in the new national men's small college poll from D3hoops.com. The Warhawks are 8-0. UW-Stevens Point dropped four places to 25th. Madison Edgewood received enough votes to be one spot away from the Top-25. UW-River Falls also received votes. Middlebury is still at Number-One.

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In the Division III women's poll, Stevens Point remains at Number-seven, and River Falls jumped four places to 14th. Both are 8-0. Whitewater dropped out of the Top-25 after being 21st a week ago. But the Warhawks still received votes, as did Eau Claire and La Crosse. Amherst still leads the Division III women's poll.

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Madison Memorial still leads Division-One in the second AP boys' state high school basketball poll of the season. Germantown is second, followed by Milwaukee Riverside and De Pere. They're all at 4-0. Onalaska leads Division-Two again. Rice Lake and Whitnall are tied for second, and Beaver Dam is fourth. La Crosse Aquinas is still atop Division-Three, followed by Little Chute and Oostburg. Cuba City moved up one place to first in Division-Four, with Laconia second and Whitefish Bay Dominican third. And in Division-Five, Randolph is still on top, with Benton and Sheboygan Lutheran in the two-and-three spots.

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In the AP girls' poll, Nicolet still tops Division-One, with Milwaukee Vincent second and Janesville Parker third. New London still leads Division-Two, followed by New Berlin Eisenhower and Whitefish Bay. In Division-Three, Whitefish Bay Dominican continues to be Number-One. Lomira is second, and Edgerton and Freedom are tied for third. Eau Claire Regis remains atop Division-Four, followed by Algoma and Oshkosh Lourdes. And Wausau Newman is still the leader in Division-Five, with Black Hawk second and Seneca third.

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Unlike some NBA teams, the Milwaukee Bucks have nearly a full roster at their training camp. Forwards Larry Sanders and rookie Tobias Harris missed practice yesterday, due to hydration concerns from a workout on Sunday. Fourth-year forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute showed up at camp yesterday, after the Bucks decided to match a four-year, 19-million-dollar contract offer he received from Denver. Mbah a Moute, who was a restricted free agent, will start practicing once he signs the deal. A visa concern must also be worked out. Center Andrew Bogut says he can tell already that the Budks will have better team chemistry than a year ago, when they finished 35-47. He said new guard Mike Dunleavy Junior fit right away at yesterday's practice.

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The U.S. Speed-skating Championships begin today in West Allis, with spots on the World Cup team at stake. Ten Olympians will be among those competing at the Pettit National Ice Center -- and two of them are from Wisconsin. Janesville native Tucker Fredricks is a two-time Olympian, and Maria Lamb of River Falls competed in the 2010 Games in Vancouver. The U.S. team has a new coach, Olympic medalist Kip Carpenter. The men's 500-meters is on today's schedule, along with the women's three-thousand meters. The championships run through Sunday, and they'll take Friday off.

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Zach Meulemans of Ripon College and Jamie Kuhl of Saint Norbert are the Midwest Conference men's-and-women's basketball players of the week. Meulemans, a junior forward, scored 21 points in a 78-72 overtime win over Carroll last week. He made 6-of-7 free throws, and had eight rebounds and two assists. Kuhl, a freshman forward, had 23 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Knox College, and a pair of blocked shots in a victory over Beloit.

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John Cording of the Milwaukee School of Engineering has been named the men's basketball player-of-the-week in the Northern Athletics Conference. Cording, a sophomore guard, set career-highs with 25 points against Aurora and then 30 points against Marian. Both games were victories for MSOE. Cording only committed one turnover in 60 minutes of those two contests. Krystyna Rickett of Concordia-Chicago received the weekly honors for NAC women's basketball.

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