This was a tough one, but I'm not disappointed like I was after the DePaul game. The guys showed up and brought it today, just too many mistakes caught up to them. Yeah, the call at the end was highly questionable and the game should have gone to overtime. But the team put itself in position to have the game decided by the refs because of what it did before that moment.
They started the game strong. The defense was sharp, rotations were good. The first 3-4 minutes were solid defensively as Marquette's only points were off a banked three pointer. But around the 16 minute mark, Lewis hit a 3 with Rhoden not getting out to him to contest hard enough. Simply too much space. That started a slip in the defensive intensity. The subs came in at the under-16 timeout and, while MU didn't score, Harris went under a screen he should have gone over and Samuel muffed an easy rebound. A minute or two later, Harris overhelps off of Kolek, who then drives unabated to the rim without Ike in the game. Marquette then went on a run to take control early.
The two players I was most worried about coming into this one were Morsell and Lewis. They both have size, length and good shooting ability for their positions, especially Morsell. Historically, these are the kinds of players we have always struggled to defend under KW. They use our switching to their advantage and they can elevate effectively over smaller defenders. Cale really struggled with Morsell today, especially in the first half. I don't like how many on our team, Cale included, don't square up and front the offensive player. They play defense to their side, which I guess is an attempt to funnel them into the shot blocker (Ike). But that's a very risky strategy, especially when dealing with guys who can shoot from 3 or the mid range. We struggled guarding Morsell and lost him completely a couple of times. Not good.
One positive today was the rebounding. Great effort after getting killed on the glass in the two previous games. That must continue moving forward. Along with Aiken's hot first half, that kept us in it in the middle part of the game and allowed us to build a 5 point lead. Unfortunately, the turnover bug hit us hard and many of the extra possessions gained through rebuilding were thrown away with turnovers. There was an extended stretch in the middle part of the second half where we were ahead by 5 and should have taken complete control of the game. Marquette was cold, our defense was looking better, yet we turned the ball over at a maddening rate, throwing away possessions where we could have extended the lead. Combine that with poor finishing around the rim and poor shot selection and we allowed Marquette to hang around instead of burying them.
Just too many mistakes overall today. Some that stand out include Rhoden missing 3 free throws, Aiken missing 2 free throws and a bunny layup early in the second half (mentioned this on the game thread and, unfortunately, it did come back to haunt us). That's 7 points right there thrown away. Even if we just get 3-4 of those points, we win the game in spite of everything else. In the first half, Aiken made a nice dump off pass to Ike, but instead of going right up he has to gather himself and couldn't finish. This led directly to a Marquette run out and a transition 3 for them. Little things like that are killer sequences and magnified in close games. This is nothing against Ike, who played another outstanding game overall. Just an example of one or two plays that can swing a game.
With the week off upcoming, there are many things to work on. Here are some that I think the team really needs to address:
They started the game strong. The defense was sharp, rotations were good. The first 3-4 minutes were solid defensively as Marquette's only points were off a banked three pointer. But around the 16 minute mark, Lewis hit a 3 with Rhoden not getting out to him to contest hard enough. Simply too much space. That started a slip in the defensive intensity. The subs came in at the under-16 timeout and, while MU didn't score, Harris went under a screen he should have gone over and Samuel muffed an easy rebound. A minute or two later, Harris overhelps off of Kolek, who then drives unabated to the rim without Ike in the game. Marquette then went on a run to take control early.
The two players I was most worried about coming into this one were Morsell and Lewis. They both have size, length and good shooting ability for their positions, especially Morsell. Historically, these are the kinds of players we have always struggled to defend under KW. They use our switching to their advantage and they can elevate effectively over smaller defenders. Cale really struggled with Morsell today, especially in the first half. I don't like how many on our team, Cale included, don't square up and front the offensive player. They play defense to their side, which I guess is an attempt to funnel them into the shot blocker (Ike). But that's a very risky strategy, especially when dealing with guys who can shoot from 3 or the mid range. We struggled guarding Morsell and lost him completely a couple of times. Not good.
One positive today was the rebounding. Great effort after getting killed on the glass in the two previous games. That must continue moving forward. Along with Aiken's hot first half, that kept us in it in the middle part of the game and allowed us to build a 5 point lead. Unfortunately, the turnover bug hit us hard and many of the extra possessions gained through rebuilding were thrown away with turnovers. There was an extended stretch in the middle part of the second half where we were ahead by 5 and should have taken complete control of the game. Marquette was cold, our defense was looking better, yet we turned the ball over at a maddening rate, throwing away possessions where we could have extended the lead. Combine that with poor finishing around the rim and poor shot selection and we allowed Marquette to hang around instead of burying them.
Just too many mistakes overall today. Some that stand out include Rhoden missing 3 free throws, Aiken missing 2 free throws and a bunny layup early in the second half (mentioned this on the game thread and, unfortunately, it did come back to haunt us). That's 7 points right there thrown away. Even if we just get 3-4 of those points, we win the game in spite of everything else. In the first half, Aiken made a nice dump off pass to Ike, but instead of going right up he has to gather himself and couldn't finish. This led directly to a Marquette run out and a transition 3 for them. Little things like that are killer sequences and magnified in close games. This is nothing against Ike, who played another outstanding game overall. Just an example of one or two plays that can swing a game.
With the week off upcoming, there are many things to work on. Here are some that I think the team really needs to address:
- Three point shooting. Outside of Aiken, we're a mess right now. Harris and Rhoden can't find it and Yetna is really struggling. We need another three point threat and the most likely candidate is Rhoden. He must get better from distance. I think we need to rein in Yetna and have him spend the vast majority of his time around the rim. He's at 24% from deep on the year. Just not good enough if you're going to spend any kind of significant time on the arc. Richmond could be a wild card here, but I don't think we can count on that.
- Get better in transition. With our halfcourt offense being primarily iso ball, we need to take advantage of every transition opportunity. This starts with putting the ball in the right players hands. I don't want to see Cale bringing the ball up the floor anymore. He has a poor handle and cannot create. One example of this was in the first half where Cale brought it up and gave it to Harris in a bad spot. He was immediately trapped in no man's land around the halfcourt line, turned it over and it led to a Marquette 3 in transition. We can't have stuff like that. Aiken is great in transition, but Richmond must get more assertive and demand the ball in transition when he is in there. We were hurt in transition today by committing so many turnovers and taking bad shots, leading to run outs and easy buckets for Marquette.
- Recommit to defense and rebounding, especially on the three point line. Rebounding was much better as I mentioned today. I'm not as concerned about that. But our three point defense has severely eroded over the last few games and that has to be turned around right away. We can't be scrambling. We can't have guys with their hands down. We can't have late closeouts (way too many of those recently).
- Find out how to get the ball popping and moving in the halfcourt offense. I know we won't go completely away from iso ball, it's not our style. We have to accept that. But we have to show something different. Aiken and Richmond have to get creative, not just for themselves.
