The game totaled 53 fouls. 53. Marquette committed 19 fouls, Southern committed 34. Marquette set a new record with 53 free throw attempts. 53.
So here's the deal - during the off season the NCAA adjusted their contact rules. You can place a hand on an opponent, but you can not keep it there. Also, you can not place two hands on an opponent at the same time. At least this is how it was briefly explained to me. As instructed, the officials called the game based on the new rules and as a result, there was no flow to the game, unless you are a fan of free throws. Marquette was in the double bonus with 11:00 minutes left in the first half. Marquette only scored on three field goals in the 2nd half. There were quite a few missed shots, but the biggest reason was the time spent on the line.
One thing to remember is that the new rules were put into place by the NCAA, so you can't blame the refs, as Buzz Williams pointed out. "These guys are doing the job that they are told to do. If you are asked to write a 1,500 word story you will write a 1,500 word story. They have instructions about what to call and they will call it."
Looking at the box score some might say the calls were lopsided, but the Golden Eagles were more prepared and dealt with the changes better than the Jaguars. "Since Madness we have been bringing officials in to practice once per week, and twice per week the last two weeks. And those officials are not our usual officials, so these guys are more excited to ref for us so they call even more fouls. I think it helped." said Williams. Senior Davante Gardner agreed, "Our coaches have been telling us every day that it would be like this. When they started making the calls, we just had to give them more space, and we did."
Enough of the fouls. Coming into last night's game, with a new team, new players and an entirely new back court, the rotation was the big question. Last year Buzz Williams had his starting rotation and would send Davante Gardner to the scorers' table to check in just before the 16:00 minute mark - in every game. In the opener against Southern, by the 16:00 minute mark Marquette had already logged 9 players. A pretty big change for a Buzz coached team, and he explained the process, "Chris picked up that quick foul and I didn't want him to get another, so I put Davante in right away. Then, being the first game, there are a lot of jitters. You see all of these guys on the bench and you know they are going crazy wondering, 'When will I get it?' So I just wanted to get rid of all of that mess. Get it out of their systems, so I sent them all in."
Overall the minutes looked like this:
Starting lineup
- Derek Wilson 34
- Jamil Wilson 29
- Jake Thomas 22
- Chris Otule 16
- Steve Taylor 12
Bench
- Todd Mayo 23
- Davante Gardner 23
- Jajuan Johnson 14
- Juan Anderson 11
- Deonte Burton 10
- John Dawson 6
You can expect the rotation to change quite a bit over the coming weeks as Buzz solidifies the lineups. "We will get that figured out, we have a ways to go." Williams said.
Buzz has always said that time earned on the floor will be earned by playing defense, understanding the plays and performance, and that was evident last night. The starting lineup did very well defensively, but the offense came from Marquette's bench, primarily Davante Gardner and Todd Mayo. Gardner finished with 25, Mayo with 20. The bench outscored the starting lineup 48-15. Jamil Wilson led the started with 10 points.
Overall MU will have to find a way to be a lot more productive offensively for this team to succeed. Derek Wilson did a fine job of protecting the ball last night (2 turnovers), but he needs to find ways to set his teammates up for the offense to get going, and that just didn't happen in the opener.
A win is a win so nothing else matters, but here are some meaningless but meaningful stats......
- Marquette loves the up and down game. They love to get out and run in transition, but that just didn't happen. MU scored 7 fast break points all night. That may be an all time low under Williams. Southern had 10.
- Paint touches paint touches paint touches.....MU was outscored in the paint, 20-16. Only 16 points in the paint? Blame that on the foul calls.
- 2nd chance points - This one has to be another record. Southern had 11 2nd chance points, MU recorded 1. Yes, 1. Can't get a putback when the shooter is always fouled.
- Rebounds: MU needs to improve on the glass. Big Chris Otule, Big East 6th man Davante Gardner, Jamil Wilson, Juan Anderson, Steve Taylor - this is the biggest and most athletic lineup MU has had in years, but Southern outrebounded MU 38-35. Taylor led MU with 7 rebounds, Otule & Gardner combined for 6.
- Free throws. If MU gets to the line this season as much as they did last night, they need to improve. 20 missed free throws (33-53) won't cut it. Chris Otule & Derek Wilson were a combined 3-12 and Davante "Auto--Mat-ic" Gardner was 15-20.
Marquette will be back at it on Tuesday to take on Grambling at 6:00. Game will be on Fox Sports 1.