Marquette Brushes Off Colgate, 84-63

After bad weather forced a cancellation on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown in South Carolina Friday, Marquette finally kicked off their season yesterday afternoon at the Bradley Center, beating Colgate 84-63. Only being able to catch the first half of action, here are some notes on the first half of yesterday's game.....

Students on a Mission: The Marquette student section brought it big time. No question. They were loud, had an impact and in the car in the second half there were two times where Jim McIlvaine pointed out the student section and credited them for causing missed shots by Colgate.


Where's the balls? As you already know they were wearing the Carrier Classic uniforms to honor Veteran's Day. They were also supposed to use the official Carrier Classic game balls, but I do nt believe they did as I believe they used the Nike Elite balls (could not see the Classic logo). After the game was called on the carrier, Trent Lockett started giving some balls to soldiers' kids when managers stopped him saying they needed those for Sunday. Maybe Trent gave away a few too many.


Back Door: Transfer Trent Lockett scored the first two points of the season on a reverse layup/putback. That is one thing I noticed in the Pro-Am and also in the scrimmages. He loves to use the back door, even when the driving lane is wide open. He is not overly athletic, so I think he anticipates the coming defenders and goes back door knowing they will come running to defend the front side.


CO2: Otule's first basket was a post up turnaround hook. Watching that play made me realize that MU finally had an absolute beat in the middle, and if he can continue to hit that baby hook, it will open up a lot of things outside the paint. Damn he's big.


SUBS!: Sticking with the same routine since he has been at MU, Buzz sent in the first two subs at the 16:04 mark. Any game against any opponent, you can always expect to see the first subs head to the scorer's table at the 16:00 minute mark.


Hang Loose: Is Jamil Wilson focused on the Maui Classic? I noticed this in the scrimmage and with his first two three pointers last night, he gives the thumb and pinky 'Hang Loose' gesture. Travis had the three signal, DJO etc with the three-goggles, Jamil Hangs Loose.


Full Court: MU applied full court pressure at about the 15:00 minute mark of the first half - I may be wrong, but this has got to be the earliest point in a game I remember seeing Buzz Williams pressure the back court.


Jake Thomas: After sitting out last year as a transfer, Jake Thomas saw his first action at MU at the 13:49 mark. Someone noted above that they were surprised at how much he played. Well, there are two parts to that. One, Mayo is done so that opens up a lot of minutes, but Jake has proven himself as a BCS basketball player. There were some that said he would never play a meaningful minute at MU, but many of us stated all along that he would, and he proved that last night. Seeing and talking to the guys, I don't think there was anyone more nervous about the first game(s) than Jake, and that was evidence by his first shot, but now that the jitters are gone, Jake will show up and people will see why he is on the floor.


New Tradition?: Interesting move that MU now has a student athlete from another sport come out onto the court with the season ticket holders of the game.


Steve Taylor: Taylor saw his first action of the year at about the 6:00 minute mark, and you could tell he has some adjusting to do. Runs the court like a true warrior, but needs to get comfortable with the flow of the game.


A Real Frontcourt?: When Taylor first checked in, that gave MU a front line of Davante Gardner, Steve Taylor and Jamil Wilson. That may be the first time that MU has gone with a true C-PF-SF lineup since the turn of the century. Jamil Wilson will benefit the most from this lineup, and the more comfortable Taylor gets, the more you will see this type of set.


Juan Anderson: Juan proved that he will get more than just cleanup minutes, Jaun or "Little Juanito", as his mom calls him, proved that he can and will have an impact on this level. I don't know who to compare him to, the guy does a little bit of everything.


The Glue Guy?: Trent Lockett was highly productive at Arizona State, but when many MU fans first saw him in the Madness and Fish Fry scrimmages, there was concern that Lockett isn't overly athletic, and looked to be a step behind. Well, I think Lockett really opened some eyes yesterday and showed why he is as successful as he is. He rebounds, he defends, he supplied help defense, he dove for loose balls and he had more "saves" than some goalies, and by saves I not only mean saving ball from going out of bounds, but when MU was sure to lose an offensive rebound he would get in and 'punch' it out to the back-court saving the possession. There were times were a sure turnover was occurring and he would dive in and slap it back to another player. We know that MU records defensive deflections, but I am sure some of the things I saw Lockett do yesterday won't show up in any category, but his style of play/desire to win, will be critical to the success of this team. One more note, I love the way this guy works into the paint and posts up, really works to impact the offense, with or without the ball.


A true team leader: Prior to the season people questioned who from this group would emerge as the true team leader. Well, there are different type of leaders. Those that just 'give you that look', those that 'lead by example', those that are 'vocal leaders' and those that just 'take control'. In the category of those that 'just take control', say hello to Jamil Wilson. Again, I only saw the first half, Jamil Wilson was 'That Guy'. When there was a questionable call, he would walk over to the ref, put his arm around him and chat. When there was a player upset about a bad call, he would grab him (Davante) and push him away from the ref and then calmly explain Davante's concerns. He would set the lane responsibilities with free throws, he would encourage and rally the guys when the ball went out of bounds. He really took control of the team yesterday, and that was more impressive to me than anything else yesterday.

BOX SCORE