Extra test after exams
Short-handed Eagles hold off Red Flash
Last Wednesday, sophomore point guard Traci Carter decided to leave Marquette’s basketball program. That left the Golden Eagles with just nine scholarship players, not counting second-year guard/forward Sacar Anim who is redshirting the season.
That raised the question: What would Marquette do if it were to be hit by injuries?
On Monday night against Saint Francis in the team’s first game back after an eight-day layoff for exams, that question demanded an answer. Graduate transfer Katin Reinhardt (right Achilles soreness) and freshman Markus Howard (concussion) sat out with injuries suffered last week in practice.
“We knew we had eight going into Tuesday’s practice but Markus had a concussion that day,” redshirt junior Andrew Rowsey said. “It was a day before the game that realized we only had seven. We had to roll with what we got.”
The result was Marquette (8-3) tying a season high with 15 turnovers and needing a late offensive flurry to stave off Saint Francis (3-7), of Loretto, Pa., for a 78-65 victory at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
“Seven guys, coming off exam break, this was a very disjointed week for us,” head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “Exams, two of our most important players went down with injuries, so really this whole week of preparation we couldn’t practice five on five like we’re accustomed to doing. Anyway, these games after exams before Christmas, in my experience I don’t know what you guys have seen, they can be real grinders.”
The game got unexpect-
edly close in the final minutes, but it didn’t start out that way. The Golden Eagles got off to a hot start, with their first six buckets all coming from beyond the three-point line.
Barraging the Red Flash from the perimeter and taking 10 of their first 14 shots from three-point range wasn’t something the Golden Eagles had planned, but they found open looks and made the most of them.
“The shots were just there and that’s how it can be for us because we have a lot of shooters,” redshirt junior Andrew Rowsey said.
Rowsey, who had a game-high 22 points, gave the Golden Eagles an 18-point cushion with just over three minutes to go in the first half when he hit Marquette’s ninth three-pointer.
After that, there were more negative moments than positive ones for Marquette over the next 20 minutes.
The Golden Eagles let the Red Flash cut the deficit to 11 points at the half. After the break, the margin bounced up and down for the first 10 minutes before Marquette’s shooting started to imitate the temperature outside the Bradley Center. Over a period of about eight minutes, the Golden Eagles went 0 for 9. A pair of turnovers — both coming on fast breaks immediately after steals, something that happened to Marquette multiple times — also hurt as Saint Francis cut the lead to six with 3:44 remaining.
That’s when Marquette reignited from beyond the arc to put the game away. Coming out of the final media timeout, freshman Sam Hauser nailed a three-pointer to end the drought. On the Golden Eagles’ next trip down the floor, senior Jajuan Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a layup to seal his second career doubledouble at 11 points and 11 rebounds. Johnson also had six assists, four blocks and five turnovers.
“I think he had some real high moments and I think he had some moments he’d like to take back if we could,” Wojciechowski said of Johnson.
“Obviously, we’re at our best when JJ’s playing really well and he’s locked in at both ends of the floor and when he is he’s one of the better players around. We just have to try to eliminate those possessions where he’s not locked in as much because it really hurts our team more than just an average player does because he has such a prominent role.”
Hauser and Rowsey followed Johnson’s layup with back-to-back threepointers off feeds from sophomore Haanif Cheatham and that was the end of the drama for the night.
It might not have been pretty — Marquette’s defensive lapses continued, the Golden Eagles’ second-half malaise popped up again, steady senior Luke Fischer went just 4 of 13 from the field and three-pointers didn’t fall with regularity after halftime — but considering the circumstances Marquette was happy with the win.
“A win’s a win, first off,” Rowsey said. “Anybody’s going to be happy with a win — Michigan State just lost, I forget to who, but it was a school similar to what we played. So a win’s a win . ... It’s tough making it a close game like that especially at home when you know you’re better than what you played. It’s all part of the process. We’ll bounce back, we’ll be fine.”
Part of being fine is being whole. Wojciechowski doesn’t know how deep he’ll be able to go on Wednesday night when SIU-Edwardsville comes to the Bradley Center, but he knows his team needs Howard and Reinhardt back.
“Seven guys is not enough,” Wojciechowski said. “Again, we with any injuries our first thought is make sure we’re doing everything in the best interest of our guys so they can get back healthy and we’re not putting them in harm’s way . ... I’m not sure of their availability for Wednesday. We’ll just have to see how they’re feeling.”