For starters, Marquette was without All-Maui Invitational Team Honoree Vander Blue, who was out with a sprained knee. That was a blow to the Golden Eagles chemistry, as the junior had not missed a practice or game since arriving at Marquette three years ago.
In the first half, Marquette shot 36.7% from the field, and 12.5% from the 3 point line. UMBC on the other hand, Shot 38.5% from the field and 18.2% from three. Marquette did out-rebound UMBC 20-16, but at the half the Golden Eagles only led the Retrievers 28-24.
So why did Marquette get off to such a sluggish start? Was it the "Maui hangover"? Was it the fact that UMBC was playing with the David vs Goliath mentality? Or was it just a slow start? Marquette Head Coach Buzz Williams explained, "Long way back(from Hawaii), time change, first day in school in a long time. Monday's are bad days in for our kids academically. From 8am to 6pm there is no time where we could get together as a team so we have five kids have a shoot around at noon, five kids have a shoot around at 2:00. Vander not being in the starting lineup, Juan going from the four to the three, Jamil being back in the starting lineup, I think it was a lot of things."
The second half was a different story. For starters, the Golden Eagles improved their shooting percentage, shooting 71.4% from the field with 42.9% from three point land. At one point Marquette had made 15 straight shots. Junior Jake Thomas made a statement about his role on the team, going 4-7 from the field for 12 points on the night, and explained the turnaround. "I told Junior we need to take good shots, easy shots, we need to attack that zone press. We were a bit too passive in the first half. I think we were over thinking their zones. It's not hard to break it if we attack it, we just needed to simplify things."
It was more than just a shooting percentage too. In the second half the Golden Eagles out-rebounded the Retrievers 20-10. They forced 11 turnovers, blocked four shots and stole the ball seven times. It was an all around effort that led Marquette to outscore UMBC 51-22 in the second half.
The point guard play for Marquette was impressive tonight, as Junior Cadougan and Derrick Wilson combined for 15 assists while only turning the ball over twice. Though the two only combined to score one point, Buzz Williams was very satisfied with the play of his point guards. "I really like how Junior's playing, but I also like how Derrick's playing. I think there is more comfort with our team when Junior is on the floor offensively, but Derrick makes so many winning plays and he's so good defensively, that there's good karma between those two guys. Junior is in a really good mode, his conditioning, his spirit, his mind, and that's good for us." Also worth noting, Cadougan also added six rebounds.
Jamil Wilson led the way for Marquette with 15 points, while Davante Gardner had 13, Jake Thomas with 12 and both Chris Otule and Trent Lockett added nine apiece. On the night, the Golden Eagles totaled 28 assists on 31 made field goals. That suggests that the ball movement as it relates to shot selection was outstanding Monday night, and the Golden Eagles need to continue that through Thursday as they travel to Florida to take on Billy Donovan and the Gators. If they play the way they did in the second half, they can play with Florida. If not, it may be a long night, let's hope for the team we saw in the second half.
UMBC Retrievers | ||||||||||||
Players | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
Brett Roseboro | 20 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
Chase Plummer | 24 | 5-10 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
Brian Neller | 30 | 3-10 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
Ryan Cook | 33 | 4-13 | 0-4 | 1-1 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
Aaron Morgan | 33 | 1-8 | 0-6 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
Adrian Satchell | 19 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Jamar Wertz | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Joey Getz | 16 | 2-4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
Jordan Wejnert | 2 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Malik Garner | 18 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
TOTALS | 19-57 | 3-21 | 5-5 | 9 | 23 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 18 | 15 | 46 | |
33.3% | 14.3% | 100.0% | ||||||||||
Marquette Golden Eagles | ||||||||||||
Players | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
Jamil Wilson | 21 | 7-8 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
Juan Anderson | 20 | 2-6 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
Chris Otule | 18 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
Junior Cadougan | 23 | 0-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Trent Lockett | 22 | 3-10 | 0-2 | 3-4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
Jake Thomas | 21 | 4-7 | 2-5 | 2-3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
Davante Gardner | 22 | 6-9 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
Derrick Wilson | 19 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Jamal Ferguson | 16 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Steve Taylor | 18 | 4-5 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
TOTALS | 31-58 | 4-15 | 13-18 | 11 | 36 | 28 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 79 | |
53.4% | 26.7% | 72.2% | ||||||||||
MU | UMBC | |||||||||||
Technicals: None | Points in the paint | 44 | 22 | |||||||||
Officials: Tony Chiazza, Pat Driscoll, Brent Hampton | Points off of turnovers | 25 | 15 | |||||||||
Attendance: 12,679 | 2nd chance baskets | 11 | 2 | |||||||||
Fast break points | 24 | 8 | ||||||||||
Bench scoring | 39 | 13 |