Marquette men’s basketball demolished the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 92-59 Saturday afternoon. The second game of the season resulted in a 2-0 start for the Golden Eagles. Here are the three takeaways from the victory:
Marquette relies on familiar scoring areas
In the last few years, the analytics movement has stressed taking the most efficient shots in basketball: layups, 3-pointers and free throws. Head coach Steve Wojciechowski said Marquette is continuing to follow that trend this season.
“Obviously we want to get the ball to the basket, and I thought we did that better this afternoon than we did in the first game,” Wojciechowski said. “We want to utilize the 3-point line because we have really good shooters. An area I think we need to continue to improve on is getting to the free-throw line.”
The Golden Eagles had 28 points in the paint, 20 from the free-throw line and 42 from the three Saturday afternoon. Added up that makes 90 total points. The single field goal from midrange was a Joey Hauser jump shot.
Marquette’s red-hot shooting
The biggest storyline of the game was junior guard Markus Howard scoring 37 points, shooting 7 for 10 from three. Although Howard was shooting well throughout the game, the Golden Eagles as a whole were incredibly efficient.
“We have a number of guys on our team that could (shoot well) any night,” Howard said. “When we’re all firing on all cylinders, we’re a really tough team to beat.”
At the end of the first half, the Golden Eagles shot 58 percent from the field, 54 percent from the three and 93 percent from the free-throw line. Although they cooled off in the second half, the Golden Eagles ended with an impressive 51 percent from the field, 52 percent from three and 91 from the free-throw line.
Turnovers hurt Marquette
Although the Golden Eagles played well in many facets of the game, one place they struggled was turnovers. In the first half, Marquette committed 10 turnovers. In the second half, Marquette committed another 12 turnovers. The 22 total turnovers led to 16 points for BCU.
“(The turnovers) were a part of Bethune-Cookman’s defense speeding us up,” Howard said. “We tried to make some home run plays that we didn’t need to make. That’s just something we’re going to have to continue to get better at.”
Stat of the night: In 10 minutes of play, sophomore Theo John went 4 for 4 from the field, had eight points, four boards and one block.
Quote of the night: Wojciechowski said to his son after he didn’t ask any questions at the press conference, “You have to get better at this, son.”
Up next: Marquette visits Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
