Youngstown State (7-11 overall and 3-5 in the Horizon League) enters the contest following a 78-69 loss to 12th-ranked Butler. Junior forward Jack Liles scored a game-high 21 points while Byron Davis added 16 and John Barber contributed 15 points. The Penguins trailed by eight points with just over 10 minutes remaining, but four consecutive 3-pointers by the Bulldogs in a two-minute span put the game out of reach.

    Milwaukee (10-8 and 5-3) has won seven of eight games after beating in-state rival Green Bay 65-61 on Saturday night. Against the Phoenix, Paige Paulsen led four Panthers players in double figures scoring 19 points. UWM’s only loss since Dec. 19 was a Jan. 12 setback at Butler (72-56). The Panthers opened the league slate playing six of their first eight contests on the road. Since dropping contests at Loyola and UIC, Milwaukee has won five of its last six conference games, three of which have come on the road.

    This is the second meeting between the teams in the past 17 days. On Jan. 7, Milwaukee beat the Penguins 61-39 at the Beeghly Center. YSU had a game to forget scoring its fewest points at home in nearly 34 years and shooting its lowest percentage since February 1993. UWM connected on just 33.3 percent of its field-goal opportunities, but was a perfect 15-of-15 from the free-throw line.

    YSU is at Green Bay on Saturday before playing at Loyola and UIC next week.

• This is the 23rd meeting between YSU and Milwaukee. The Panthers have won 18 times, including the most recent meeting - a 61-39 win on Jan. 7 in Youngstown. That game was the lowest scoring contest in the all-time series.

• In four wins vs. UWM, YSU is averaging 79 points. In the 18 losses, the Guins are averaging 62.7 points a contest.

• YSU has allowed 21 made 3-pointers in the past two games (11 by Butler and 10 by Valpo). It was the first time this year YSU has allowed double figures in 3-pointers in consecutive games.

• YSU has had three different players score 20-plus points in three straight games. Jack Liles had 21 against Butler, Byron Davis had 23 versus Valpo and John Barber had 22 at Detroit. Liles’ and Davis’ had career highs.

• In the seven wins, YSU has averaged 76 points, shot 47.8 percent from the field, had 128 assists on 189 baskets, committed 87 turnovers and shot 39.8 percent from 3-point range.

• The Guins are 6-1 this season when shooting better than 46 percent from the field.

• Senior guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures in a career-best 14 games this year.

• Senior John Barber has scored in double figures in 13 of the last 15 games.

• Junior forward Jack Liles has scored in double figures in 10 of last 13 games.

• YSU is 6-1 when freshman guard Vytas Sulskis scores in double figures.

• Twice this year YSU has had five players score in double figures (Lock Haven, Robert Morris). Five times YSU has had at least four players reach double digits.

• YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers on 11 occasions since Coach Slocum took over. The Guins have made 11 twice this year - at Detroit and at Notre Dame.

• YSU has won 15 of the last 16 games it has led at halftime.

• The Guins have won 12 of their last 13 games when shooting 50 percent and won their last seven when scoring 80 points.

• Barber will be playing his 105th career game on Thursday while senior Dwight Holmes will appear in his 99th contest.

• Davis has played in 105 career contests - 57 at New Mexico State and 48 at YSU.

    The Panthers have been playing extremely well since a six-game losing streak in late-November and early-December. Since Dec. 19, Milwaukee has lost just once - a 72-56 setback at Butler. In the past eight games, UWM has held each of its opponents under 72 points in every game. In the first 10 contests, that happened just twice.

    Youngstown State shot just 24.5 percent from the field in a 61-39 loss to Milwaukee at the Beeghly Center on Jan. 7.

YSU made just 12-of-49 field-goal attempts, was 1-of-13 from 3-point range and scored 18 points in the second half. For the game, YSU was 14-of-23 from the free-throw line (60.9 percent).

    Milwaukee shot just 33.3 percent (20-of-60). The Panthers were 6-of-20 from 3-point range after starting the game 5-of-6 from behind the arc. UWM was dialed in at the free-throw line making all 15 attempts.

    Milwaukee scored 10 of the first 13 points before the Guins pulled within 10-8. UWM took control by scoring 13 of the next 15 points and the closest YSU would get the remainder of the game was 10 points.

    Youngstown State went on a late 6-0 run and held off a frantic Milwaukee rally to escape with a 68-65 victory on Dec. 10, 2006 at U.S. Cellular Arena.

    Both teams had 12-0 runs in the second half, including the Panthers’ run that put them up 61-60 with 3:02 to play. YSU led 66-64 before losing the ball to UWM on a jump ball. Paige Paulsen missed a potential game-tying free throw with 1.9 seconds left as YSU held on.

    Keston Roberts scored a game-high 21 points while Quin Humphrey scored 14 and Byron Davis added 12.

    Youngstown State won last year at U.S. Cellular Arena beating the Panthers 68-65. That win was the Guins’ fourth in the series and second in Milwaukee. UWM leads the all-time series by an 18-4 mark, including a 61-39 win earlier this season.

    Junior forward Jack Liles scored a career-high 21 points and Youngstown State shot 51 percent from the field, but the Penguins could not overcome 12th-ranked Butler’s 11 3-pointers dropping a 78-69 decision on Saturday at the Beeghly Center.

    Senior Byron Davis scored 16 points and senior John Barber contributed 15 points and eight rebounds.

