No. 5 Marquette men’s basketball started its 2023-24 season beating the Northern Illinois Huskies 92-70.
Here’s what you need to know about the Golden Eagles’ win:
- Junior guard Kam Jones finished with a match-high 20 points, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
- Four Marquette players (Jones, Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro and Chase Ross) finished with at least 10 points.
- The Golden Eagles out-rebounded the Huskies 41-40.
Depth Dominance
Marquette head coach Shaka Smart spent the last few weeks talking about the depth that the Golden Eagles possess. That depth was on display all game long.
With every scholarship player seeing the floor, Marquette had an 11-man rotation and used its deep bench to gain and keep the advantage. By the 8:23 mark in the first half, every non-starter except for forward Al Amadou saw the court.
Sophomore guards Chase Ross and Sean Jones got back-to-back layups with 12:49 remaining in the opening half to make it a 19-10 game and force the Huskies to call their first timeout.
After part of the bench opened the gap, the rest of it filled in, finishing the opening half with 14 points compared to Northern Illinois’ five.
It was more of the same in the second period of play, as after a shaky start, sophomore forward Ben Gold threw down a dunk which erupted Fiserv and capped off an 8-0 run, making it 73-51 Marquette.
Ben Gold is angry with the rim 😡😤#MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/o6vft6ev1P
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) November 7, 2023
By the end of the game, the Golden Eagles scored 32 points from the bench and everyone that saw the court scored.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
