SOTG Purdue

[brewcity77]

It's Koby. Really stepped up in the clutch.

[JakeBarnes]

Koby. Stopped deferring and took charge. Just because MH is there doesn't mean he has to play second fiddle.

Theo. Not pretty but solid D, hard fought and didnt foul. that's growth.

Sacar. Big game buckets. I love him because he knows when to step up and become "the guy." His defense is smothering.

Jamal. Needs to build confidence. Would have been nice to see him hit some set 3s. That said, he played the garbage man role and also knocked down a few impressive j's.

Greg. He is the heartbeat of the team. Smothering d. Some unreal vision on the passes. Marquette is very lucky to have someone like him

[Its DJOver]

Mr. McEwen, hellova final 22 minutes.

[SlowJoe]

Koby

[dgies9156]

See Chick comment.

Koby

[tower912]

Mr. Mane, Marquette fans love guards from Canada.

[Marcus92]

Koby. Stepped up big time when the offense was struggling just to get shots off, let alone get good looks.

But Marquette couldn't have won this game without stellar team defense. MU held the Boilermakers (ranked 10th by KenPom in offensive efficiency) to a mere 0.87 points per possession. That's the second best defensive performance against Purdue in at least the past four years -- behind only Maryland in their 70-56 home win (0.86 ppp) last February.

Purdue looked a step slower to me in the second half, giving Marquette more opportunities to turn the corner on drives, keep the ball moving and get open shots. Don't know if that was due to fatigue, crisper offensive execution by MU or both. Probably didn't help that a couple key players for the Boilermakers were in foul trouble and couldn't guard as aggressively.

Great comeback victory against a very good team. Bring on the Badgers!

[tower912]

Maybe Purdue was tired and Marquette well rested.

[We R Final Four]

We were rusty in the first half.
They lost their legs in the 2nd half...ya know cuz they just played a game a few days ago.
Thank godness we can’t use the old we only had 8 scholarship players excuse when we lose.

[BCHoopster]

1. McEwen. All the same folks who ripped on Lockett and Katin a few minutes into their Marquette careers couldn't wait to hate on Koby, too. It's effen sad. He obviously knows how to play basketball, is a fine athlete, brings some D, and he can play a little O too. He did just fine handling the basketball most of the game. We had one of our lowest TO totals in years.

2. Markus. I like the way he didn't force things most of the night, and he had to be tempted to do it when others were struggling. Had a couple of overly aggressive drives and one forced 3, but otherwise did a very nice job letting the game come to him.

3. Cain. I knew there would be a bunch of haters in the game thread, but I didn't realize Jamal would take the brunt of it. His shot didn't look good, but he did literally everything else well, and he brought the energy when others were lagging some. I loved his aggressiveness and passion tonight; I hope he brings it every game.

4. Theo. Hard-nosed game against a difficult opponent.

Shoutout to the team D in the second half. They missed a couple of open 3s, but our guys challenged them big-time in the paint and rebounded very well after getting outworked some in the first half.

Shoutout also to Wojo. Outcoached Painter in the second half, brought the victory home.

Jamil barely played last year, needs to get into game day speed.  He shoot the ball poorly, so did Elliott, but once those drop this team will be very good.  Really thought Theo played really well considering he was playing a kid that was 6 inches taller.  Last 2 years he would have fouled
out in the first half, he has learned to move his feet.  Liked when Markus was not in the game, the team needs to give Markus some rest time so he is not burned out by the end of the year.  Great 2nd half, lot to build on.  But overall a great team victory.  Just got to get Bailey going.

[Phuket MU Fan]

1. Koby
2. Theo. He is a going to be a baaaaad man this year.

[Herman Cain]

Koby McEwen
Markus Howard- Honorable Mention

[MU82]

Jamil barely played last year, needs to get into game day speed.  He shoot the ball poorly, so did Elliott, but once those drop this team will be very good.  Really thought Theo played really well considering he was playing a kid that was 6 inches taller.  Last 2 years he would have fouled
out in the first half, he has learned to move his feet.  Liked when Markus was not in the game, the team needs to give Markus some rest time so he is not burned out by the end of the year.  Great 2nd half, lot to build on.  But overall a great team victory.  Just got to get Bailey going.

Overall, I'd say Bailey was the biggest individual disappointment tonight. But I still like a lot of the things he's capable of doing and believe he will have a lot of great moments for us this season.

