Eagles adjust to ‘The Al’
Marquette is getting used to playing at the Al McGuire Center.
The Golden Eagles (20-13) will play Oregon (23-12) in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament at the on-campus venue Sunday.
It will be the third game MU has played at the arena this season, after an exhibition with UW-Milwaukee on Oct. 22 and a 67-60 victory over Harvard in the NIT first round Wednesday.
If MU beats Oregon, it will get another home game against Penn State in the quarterfinals Tuesday.
Before this season, the Golden Eagles last played at the Al McGuire Center against Alabama A&M on Dec. 19, 2014.
MU players were universally positive about being in the 3,700-seat building after their final season of home games at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
"It feels like a real college game," MU sophomore wing Sacar Anim said after the victory over the Crimson. "Playing at the Bradley Center is nice but (at the Al McGuire Center) it’s packed, it’s crazy loud. I couldn’t even hear any of the plays the guys were calling."
Sophomore guard Markus Howard had similar feelings.
“I’m so used to playing in front of thousands of people at the Bradley Center," he said. "This small, kind of compact arena at the Al, it was great.”
It looked like the Golden Eagles needed some time to adjust to their surroundings against Harvard.
MU shot 9 of 26 (34.6%) and had seven turnovers in the first two quarters.
"We are in The Al just very little," MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "That's (the MU women's) gym. So it's not a place that we do a lot of stuff in. That might be something (to do with the slow start) but (Harvard) is really good defensively and they make it hard on you."
Wojciechowski was pleased with his own team's defensive effort.
"The thing that hurt our defense was our offense," he said, referring to MU's 17 turnovers. "We played as hard as we've played all year on the defensive end.
"Our pressure on the ball was terrific. Our post defense was terrific. Our helpside defense was terrific."
Oregon, like MU, has battled inconsistency all season.
The Ducks had made five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, culminating in the Final Four last season.
But head coach Dana Altman had to replace most of his rotation this season due to graduations, transfers and several players declaring early for the NBA draft.
Oregon had some big victories over NCAA Tournament teams Arizona and Arizona State, but losses to Washington State and Connecticut helped doom the Ducks' hopes for an at-large bid.
Sophomore guard Payton Pritchard (14.5 points and 4.8 assists per game) is the only player on this season's team who played a big role for Oregon last year.
Ducks freshman wing Troy Brown, a five-star recruit and a McDonald's All-American in high school, is one of Howard's best friends.
Brown is averaging 11.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
"I played club with him since I was in about sixth grade," Howard said. "He’s a great player. They’ve got a great team; Coach Altman runs a good program. We know it’s going to be a tough game."