For the second straight game, Marquette men's basketball coach Buzz Williams was not satisfied with his team's performance, this time a 95-64 victory over Houston Baptist Friday night.
He was not as upset as he was after the team's first game, a 94-73 victory over Colorado State-Pueblo, but he still wasn't happy.
"I think we have to string together consecutive perfect possession," Williams said. "That's not coach speak, that's what I believe.
"I though that defensively, at the initial part of the second half, I thought we strung together some really good defensive possessions."
Marquette started off sloppy, committing several turnovers in the first few minutes before settling into a rhythm, largely because of the efforts of Wesley Matthews. Against CSU-Pueblo, Matthews struggled early coming on strong in the second half.
Against Houston Baptist the senior guard led all scorers with 12 points in the first half, including shooting 7-8 from the free throw line.
"Works for me," Matthews said. "Wasn't anything special, just making plays, my teammates finding me in the right spots. It's just going with the flow of the game."
But Matthews' first half performance wasn't enough to overcome the team's eight first-half turnovers, which resulted in the Golden Eagles only leading by eight at the intermission.
In Marquette's first game the team got into foul trouble early forcing Williams to go with a rather small lineup, which included the 6-foot-6 Lazar Hayward at the five spot.
The same could be seen against Houston Baptist, when starter Dwight Burke began racking up the fouls. And while Hayward did see some action at the five, Williams decided to give 6-foot-7, 220-pound sophomore forward Patrick Hazel for the majority of the post minutes, despite getting into foul trouble himself.
Hazel saw only 12 minutes in the team's first game, with freshman center Chris Otule playing 15. But Otule is now sidelined for at least a month after injuring his left foot in practice early in the week.
"Injuries are a part of athletics," Williams said. "With the complexion of our roster, the way that it is, we have a very small margin for error…But when Dwight fouls five times in 13 minutes, two of which were within 30 second game clock wise, that puts an incredible amount of pressure, not just on Pat Hazel, but on the rest of our team."
In the second half, however, Marquette looked like a different team. Matthews continued his strong play, leading the Golden Eagles on a 14-0 run to begin the second period.
Hazel also contributed to the second half success, finishing with seven points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in 22 minutes of play. It remains to be seen how Marquette's post play will look against a team with some legitimate size, especially figuring in the team's lack of depth.
Against the Huskies, however, Marquette proved—as expected—to be a superior small ball team and walked away with an easy victory.
Matthews led all scorers with 27 points, eight assists, five rebounds and five steals. Fellow senior Jerel McNeal contributed 20 points, while Hayward ended with a double-double (19 points and 12 rebounds).
Despite the impressive performances of Matthews, McNeal and Hayward, the game ball went to Williams, who was not ashamed to display his emotion over winning his first game as a head coach.
"I was sitting in my car behind the Bradley center so our players wouldn't see us. I got here at about 5:30 and sat in my truck and cried," Williams said. "It was an emotional day.
"And here's the thing, it's not about me. I'm grateful that we won, not for me but for our guys."