Wojo stayed with Cain because Jamal was hustling his arse off out there, bringing a lot of energy.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Bailey took a really ill advised three and I'm pretty sure it was splinters for him the rest of the game. Props to Mr. Cain, he played with confidence tonight. If he gets that three to go down, he could be very good.

[BCHoopster]

Bailey just needs to hit some shots, got to get him more confident in his game.  Plays good D, moves his feet well.  Cain is just a different type
of athlete.  Explosive to say the least.  Had lots of open shots and missed most of them.  Never seen a kid get up higher on a jump shot.  Looked
better, but still hesitant.  Just needs lots of PT to improve.  It will be interesting to see the improvement by March on these 2 kids.

[CountryRoads]

McEwen... but found it funny how Painter said in his postgame that he kept telling his team how good McEwen was because they played Utah State a few years ago. In that game McEwen played 30 min and had 2 points on 1-5 shooting lol.

He had a great game though. Was definitely skeptical of how he'd translate to the high major level.

[MU82]

Bailey just needs to hit some shots, got to get him more confident in his game.  Plays good D, moves his feet well.  Cain is just a different type
of athlete.  Explosive to say the least.  Had lots of open shots and missed most of them.  Never seen a kid get up higher on a jump shot.  Looked
better, but still hesitant.  Just needs lots of PT to improve.  It will be interesting to see the improvement by March on these 2 kids.

Maybe by conference play, Jamal will be what we expected him to be last season after his nice finish to his freshman season. The light bulb comes on at different times for different players. I'm already very encouraged by the drive he showed tonight.

[BM1090]

1. Koby
2a. Markus
2b. Theo.
3. Free throw defense.

Honorable mention to Jamal. Wojo made some nice adjustments. Sacar had the two big shots to tie is and then finally get us over the hump. I thought he was gonna be in concussion protocol so glad to see him back out there.

[MU62]

Koby.  After that all the rest of the guys.  This was a great confidence builder for the team.  So proud of them!

[skianth16]

Jamil barely played last year, needs to get into game day speed.  He shoot the ball poorly, so did Elliott, but once those drop this team will be very good.  Really thought Theo played really well considering he was playing a kid that was 6 inches taller.  Last 2 years he would have fouled
out in the first half, he has learned to move his feet.  Liked when Markus was not in the game, the team needs to give Markus some rest time so he is not burned out by the end of the year.  Great 2nd half, lot to build on.  But overall a great team victory.  Just got to get Bailey going.

I don't think Jamal or Greg need to be shooters for this team to be good. Maybe one or the other, but I think there's too much focus on these guys being shooters, personally.

Jamal is a good athlete and showed some nice touch on mid-range shots tonight. Let him do his damage inside the arc. Plus, he's shown a knack for rebounding, so why try to keep him father from the hoop?

Greg isn't quite the athlete than Jamal is (not a knock, just a high bar set by Jamal), so maybe he might benefit a little more from working on his outside shot. If he can be in the same neighborhood as Sacar was last year, I think we'll be in good shape.

This team will be a lot more balanced than we've seen in quite a while. Markus is a legitimate threat from anywhere past half court. Sacar and Koby can create on their own pretty well and can hit the open three well enough. Theo (and hopefully Jayce) will give us scoring options in the paint. There isn't a huge need for Jamal or Greg to fill, so they should be able to fill whatever role comes naturally. We may just need to get a few more games in to see exactly what that will be.

[Daniel]

Koby. Cool, calm.  Hitting4 bing free throws at end. Boom.   Theo also awesome game.  Second half, aggressive good play

[D'Lo Brown]

Theo

[Stretchdeltsig]

1. Koby.
2. Theo
3. Markus.

[GurneeHitchkr]

1.  McEwen
2.  John

[THRILLHO]

Good to see Koby play well but Markus is the straw that stirs the drink and a lot of what's available to others is partially due to the attention that he gets. Also,  I think his defense is better and has improved every year. He's adjusting his game to the team, and he sets a great example by his effort level. It's a cliche but when your best player is the guy who makes the hardest cuts and fights through screens it has an effect on your whole team. In all it's just an absolute pleasure to watch him and I'm excited to see where he takes the team this year. By that logic I will probably vote him SOTG for every win, que sera sera.