A Win. Trust in the bench

[tower912]

1.   Foul trouble.    Both teams.   Thank goodness for depth.   It is such a luxury to have as your 9th and 10th man in the rotation a center who has started 40 games and a wing who averaged double digit minutes last year.     
2.  So nice to see Jamal get some decent run.    And he took advantage.
3.  It is so easy to take Markus for granted.  Having a good night.   With Sam in the locker room, he took over even more.   A quiet 36.   LOL.   
4.   Ball movement was the key to the offense tonight.   The whole team did a nice job of letting the ball find the best shot. 
5.  DePaul is so aggressive on the boards.    Out rebounded MU again.    And their aggressiveness got the entire MU front line in trouble.     
6.   If DePaul somehow finds a way to win enough games down the stretch to make the tournament, they are going to give some 4-5 seed a nightmare of a first game.    They are so close.   And they never quit.    They could have rolled over down 20.   
7.   Joey is going to be so good.   But right now he looks like a freshman.   Looks tired.   Needs to get stronger.   Clearly frustrated.   Great to see Markus getting in his grill at the under 4 timeout, telling him 'you're fine'.
8.   Might be the most complete 'team' win of the year.    All 10 had their moments.     Except maybe Chartouny.   
9.  21-4.   The demons of last year's loss exorcised.   
10.   Say a prayer for Sam.   
11.   Rest.   Get healthy.   

[wadesworld]

Love that Jamal and Ed stepped up and played well despite limited minutes throughout the year. Matt just does his job too.

Also loved that after another not great shooting night for Joey, he misses the 3 under a minute and could’ve sulked but Bailey got the putback and Joey clapped for him.

No letdowns. Hopefully it doesn’t take 8 days for Sam’s swollen shut eye to open back up.

[cheese ball chaser]

With competent officiating this is easily a 30+ point W. Feels good to womp a team on the road. Proud of our boys tonight.

[MUEng92]

I wonder if the 36 is just quiet to us who watch him every game or if someone watching him for he first time thinks so too?

[DUNKS45]

The bench was great, officials not so much. Great stuff Tower.

[NickelDimer]

Didn’t see any of the game. What happened to Sam and is he ok?

[MUEng92]

Didn’t see any of the game. What happened to Sam and is he ok?

Poked in the eye. Looked black and blue right away.  We'll see if he's ok

[tower912]

Didn’t see any of the game. What happened to Sam and is he ok?

Sam got raked across the eye by DePaul's Cain.    He made the FT's but then went to the locker room for the rest of the game.   

[AlienWarrior]

Sam came out to shake hands at the end plus he has time to heal if he scratched his cornea b4 the next game

[PGsHeroes32]

Didn’t see any of the game. What happened to Sam and is he ok?

Worst part is. He was fouled multiple times before it. If they call the initial hit to his face that was blatant this doesn’t happen.

Idiot ref was standing right there

[NickelDimer]

Thanks all. Glad it wasn’t a hip injury!

[nyg]

Sam back on bench at end. Good sign.  Saw him say”I can’t see”, after injury, thought that bad.

About six minutes left, DePaul cuts to 12, Wojo takes Heldt out, puts in Theo, game changed.

Markus telling Joey to stop, you’re fine, was pretty cool.  Others also telling him.

Sacar playing out of his mind, good for Jamal, and Joe C hardly played.

Good win, now protect home against Butler.

Side note, sorry:

Now gonna watch Westminster Dog Show.  For you dog lovers, my Golden Retrievers have only made final once, and Labs have never made it to finals or won the group. Both never won best in show.  Amazing

[MomofMUltiples]

When Jamal comes out and plays like that, you can just imagine the other team saying, "That guy is sitting on their BENCH?"

[MULaw14]

Long time reader, innagural post.

Best ball movement I’ve seen all year. By far.

Theo’s weak-side help / shot blocking is just as fun to watch as Markus. Wow.

Loved the WAM chants filling the arena at the end.

You could tell Ed wanted a big night playing back home. He delivered.

