No. 5 Marquette men’s basketball notched wins against Stonehill and Western Carolina last week. Here are some thoughts from the Golden Eagles’ 2-0 week:
Bench holding their own
Marquette’s bench has been a work in progress as the year has gone on. Through six games, the Golden Eagles were averaging 81.3 points a game. The issue, though, was that only 11 of those points were coming from their bench.
When asked after Marquette’s 80-69 win over Georgia if he liked the way that his squad played with Kam Jones off the floor after getting bumped up a little bit, Marquette head coach Shaka Smart conceded that their is still growth to be had with the youngsters on the bench.
“We have to continue to build our bench,” he said “We have to continue to build an understanding that when you come off the bench, there has to be a singular focus on helping your team get stops and being, as we say, ‘in the circle.’ Which is when you’re at your best in terms of your mentality and your approach.”
In the two games that followed — against Stonehill and Western Carolina — the bench was much more effective.
First, the bench scored a then-season-high 31 points Wednesday against the Skyhawks. First-year Damarius Owens chipped in a career-high 14 points. Forward Caedin Hamilton and guard Tre Norman scored six and five points respectively.
Then Saturday, the bench set another season-high in points, scoring 37 against the Catamounts. Royce Parham had nine points, as did Hamilton. Additionally, Zaide Lowery added eight points, and Owens added seven.
Lowery — who has been a big part of the Golden Eagles’ rotation this season, averaging a team-high 15 minutes off the bench — left the game with 1:36 remaining after suffering a non-contact injury to his left knee. He stayed on the ground for an extended period of time, and couldn’t put any pressure on his left leg as he was helped off the court.
The sophomore guard is listed as OUT with the knee injury, per Marquette’s game notes for Iowa State on Wednesday.
If Lowery is out for an extended period of time, the pressure that has already been placed on the shoulders of Parham and Owens, just gets heavier.
On the flip side of the injury scale, Smart gave another positive update on Sean Jones on Saturday.
“He’s practicing, not full time, but he is out there some five on five,” Smart said. “And honestly, we thought it was just going to be half-court, and he jumped into some full-court stuff…
“He looks good, he’s playing well. I think the last step is having mental clarity with understanding that you can go out there and do it.”
Preparing to take the road less traveled
It will be difficult to find many programs playing a tougher non-conference schedule this year than Marquette.
As of Monday, the Golden Eagles have already played the No. 8 team in the country (Purdue), the unofficially ranked 44th team (Maryland) and the unofficially ranked 48th best team (Georgia).
This coming week, Marquette has a date scheduled with two teams ranked inside of the top 11 of the Associated Press top 25 poll. Wednesday, the Golden Eagles make the trip out to Ames, Iowa to take on No. 6 Iowa State at historic Hilton Coliseum. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST.
Then comes the most anticipated home game of the non-con schedule: the annual in-state rivalry against No. 11 Wisconsin. The Badgers have gotten the best of Marquette in each of Smart’s first three seasons at the helm of the program.
The last time the Golden Eagles took down Wisconsin was in December 2020, when Justin Lewis tipped in a missed free throw from D.J. Carton to take down the then-fourth ranked Badgers at Fiserv Forum.
Tip off for the 2024 rendition of the I-94 rivalry is set for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CST at Fiserv Forum.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
