Marquette men’s basketball (2-1) has a lot to take away from its first week of the season.
There were some positives for the Golden Eagles, like the fact they were able to take care of business against buy opponents Albany and Southern. However, there were negative moments too, like ceding 100 points in regulation for the first time in the Shaka Smart era on Sunday.
Here are some thoughts from the up-and-down week:
Who’s should be running the point?
Redshirt junior guard Sean Jones made his return to the court last Monday after missing nearly 23 months with an ACL injury.
The shifty point guard’s first two games back in action went well, finishing with six points and four assists against Albany and improving on Wednesday with 12 points and five assists.
“It’s great to have [Jones] back,” Smart said after the season-opener. “He’s really been through a long haul, and to work his way back, it’s been huge.”
However, Sunday was not so kind to Jones.
One of many Golden Eagles to struggle against the Hoosiers, he finished 0-for-4 from the field with zero points and two turnovers. Jones’ lackluster performance prompted Smart to bench him in lieu of first-year Nigel James Jr. for the start of the second half, the first time this season Jones began a half on the sidelines.
“He’s the one guy on our team that, right now, he’s going to be ultra-aggressive. We got to help him play with poise when he does that,” Smart said about starting James Jr. in the second half. “But we had some other guys that were too passive. Then when they got that way, they got quiet, too.
“That’s a bad combination.”
James Jr. finished with 16 points and was the only Golden Eagle to play 10 or more minutes and post a positive plus/minus (+8); Jones was -28 in the game. The 6-foot guard played increasingly better as the week went on, and looks to be a big factor in Marquette’s rotation moving forward.
With Jones clearly trying to get his in-game legs under him and James Jr. playing so well, coupled with the fact Smart has heavily alluded to an evolving starting five, the first-year could make his first career start sooner rather than later — despite his relative inexperience.
Marquette debuts the biggest rotation we’ve seen under Shaka Smart
Smart went into the Albany game knowing he was going to play 12 guys in the first half, but it came to a surprise to just about everybody else because historically he has never gone that deep into his bench. Not even against the easiest of buy opponents.
“Every guy on our team worked,” he said last Monday, “and I thought earned the right to have an opportunity to get out there tonight.”
The Golden Eagles continued to tinker with lineup combinations throughout the game against Southern. And even though Indiana was a much tougher foe than the previous two were, Marquette still managed to play 10 guys in the first half on Sunday.
“I’m still trying to figure out, once the rotation does get a little shorter, who is going to be exactly in it?” Smart said Monday.
“We, for the last few years, had had probably a more clear delineation after our top five or six guys. (Now), you got Chase Ross, who’s the best player on our team, and a guy we’re asking to do a lot of things, and you got a lot of guys after that, that are relatively close, which is good in a way.”
Playing more guys signals a couple things this early in the season.
The first is that the Golden Eagles are deeper than they have been in years past, something beneficial when injuries or foul trouble inevitably become a factor. The other, is that this group is widely inexperienced, so there are going to be ample opportunities for guys to earn or lose minutes.
Some guys, like James Jr. and sophomore forward Royce Parham, have taken full advantage of the expanded rotation. Parham ranks third on the team in scoring (8.7 ppg) and is Marquette’s leading offensive rebounder (8).
Others, like sophomore forward Damarius Owens and redshirt sophomore forward Caedin Hamilton, have not. Hamilton is tied for a team-high six turnovers and has only pulled down eight rebounds in three games. Owens has only made four field goals in 30 minutes thus far. Marquette is -12 when he is on the floor this season.
Even though he’s come off the bench in each of the Golden Eagles’ three games, Parham is fifth on the team in minutes per game, playing 19.7 per contest. Any lineup that he has been a part of has been successful, because Marquette is +27 when the 6-foot-8 forward is on the floor.
First-year guard Adrien Stevens is taking advantage of his opportunities as well. He’s scored four points per game in limited action, and has five assists compared to just one turnover.
As the season progresses, and the 12-man rotation shrinks, players’ minutes fluctuations will be worth keeping an eye on.
What’s on tap?
Marquette starts a four-game homestand tomorrow night against Little Rock (1-1) at 7 p.m. CST.
Then, it’ll be Maryland who comes to Cream City on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. CST tip-off. After an offseason coaching change, the Terrapins are now led by former Marquette coach Buzz Williams, who led the Golden Eagles from 2008-14.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
