PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- With as talented a team as he's ever coached, one that is currently ranked No. 3 in the country, Paul Combs knew he would need a competitive non-conference schedule for his 2008-09 University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team.
Nothing would be gained by the Pioneers cruising through a bunch of blowouts in preparation for the ringer that is the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
So UW-P loaded up on bulldogs. The Pioneers played a Division I exhibition opponent in Bradley. After a year's absence they got Loras, the defending Iowa Conference champion, back on the schedule. At a tournament in Indiana they faced Wooster (Ohio), the winningest program -- at all levels -- in the 2000s coming into the season, and Indiana University-Southeast, which was the top-ranked team in the final NAIA poll at the end of last season.
Platteville's unforgiving non-conference slate continued Saturday afternoon against the University of Dubuque, with its talented starting lineup and 8-2 record. But like every other challenge the Pioneers have
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A strong surge to finish the first half gave Platteville a double-digit lead and the Pioneers dispatched Dubuque, 71-50, at Williams Fieldhouse. The victory made UW-P a sparkling 10-0, its best start since 1997-98, a season that ended with Bo Ryan's team sporting a 30-0 record and hoisting the program's third Division III national championship plaque.
Combs' squad has two more non-conference games left, and they're two more good ones at the St. Norbert Tournament.
"We've had some difficult non-conference tests," said Combs, who was highly complimentary of Rob Sieverding's UD squad. "These games have enabled us to have some success away from home.
"Playing tough non-conference opponents puts you in difficult situations, and we've faced adversity really well."
Jeff Skemp scored 23 points, Mike Shaw 18 and Kyle Tetschlag 10 on Saturday for the Pioneers, who have relished the opportunities to face top-tier opponents.
"Coach wants us to play the best teams out there, for us to get a better idea of how (good) we are and find out how we need to get better," Tetschlag said. "We have confidence now that we can beat anybody, that we can go in and beat people at their places."
Michael Okpalaeze scored 17 points and Josh Bellaire 12 for the Spartans. After scoring 21 and 26 points in his last two contests, UD point guard and Dubuque native Taylor Blum, his team's leading scorer, was held to eight points Saturday.
The Spartans trailed by just six with 6 minutes left in the first half, but UW-P finished the half with a 13-4 run.
"It started getting away from us late in the first half," Sieverding said. "Instead of eight or 10 (the deficit) gets to 15, and against maybe one of the best teams in the country, if not the best "| that was just too big a task for us."
UW-P completed a 3-0 sweep of the Dubuque schools. It was the first time the Pioneers played UD, Loras and Clarke all in the same season since 1985-86, when they also won all three.
Like the Loras, Wooster and IU-SE games before it, the Pioneers viewed Saturday's game as another litmus test for just how good they are this season. Just like those others, they passed with flying colors.
"Platteville's a great team," Sieverding said.
After a brief holiday respite, the Pioneers will finish off their challenging non-conference slate in the Green Bay suburb of De Pere on Dec. 29-30, first against a 6-2 Carthage team that just edged Loras, 72-70, earlier this week; then likely against the host school, which is 6-1, its only loss to Loras.
"We have that confidence now," Tetschlag said, "through the whole organization."
