Marquette looks to bounce back against Louisville
NEW YORK - It was a second half to forget for the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Second-ranked Kansas scored the first 22 points after halftime – and a 24-0 run overall – and MU couldn’t recover in a 77-68 loss in the NIT Season Tip-Off at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Perhaps it will be good for the Golden Eagles (3-2) to quickly put the collapse out of their minds. They have to get ready for Louisville (3-1) in the tournament’s third-place game on Friday.
“With our schedule, whether it’s the
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non-conference or Big East play, you got to be on to the next play,” MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “We’ll study it, we’ll learn from it and we’ll try to help our team learn from it and grow from it.”
The coaching staff will closely study what happened to the Golden Eagles’ offense. MU was a well-oiled machine in the first half against Kansas, shooting 18
for 33 (54.5 percent). The Golden Eagles looked like the elite team that many expected it to be this season.
“I thought our guys shared the ball really well and executed the game plan,” Wojciechowski said. “With (Kansas center) Udoka (Azubuike), he’s such a physical presence around the basket, he almost fouled our whole front line out in the first half. We wanted to put him in as many ball screens as possible.
“Thought that would open up driving lanes, drive-and-kick opportunities. We did a very good job of it to the point where they had to adjust to us. We had some opportunities in the second half, we just didn’t make the same decisions. We’ll have to figure out why that was.”
The Jayhawks made a concerted effort to shut down Markus Howard after the junior guard scored 13 points in the first half. The sharpshooter did not find much space after halftime due to the aggressive defense of Kansas guard Devon Dotson and careful attention from the Jayhawks big men on screens.
Howard will be the focus of every defense along with junior wing Sam Hauser (20 points). They were the only MU players to score in double figures against Kansas.
The Golden Eagles had eight players score in the first half but just four in the second. The Jayhawks saw other players step up with stars Azubuike (six points, four rebounds) and freshman guard Quentin Grimes (three points) having sub-par games.
“Not to say we’re as good as Kansas, but we have to figure out that formula, too,” Wojciechowski said. “Where we’re not just relying on Markus and Sam. We have to have better balance.”
Grad transfer point guard Joseph Chartouny had eight assists and helped facilitate the ball movement that had MU’s offense humming in the first half.
Louisville is in the beginning stages of a rebuild under new head coach Chris Mack. The Cardinals will be another tough early test for an MU team that hasn’t clicked yet.
“We got to bounce back on Friday, for sure,” Hauser said. “It’s a must-win for us. Obviously we can take a lot of things from (the Kansas loss) and learn from it and get better and take it into Friday.”
Joseph Chartouny had eight assists against Kansas on Wednesday night. GETTY IMAGES