Marquette men’s basketball trounced the Bowie State Bulldogs 98-40 in an exhibition at Fiserv Forum. Here is a breakdown of the victory:
Game MVP: Tyler Kolek
In his first game as a Golden Eagle, redshirt first-year Tyler Kolek put together a strong first impression and performance in front of fans.
The reigning Atlantic-10 Freshman of the Year finished with a team high 15 points, going 5-for-8 from the 3-point line, seven assists, four rebounds and a steal.
“My teammates were just finding me in the right spots and we got good looks,” Kolek said.
Out of all Marquette’s guards, Kolek saw the most time at the point guard position.
“Tyler has been probably the best all around of our guards since we started practice,” Marquette men’s basketball head coach Shaka Smart said. “He’s just a very very hard working guy that holds himself to a high standard. He’s a really good shooter but I tell you what he’s done probably better than shooting since we started practices, making plays for other guys creating for other guys.”
Key Stats:
- Marquette scored 20 points in the first half off of Bowie State’s 16 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
- The Golden Eagles opened the first half hitting four of their five shots from the 3-point line.
- Bowie shot 3-for-20 from beyond the arc on the night while Marquette shot 13-for-41.
- Marquette had 22 assists and 13 turnovers.
Notes:
- Bowie State shot just 24.6% from the field, while Marquette shot 43.2%.
- Five different Marquette players finished in double figures.
- First-year guard Stevie Mitchell finished with 10 points, four assists and four steals.
- Marquette outscored Bowie State 38 to 20 inside the paint.
- Defensively on the night, Marquette had 54 deflections and caused 25 turnovers.
Injury Update:
First-year forward Keeyan Itejere sat out Thursday night. Smart said the Knightdale, North Carolina, native is taking the 2021-22 as a redshirt season.
“We wanted to kind of simulate a game day for him this year redshirting. He’s got multiple workouts in, a lot of time focused and spent on his game,” Smart said. “I’m excited about the progress that he’s already making with our strength coach Todd Smith. He’s as athletic as anyone on our team and we’re working on helping him learn to stop when he gets going so fast.”
Elliot Update
Redshirt junior guard Greg Elliott did not play in the exhibition.
Smart said Elliott will miss the team’s first four games of the season.
“Greg had a lapse in judgment and a failure to adhere to our department policies,” Smart said. “He’s still an important member of our team. We still love them, care about him but one of the things that I think is important to Marquette is leadership here and to me is we hold these guys to a certain standard so that’s why Greg wasn’t out there.”
Quote of the Day:
Ahead of tonight’s game, Smart said he received a text from former Marquette star guard Markus Howard wishing him luck ahead of his first game as head coach.
“It was awesome to hear from him and just the fact he was thinking about Marquette and Marquette Basketball,” Smart said. “It also reminded me that guy can really score.”
Next Up:
Marquette will host Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in its season opener Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Central Standard Time.
This article was written by John Leuzzi. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JohnLeuzziMU.