Inside the numbers of Marquette’s hot offense
Every athlete and coach will tell you that they never look too far ahead. There’s a reason the cliché “one game at a time” gets thrown around a lot.
For the Marquette men’s basketball team, not thinking about the upcoming schedule is probably a good thing because it is daunting.
Starting against Seton Hall (11-4, 2-3 Big East) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Fiserv Forum, the Golden Eagles (11-6, 3-3) will play seven straight league foes who are ranked 47th or higher by college basketball statistical website KenPom.com.
It’s a good thing MU seems to have figured out some of its offensive issues during a three-game winning streak.
Here are a few trends:
Spreading the wealth
The Golden Eagles have had a different leading scorer in each of their last three victories: Greg Elliott had 25 points against DePaul, Olivier-Maxence Prosper 22 at Georgetown and Justin Lewis 23 vs. Providence.
Oso Ighodaro and Darryl Morsell have also scored more than 20 points in a game this season.
The ball movement has been noticeably better, with MU notching assists on 75 of its 104 field goals in the three-game winning streak.
“We know that we’re much better when we use all of our weapons and we all play together,” Elliott said. “We don’t have a one-man show. We don’t have nobody that’s going to go out there and get 25 every night.
“So we know if we play together, there’s more strength in numbers. When we play together, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”
Updating the shot profile
The Golden Eagles are not an elite three-point shooting team. They are 141 for 425 (33.2%) from beyond the arc, 188th in the nation, according to KenPom.
But the shooting is trending up. In the last three games, MU is shooting 30 for 73 (41.1%). During the stretch from Dec. 4 to Jan. 1, when the Golden Eagles lost five of six, they shot 47 for 156 (30.1%)
MU is also not relying on threes as much. During the winning streak, 73 of its 186 field-goal attempts (39.2%) came from long distance. During the six games before that, 156 of MU’s 376 shots (41.4%) were threes.
Golden Eagles point guard Tyler Kolek has been masterful at getting teammates good looks with 26 assists over the last three games. His penetration has also led to easy shots at the rim, with the Golden Eagles throwing down 25 dunks in that stretch.
“If our team is hitting threes, we got a pretty good chance of winning a lot of games,” Elliott said.
“We like play inside out first, that’s usually how it starts. We have Tyler getting into the paint, breaking down the defense and then kicking out to me, Kam (Jones). And we always got to be ready to shoot. That’s what they always tell us.”
Shots that weren’t falling earlier this season are also going down. According to Synergy Sports numbers gleaned by the MU blog Paint Touches, the Golden Eagles shot 14 for 39 (35.9%) on open three-pointers in December. In January they are making 17 for 28 (60.7%).
“It’s the same guys shooting," MU head coach Shaka Smart said. "I do think the basketball gods allow you to make more shots when you have a purity of mind.”
What can get better?
Smart has lamented slow starts by his team, saying "we haven’t cracked the code to this yet." That’s even been the case during the run of impressive play.
The Golden Eagles trailed DePaul, 10-6, and Georgetown, 9-8, at the media timeouts coming after the 16-minute mark of the first half. In their easy victory over Providence, MU had a 12-6 advantage at the first media break.
“That’s probably, if you add it up over the course of the year, our worst round of the game," Smart said. "The first round. First four minutes.”
What’s not changing
Smart likes his offense to go fast, getting shots up early and often. The Golden Eagles are playing at the fifth-fastest tempo in the nation with an average possession length of 14.9 seconds, according to KenPom.
“When you lose a few games, it’s amazing the opinions that get thrown at you about what you should or shouldn’t do with your team,” Smart said. “I had people hitting me, saying you guys are trying to play too fast. You guys are shooting too fast. You guys are trying to go too fast, your guys can’t handle that.
“We’re right now trying to establish who we want to be long term here at Marquette. We’re also trying to win the game that we’re in. Sometimes those things go together and sometimes the prospects of one look different than the other.
“We believe in the guys we have to play with pace. Can we get a lot better in so many ways? Yes.”