UW-Milwaukee Advances to NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16!

March 22, 2005

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Horizon League regular-season and tournament champion UW-Milwaukee has become the second League team in the last three years to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.


The 12th-seeded Panthers (26-5) advanced to the round of 16 with victories over fifth-seeded Alabama 83-73 and fourth-seeded Boston College 83-75 last week in Cleveland.


UWM next will face No. 1-ranked Illinois (34-1) in the Chicago regional semifinals Thursday, March 24, at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. Tip-off is 7:27 p.m. ET on CBS.


If Milwaukee defeats Illinois, the Panthers will face the winner of the Arizona-Oklahoma State game in Saturday's regional final for a berth in the Final Four in St. Louis April 2-4.


The Panthers, who are one of only two double-digit seeds remaining (10th-seeded North Carolina State), are trying to become the first 12th seed to advance to the regional finals since Missouri in 2002.


Horizon League member Butler is the most recent 12th seed to reach the Sweet 16, doing so in 2003 with victories over Mississippi State and Louisville. Other previous League teams to make it to the regional semifinals are Loyola in 1985 and former member Xavier in 1990.


The Horizon League is one of just eight of the 31 NCAA Division I conferences to boast Sweet 16 participants in two of the last three years, joining the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Pac-10 and SEC.

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