A 2 seed might still be in play if we sweep @Nova and a BEast Tournament final appearance happens.

Rest up, get Sam an eye patch. See you in 8 days, Butler.

[PGsHeroes32]

Long time reader, innagural post.

Best ball movement I’ve seen all year. By far.

Theo’s weak-side help / shot blocking is just as fun to watch as Markus. Wow.

Loved the WAM chants filling the arena at the end.

You could tell Ed wanted a big night playing back home. He delivered.

A 2 seed might still be in play if we sweep @Nova and a BEast Tournament final appearance happens.

Rest up, get Sam an eye patch. See you in 8 days, Butler.

We sweep Nova. We can wrap up a 2 seed before BE finals assuming we don’t slip up a bunch in the other games.

15-3 and nova sweep sounds like a 2 to me.

[IrwinFletcher]

Saw a post on Instagram post game. Sam appeared to be fine and even said as much. Happy for 8 days off   

[Jockey]

Long time reader, innagural post.

Best ball movement I’ve seen all year. By far.

Theo’s weak-side help / shot blocking is just as fun to watch as Markus. Wow.

Loved the WAM chants filling the arena at the end.

You could tell Ed wanted a big night playing back home. He delivered.

A 2 seed might still be in play if we sweep @Nova and a BEast Tournament final appearance happens.

Rest up, get Sam an eye patch. See you in 8 days, Butler.

Welcome!

[JakeBarnes]

Hell of a game. Loved everyone getting loud at the end. Feels good to go to an @Depaul game and actually walk out happy.

Definitely great to see Cain get minutes. Tentative out of the gate, but really had some nice minutes. Loved his play on D and boards. 

[real chili 83]

Sam's eye in a boot.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Sam's eye in a boot.

Did Otule leave any spare goggles behind?

[MuMark]

6 turnovers for MU tonight.......we are tough to beat when we don't turn it over.

[WarriorFan]

I had predicted this as (one of) our WTF? losses.

Very glad it wasn't.

Respect to DePaul for improving.

[MU82]

Long time reader, innagural post.

Best ball movement I’ve seen all year. By far.

Theo’s weak-side help / shot blocking is just as fun to watch as Markus. Wow.

Loved the WAM chants filling the arena at the end.

You could tell Ed wanted a big night playing back home. He delivered.

A 2 seed might still be in play if we sweep @Nova and a BEast Tournament final appearance happens.

Rest up, get Sam an eye patch. See you in 8 days, Butler.

Welcome, Law.

Agree about ball movement ... although Turd McPud made Joey have some ball movement back in December - ha!

Really enjoyed this game. My H.S. team had a game at 6, which we pulled out with a rally at the end, and then I got to the bar just in time to watch MU dismantle DePaul. Fun! A bonus is that the bar didn't have the sound on so I didn't have to listen to Dickey!

I had been worried about this game and voiced as much. Love to be wrong, wrong, wrong. It really was never in doubt.

Loved seeing Jamal get some run and step right into that 3. Nice!

Sacar is just a good basketball player ... especially for a guy who is the worst BY FAR.

Sam ... glad to hear others report that he seemed fine long-term. I saw him mouth "I can't see" and was concerned.

Nice 1-2 punch again with Theo and Ed; very, very solid game for Ed.

Markus ... un-effen-real. So lucky to have had a chance to watch him these 3 years.

Great team win and now 8 long days till we get to root for 'em again. Plenty of time for, oh, 349  more rants by guru!

[brewcity77]

The only way DePaul gets in is if they win at MSG on March 16. 11-7 with their non-con & no wins over Nova/MU isn't good enough.

[Marcus92]

Best ball movement I’ve seen all year. By far.

Theo’s weak-side help / shot blocking is just as fun to watch as Markus. Wow.

Great points. When we're passing around the perimeter and cross-court like this to find the open man, the entire offense seems to go into overdrive. Threes, mid-range, post game, it was all working.

Theo really stepped up in the second half. Set the tone defensively and was a big reason for the near 20-point victory margin.