One year after finishing 241st in the nation in defensive effective field goal percentage, Marquette returned to its old habits, allowing 57 percent shooting in its 86-71 loss to 19th-ranked Purdue.
Haas scores at will
Marquette struggled to find an answer for Purdue center Isaac Haas, allowing the 7-foot-2 big man to put up 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 shooting from the charity stripe.
When the Golden Eagles started double-teaming Haas in the second half, the Boilermakers burned MU from outside. After missing all five 3-point shot attempts in the opening stanza, Purdue shot a respectable 71 percent from the perimeter.
“Just having the threat of Isaac Haas down there was too much for them,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “They didn’t have an answer for him, and when they did come and double, he did a good job of passing the ball before they could bottle him up.”
Short bench
Haas’ physicality had Marquette in foul trouble throughout the night. Freshman power forward Theo John missed the last six minutes of the first half after committing his second and third fouls nine seconds apart from each other.
John and fellow center Matt Heldt both had four fouls before the midpoint of the second half. Heldt, John and sophomore guard Markus Howard all fouled out.
Without the only players on the roster listed taller than 6-foot-8, Marquette resorted to a trap double-team, which did not go according to plan.
“The problem with that is when we run at a kid like that, we don’t obstruct his vision at all,” Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “And he’s a really good passer.”
Two-point tango
Wojo said at Media Day the team needed to do more than just 3-point shooting. That rang true against Purdue, as the team shot a measiy 6-for-29 from 2-point range in the first half.
Haas and 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms stopped any Marquette penetration in its tracks. Only 39 of Marquette’s 71 points came from inside the 3-point line.
“When you do take it to the basket, you don’t score on the rim when he’s in the game or (Haarms),” Wojo said. “To start the game we tried to test that and we failed the test.”
Quote of the night: “It’s a grizzled, hardened team and those are things that we’re learning,” Wojo said. “They’re not in a learning stage. We are.”
Stat of the night: Purdue outscored Marquette, 30-12, in the paint.
Next up: Marquette will play VCU next Monday in the Maui Invitational. KenPom, a prominent basketball analytics site, ranks the Rams 88th nationally. This will be the first meeting between these two schools. A Marquette win would presumably draw sixth-ranked Wichita State in the second round.
“It’s early still, so we have a lot of things that we can still work on,” sophomore guard Markus Howard said. “And we have a lot of time before our next game, so we’re definitely going to go back to work.”
