Marquette pushes freshmen to develop
The depth of the Marquette men's basketball team was tested last Tuesday in its 103-98 loss in double overtime at Providence.
Two of the Golden Eagles' most important players, Tyler Kolek and Olivier-Maxence Prosper, fouled out within the first two minutes of the second overtime. MU's other two indispensable players, Kam Jones and Oso Ighodaro, played 43 and 45 minutes, respectively.
After the game, Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart lamented that some of his team's bench players weren't ready for bigger stints.
“Really proud of our guys for the way they stayed together and hung in there,” Smart said. “It's a tough game. It's a really, really tough game to stay mentally tough in. The way Providence plays. Being on the road. We had some fatigue, for sure. They had some fatigue.
“We got to continue to develop our bench so we don't have guys playing 45 minutes in a double-overtime game. That's on me and our coaching staff to just keep helping our young guys get better.”
That process of getting the reserves ready continues when MU (9-4, 1-1 Big East) faces Seton Hall (7-6, 0-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Fiserv Forum.
After Kolek and Prosper were disqualified, sophomore forward David Joplin and freshman guard Chase Ross finished the game in the second overtime alongside starters Ighodaro, Jones and Stevie Mitchell until Joplin fouled out with 10 seconds remaining.
Ross provided a lift in the first half with back-to-back buckets when the Golden Eagles were struggling. He finished with four points, four rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes.
Joplin has been the team's super sub this season, and he hit key baskets against the Friars. He had 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting.
But freshmen Ben Gold (five minutes) and Sean Jones (six) played limited minutes. The hostile environment with a Big East road foe and
physical game proved to be a challenge for the young players.
The 6-foot-11 Gold subbed for Ighodaro in the first half and couldn’t convert a good look with his left hand after a baseline out-of-bounds play. A few minutes later, Gold got hung up on a screen and Providence’s Ed Croswell got loose for an easy dunk.
Gold exited the game soon after that and didn’t return, forcing Ighodaro to play the rest of game against a formidable Friars frontcourt.
The 5-foot-10 Sean Jones attacked the basket upon entering the game in the first half, but couldn’t convert two layups with one getting swatted out of bounds.
After the loss, Smart also cited the need for the Golden Eagles to improve their rebounding on free throw attempts. Jones was involved in two of the three Providence misses from the line that the Friars corralled for another possession.
In the first half, Sean Jones and Ross didn’t communicate on who was going to box out shooter Bryce Hopkins. The Providence star, who finished with 29 points and 23 rebounds, grabbed his own miss and then, after another offense rebound, scored on a layup.
In the second half, Sean Jones couldn’t pull down another free throw miss with the ball bouncing back to the Friars. That possession ended with a three-pointer by Jared Bynum just before the shot-clock expired.
Jones was subbed out just after that play and didn’t return until the waning seconds of regulation, when the speedy freshman was inserted to push the ball up the length of the court. He missed a three-pointer at the top of the key. Jones appeared again in the final 10 seconds when Joplin fouled out.
Forced to play different lineups in crunch time with exhausted players, Smart leaned on a 3-2 zone defense more than usual. In the second overtime, the Golden Eagles lost their final lead when Joplin was screened in the zone and Alyn Breed hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 96-96.
“We’re not really a zone team,” Smart said. “Thought there was some possessions where it was good. There were some other possessions where Providence did a really good job. I thought Breed’s three in the corner was a huge, huge shot. Great execution by Providence, getting that action and getting him in the corner.”
All those plays are sure to be teaching moments for Smart with the hope that the Golden Eagles will be better at pulling out victories in close games. MU has had late leads in all of its losses.
“Up nine with seven minutes left, that’s been a few times this year,” Kolek said. “On the road against Purdue, we’re up nine, No. 1 team in the country.
“We’re a young group. That’s not an excuse for us. We’ll come together and find a way to win those types of games.”