Marquette's shooting was profoundly bad in a 59-56 overtime win against Idaho State last night. The Golden Eagles shot 29.7 percent from the field, and were 16-of-31 from the free throw line.,”
To say the men's basketball team had an off night shooting the basketball would be far more than an understatement.
Marquette's shooting was profoundly bad in a 59-56SM overtime win against Idaho State last night. The Golden Eagles shot 29.2SM percent from the field and were 16-of-31SM from the free-throw line.
"I don't think it's us putting pressure on ourselves," sophomore Jerel McNealSM said. "For other people, they may be thinking there's a lot of pressure on us, you know, but that's not the reason we're not playing as well as we should on offense."
Marquette's free throw woes (36-of-62 this seasonSM) indicate otherwise. For the second straight game, Marquette allowed an inferior opponent to dictate the tempo.
Sophomores Dominic JamesSM, Wesley MatthewsSM and McNeal combined to shoot 13-of-43SM. James got off to a promising start, drilling twoSM three-pointers in the opening minutes. After hitting a lay-up with 13:55 left in the first half, he went 23:40 of game time without scoring until he hit a free-throw with 9:15 remaining in the second half. He recovered late and finished with a game-high 17SM points.
"I thought he did a really nice job in a lot of ways tonight," head coach Tom CreanSM said of James. "And it's very important that he can move and play a lot of different ways, and get him off the ball and let him create from the side."
Matthews runs the point
Wesley MatthewsSM ran point guard for almost the entire first half. The team's crisp perimeter passing early allowed the Golden Eagles to jump out to an early 19-12 leadSM. Matthews looked comfortable at the point, turning the ball over just once in the first halfSM.
"It's all about getting those three guys, Dominic, Jerel and Wes, to play with the mentality of three point guards," Crean said.
The team failed to capitalize on its efficient ball movement, though. After a 6-of-12 start from the field, the Golden Eagles tried to force the issue much of the night and never came close to finding a rhythm. Marquette's win was purely a product of superior athleticism, if not luck. Not even 1-of-11SM shooting in overtime could down the Golden Eagles.
On the other hand, Idaho State played as well as it could have hoped. The Bengals shot 46.8SM percent from the field. Point guard Akbar Abdul-Ahad matched James' 17 points, and had seven rebounds and five assistsSM. But when Marquette applied full court pressure late, Abdul-Ahad became turnover-prone.
"I'm a little disappointed in his turnover count," Bengals head coach Jim O'BrienSM said. "But again, we're going to work on that and we're not going to play Marquette everyday."
Marquette was too athletic for Idaho State, O'Brien added. The Golden Eagles' 22-to-7SM advantage on the offensive glass illustrated his point. Marquette managed to turn the discrepancy into a 14-7SM advantage in second chance points, though. Had the team suffered any deficiencies on the glass, the game's outcome may have been different.
Home cookin'
Perhaps the most alarming deficiency of the night was Marquette's 31SM free throw attempts to Idaho State's fiveSM. At times, it seemed the officials bailed Marquette out with foul calls after reckless drives to the basket. When asked about the officiating, O'Brien chose the conservative response.
"No comment," O'Brien said. "I'm an old dog. I know what happens there."
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