    After falling behind by 15, the Guins stormed within 54-46 after a three-point play by Liles capped a 9-2 run. Butler answered with its own 12-0 after two triples by Pete Campbell and two more by A.J. Graves and made it 66-46 at the eight-minute mark. YSU got the deficit back into single digits in the final minute.

    Guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures 14 times while scoring 20-or-more points on three occasions. He had nine double-figure scoring games last year.

    Davis scored a career-high 23 points against Valparaiso on Jan. 17. He had 21 points at Saint Francis (Nov. 28) and 20 against Robert Morris (Dec. 17).

    Against Valpo, he was 10-of-16 from the field, including going 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point line. He set a career high by making 10 shots. Davis had 16 vs. Butler.

    He attempted a career-best 19 shots against RMU.

    In his career (New Mexico State and YSU) he has scored 855 points, making 110 3-pointers while dishing out 275 assists.

    Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures in a career-best 15 games.

    He had 15 points and eight rebounds against Butler while scoring 18 points and grabbing eight boards versus Valpo.

In the past 16 games, he has scored 219 points (13.7 per game) while grabbing 108 rebounds (6.8 per contest). He has grabbed at least five rebounds in 15 games.

    Barber has scored 69 points in the past four games, including 22 at Detroit. He scored a career-best 24 against UIC.

For his career, Barber has scored 862 points while grabbing 494 rebounds.

    Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis has made a big contribution in his first year.

    On Jan. 3, he scored a career-best 26 points against UIC. His effort tied for the third most by a Penguin freshman since 1980. Only Tim Jackson’s 32 and 31 point outings in 1987-88 season were better.

    In the past 11 games he is 21-of-46 (45.6 percent) from 3-point range.

    For the year, he has made 28 3-pointers. The most by a freshman in school history is 31 by Mike Alcorn in 1990-91.

    Guard Vance Cooksey lead the team with 55 assists and 24 steals. He came off the bench for the second time this season against Butler. Cooksey had six points, four assists and three rebounds in the game.

    Cooksey has had at least three assists in 10 contests. He also has scored in double digits against UCLA, Weber State, Notre Dame and Robert Morris. In the final five minutes of games, Cooksey is 22-of-25 (88 percent) from the free-throw line.

    At Detroit, he drilled two 3-pointers in the victory. YSU is 3-1 this year when Cooksey makes at least two 3-pointers in a contest. His career-best is four against Weber State (Nov. 13).

    Junior forward Jack Liles continues to provide a strong presence in the post.

    Liles leads the team with a 53.2 field-goal percentage making 82-of-154 shots. For the year, he is averaging 11.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest. He has scored in double figures 12 times, including 10 of the last 13 games.

    He has attempted double figures in shots eight times this season, including four of the past five contests. Liles leads the team with 16 blocks and moved ahead of Brian Radakovich into fourth place in school history with 71 career swats.

    Senior forward Dwight Holmes has seen an increased role since the Robert Morris game on Dec. 17.

    Entering that contest Holmes had played just 70 minutes and had 16 points and 17 rebounds. Since that time, Holmes has played 158 minutes in the last 10 games. He has scored 42 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. He is 16-of-33 (48.5 percent) from the field in those contests. He played 25 minutes versus RMU and UIC.

    Junior guard Mel Johnson is the Penguins’ version of Vinnie Johnson. As the sixth man, Johnson has scored 65 points, grabbed 42 rebounds, has 20 steals, 18 assists and five blocks. At Wright State on Jan. 10 he had eight points, three boards, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot.

    Junior guard Mikko Niemi has also seen an increased role recently. Niemi has played double figures in minutes in seven of last eight contests after seeing that much time just three times in the first 10 contests. He has scored 12 of his 15 points, grabbed 15 of his 26 rebounds and dished out 15 of his 33 assists in those games.

    The Penguins are 6-1 this year when shooting 46 percent or better from the field. In wins over Weber State (55.8 percent), Lock Haven (52), Saint Francis (46.3), UIC (50.0), Loyola (46.5) and Detroit (46.6), YSU shot above 46 percent. The loss was a 51 percent effort against Butler.

    The Penguins have either been on from the line or way off.

Six times, YSU has shot 76.7 percent or better from the line while on eight other occasions the Penguins have shot 60 or below. Twice this year, YSU has shot in the 30s -- vs. Valpo (38.5 percent) and at Wright State (36.4 percent).

The best contest at the line was a 12-of-14 effort (85.7 percent) against CSU.

    YSU has shown spurts of playing well during different halves this season.

    In the first three games of the season, the Penguins had 126 first-half points compared to just 90 second-half points. Included in that total was a 60-point effort against Lock Haven, the Guins’ most since February 1992.

    In an eight-game stretch (Nov. 24-Dec. 29), the Guins totaled 216 points in the first half (27 points a half) and 292 in the first half (36.5 a half).

    From Jan. 3-12 (five games) YSU had scored 187 points in the first half and 128 in the second. In the past two games, YSU has scored 44 first-half points and 86 second-half points, including 47 against Butler on Saturday.

    The Penguins have relied on seven players to handle the scoring duties this year. Of the 1,169 points scored, John Barber, Byron Davis, Jack Liles, Vance Cooksey, Vytas Sulskis, Mel Johnson and Dwight Holmes have contributed 1,102. Overall, 94.3 percent of YSU’s scoring goes through those seven.

    YSU heads north to visit Green Bay for a Saturday afternoon tilt at the Resch Center. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Eastern Time, 1 p.m. in Green Bay. YSU lost three times to the Phoenix last season, including a 55-46 setback in Green Bay.