Sam Hauser Named BIG EAST Freshman Of The Week

For Immediate Release
Scott Kuykendall
Marquette Athletics

Sam Hauser Named BIG EAST Freshman Of The Week
Forward chipped in 14 points off bench in debut

Milwaukee – Freshman forward Sam Hauser has been named the BIG EAST Conference Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Monday morning.

The Stevens Point, Wisconsin, native chipped in 14 points, three rebounds, an assist and one steal in his collegiate debut, an impressive 95-71 victory over Vanderbilt in the Veterans Classic on Friday, Nov. 11. Hauser saw 19 minutes of action off the bench and shot 5-of-8 from the floor overall, including a 4-of-7 effort from behind the 3-point line.

Hauser and Marquette are back in action Monday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center when the team hosts Howard at 7:30 p.m. CT on FS1 in the 2K Classic.

This is just fantastic. We all knew Hauser would be very good for us but I thought it would take a while for him to adjust. To take Big East Freshman of the week for week one is awesome.

and off to a strong start for the week after last night with 10 and 6 rebounds (shooting 64% from 3!)

A Steve Novak mini-me!

VS

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Originally Posted by ValiantSailor

A Steve Novak mini-me!

VS

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Pretty apt comparison. I think Sam's overall offensive skills are better at this stage and hopefully his shooting continues at this level.

On the negative side, after watching last night, it appears Sam's defense is also very comparable to what Steve's was/is.

I thought he moved his feet a little better then Steve and also has a little more mass but not as tall by 2 inch's

Hauser is going to be a matchup nightmare as he continues to develop.
I think he will have the strength and size to defend players at the 4 spot (as he gets stronger), but then plays on offense like 2/3. Hard for what we think of as a normal 4 to cover him all over the court.

From what I've seen the first two games, Sam is far ahead of where Steve was as a defender his freshman year. Sam is much quicker laterally than Steve was and does a better job of staying in front of his man, and he has a better feel for help defense than Steve did at that stage of his development. Yes, Sam is going to get beat off the dribble by a quicker player from time to time, but overall his defense is nowhere near as bad as some are making it out to be.

He is also a better rebounder than Steve was as a freshman, and he is a better passer. Sam is being asked to play out of position, but he is handling it well. Wait until we have a really solid 4 (hopefully Joey), and then watch Sam at the 3 his junior and senior years.

I am going to hold off on my evaluation of he defense until I see what he does against better competition. He looked slow at times against Howard, and I have a feeling he is going to have troubles with some of the wings he is going to see in the BE.

But he is clearly better than I anticipated he was going to be. Quite a weapon already.

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Originally Posted by TheSultan

I am going to hold off on my evaluation of he defense until I see what he does against better competition. He looked slow at times against Howard, and I have a feeling he is going to have troubles with some of the wings he is going to see in the BE.

But he is clearly better than I anticipated he was going to be. Quite a weapon already.

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Did you watch Hauser in high school?

His strong play has not surprised me in the least.

I watched him quite a bit over the summer and he performed just fine against top talent. I saw his old teammate led UWGB in scoring last night.

In his first two college games he is averaging 12.5 pts and 4.5 assists per game. Not bad for a freshman, I always felt that Trevor Anderson should have been recruited by bigger programs. He will thrive in Horizon League.

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Originally Posted by Mark Miller

Did you watch Hauser in high school?

His strong play has not surprised me in the least.

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No I didn't. I'm not really good at translating a player's talents to college ball anyway.

I was thinking about that when Ted posted about the big men in the recruiting thread. If you sent me to a tournament to look at those big guys, I would have no idea, unless they were really dominant, what would set one player above another.