The Marquette Golden Eagles hit the century mark for the first time this season with their decisive 104-79 victory over the IUPUI Jaguars.
The Golden Eagles struggled at first offensively, as their first lead of the game did not come until 15:22 in the first half.
However, the Blue and Gold quickly turned the switch, going on an 18-3 run and not looking back.
“I feel like we came out kind of slow and kind of lackadaisical, but we picked it up on the defensive end,” guard Duane Wilson said. “We can’t worry about the offensive end. When we play defense and cover that, offense is going to come easy because we have so many offensive weapons, but it comes first on the defensive end.”
Head coach Steve Wojciechowski, on the other hand, refuted the idea that the team struggled early, instead referencing IUPUI’s performances against Michigan this year and Marquette last year to say that they’re a “good team.”
“We had no vision of just coming in and blowing them out of the water,” Wojciechowski said. “I thought our guys played well from buzzer to horn.”
Offensively, the Golden Eagles had a rare luxury, a size advantage, with 6-foot-11 senior Luke Fischer, 6-foot-10 sophomore Matt Heldt and 6-foot-6 graduate student Katin Reinhardt. This resulted in Marquette making 10 more free throws than IUPUI even attempted in the first half. Marquette also outscored IUPUI in the paint 52-38 throughout the entire game.
Reinhardt, who finished the night with 16 points and five boards, bounced back from a forgettable performance in the 2K Classic, where he scored three and five points, respectively, on a combined 2 for 16 shooting performance.
“He rebounded better, his shot selection for the most part was much better. … It was good to see him to do some things at a high level,” Wojciechowski said. “Getting to the foul line was huge.”
“We talked to him about being a player,” Wojciechowski continued. “Players take what the defense gives them. They don’t try to force something.”
The team also saw in a dramatic increase in assists from 12 against Pitt and Michigan to 22 Tuesday. Wilson alone matched his career high with six assists.
“We had some really good connecting plays on offense where the ball was just moving and the ball found the best shot,” Wojciechowski said. “We didn’t have that at all in New York.”
“If we don’t have (unselfish basketball) and we turn the ball over, we’re going to have a hard time beating most people,” Wojciechowski elaborated. “Tonight, I felt like we were a very unselfish basketball team.”
Wojciechowski said he approached this game as a “program game.”
“In any really good program, which we have here at Marquette, there’s people that have come before you that have deposited a lot into the program,” Wojciechowski said. “You can’t just make withdrawals, you have to deposit something, too. Our older guys should embrace that.”
This resulted in a much different starting lineup. Instead of having veterans like Jajuan Johnson, Fischer and Reinhardt start, Markus Howard, Sam Hauser and Heldt started. This was the first time that Howard and Hauser both started in the same game.
Wilson acknowledged Wojciechowski’s message to the upperclassmen.
“The message he was trying to send was to the older guys, me, JJ, Katin and Luke, was for us to step up,” Wilson stated. “He’s demanded a lot of us (since the 2K Classic), and I feel like we responded well tonight.”
Marquette will look to see if this shakeup is what they need as they continue their homestand against Houston Baptist Saturday night.
