• Marquette Takes Care of SE Louisiana 64-53

    Last week before what would have been the Carrier Classic against Ohio State, Marquette Head Coach Buzz Williams said he preferred to start the season off playing teams that had a direction in the title, "You know, Southwest, Northeast, Northwest..." Well, Buzz may not have said that had he known that he team would have trouble putting away Southeast Louisiana less than a week later.

    Marquette finally did pull this one out 64-53, but it took everything that had to overcome a couple of significant scoring droughts timed perfectly with a few lapses in defensive play. "We were inept at times tonight," said Williams, "but I did't give them the greatest protection either." What Williams meant by that was that during those scoring droughts and defensive lapses, he didn't call time outs, he didn't substitute players and he didn't spend time calling plays. To be honest, he stood there watching with his arms folded and forced the players to fight through it, something you won't see in Big East Play. "They really need to learn on their own. I really like the character of this team, I love who they are, and they will get better."

    The Golden Eagles did have a bit of a scare in the first half when, less than a minute into the game, Trent Lockett went down hard. Lockett appeared to have taken a shot to the head, and wasn't too quick to get up, nor was he steady getting up, and as a result, he only clocked three minutes in the first half. "I think it really did have an impact on Trent tonight. I asked him a question and he didn't answer me, and he stood there all glossy eyed. He was okay, he knew what was going on, but I kept him out because of that and also because he had two fouls."

    The center tandem of Chris Otule and Davante Gardner helped power the Golden Eagles the duo combined for 28 points tonight, 18 from Gardner and 10 from Otule. Chris Otule thinks that will be something you will see a lot of this season. "Me and Davante work well together. We battle each other every day in practice and it really helps us to get better. There aren't a lot of bigs out there that can keep him from scoring, so switching us in and out allows us to do different things."

    The low post play has opened up the game more for the Golden Eagles as it allows them to pound the ball inside. "We had 29 paint touches tonight which is a very high number, and that has a lot to do with the fact that we had 18 assists on 22 baskets, " said Williams.

    The two also totaled 11 rebounds, a number fans would like to see a bit higher, but with rebounding guards like Blue and Lockett, Otule's job isn't always to get the rebounds himself as much as it is to prevent the opponent from rebounding as Williams explained. Its not justification for low rebounding numbers, it's reality. Against Colgate Chris had zero offensive rebounds, but at the same time he held his opponent to zero rebounds. Chris is so big, but he has limitations. Offensively he rebounds better when he shoots the ball because he can see the arc on it. When someone else shoots, he doesn't always see that. For a couple of years no one knew about the situation, but now that they do they use it, so he needs to eliminate that advantage."

    Despite some of the lackluster play, there were some bright spots on the night. At the point guard spot Junior Cadougan and Derrick Wilson combined for seven assists with only one turnover and Juan Anderson continues to impress on both ends of the court. Marquette closed out the game on a defensive high note, preventing Southeast Louisiana from scoring in the last 6:05 of the game.

    This is a team that will have to rely on newcomers, so they will stumble at times as they continue to grow and develop into a team, and that will come. Buzz Williams explained the ups and downs of the early season to his team and pointed out that there will be greater moments down the road. "I told our guys that I believe in God and I believe that God is a basketball fan."

    Southeastern Louisiana
    Names MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
    Roosevelt Johnson 14 2-5 0-0 0-0 1 3 3 0 0 1 5 4
    Jan Petrovcic 29 0-5 0-0 1-2 2 11 0 1 0 2 3 1
    Brandon Fortenberry 35 4-13 1-5 0-1 1 5 3 1 0 1 0 9
    Dre Evans 34 3-9 2-7 0-0 0 1 5 0 0 3 0 8
    Jeffrey Ricard 25 3-6 0-2 5-7 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 11
    Jeremy Campbell 15 1-5 0-1 2-3 1 4 0 0 0 1 0 4
    Onochie Ochie 7 3-3 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 0 1 2 2 6
    Todd Nelson 12 2-6 2-5 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 7
    Roger Woods 22 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 3
    Jamaal James 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 0
    TOTALS 19-54 5-20 10-17 6 27 11 3 1 12 23 53
    35.2% 25.0% 58.8%
    Marquette
    Players MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
    Jamil Wilson 30 2-8 0-2 2-3 1 7 5 0 1 1 3 6
    Chris Otule 18 4-6 0-0 2-4 1 5 0 1 1 1 1 10
    Junior Cadougan 27 3-6 0-1 0-1 0 3 5 2 0 1 0 6
    Trent Lockett 19 1-3 0-0 6-6 0 2 2 0 1 1 3 8
    Vander Blue 28 1-7 0-2 4-4 0 5 2 1 0 3 2 6
    Jake Thomas 14 0-1 0-1 2-3 0 2 0 0 0 1 2 2
    Davante Gardner 21 8-14 0-0 2-4 4 6 1 0 0 2 3 18
    Juan Anderson 19 2-4 1-2 0-0 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 5
    Derrick Wilson 13 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0
    Jamal Ferguson 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 0
    Steve Taylor 7 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 3
    TOTALS 22-52 2-10 18-25 7 35 18 5 3 12 19 64
    42.3% 20.0% 72.0%
    Technicals: None
    Officials: Wally Rutecki, Alfred Smith, Michael Stephens
    Attendance: 12,587