The Freshmen

[MerrittsMustache]

I think that's one of the main things. Mayo, Jamil, and Jake all got open looks from three and were clanking them. Because of that, the defense packed in once they had a lead and forced us to beat them from beyond the arc. That took away Derrick's ability to drive or pass inside (which he did with some success in the first half). Had we been able to get the ball inside to Gardner and Otule, most likely at least one of Williams or McDonald would have fouled out, probably both. That would have reduced their size inside and forced Ohio State to play small which would have further opened things up to get the ball inside.

That game was ugly and was always going to be ugly. Ohio State didn't exactly shoot well either. We missed some easy twos and some open threes and that was the difference in the game. As ugly as that game looked, we very well could have won it if our guys just hit the open shots. And most of those weren't the looks Derrick had, but the guys Derrick got the ball to.

Well said, brew.

In the first half alone, Marquette missed 7 layups/point-blank shots, with 4 of them being blocked. Let's say that MU makes just those 3 unblocked misses. Instead of being tied, MU is (hypothetically) up 6 at half and it's an entirely different game.

Another hypothetical: If MU hits a lowly 22% from 3 for the game, that's 9 additional points and an entirely different game.

Teams always look better than they really are when shots are falling and always look worse than they really are when shots are not falling. When Marquette's shots aren't falling, that doesn't mean the sky is.

[brewcity77]

When Marquette's shots aren't falling, that doesn't mean the sky is.

LOL +1000

[Stretchdeltsig]

Well said.  But, since we have a deep team, it makes good sense to replace cold shooting players with players who can shoot and/or make plays to score.  Buzz should take advantage of his talent and replace players that are "cold."  This seems obvious, so why didn't he manage the players better?

[brewcity77]

Because no one was playing cold on the other end of the court. The fan perspective is that everything starts on offense. That is the exact opposite of how things actually go at Marquette. People pining for Johnson and Dawson need to realize that what will get them in is either (a) improving their defense in practice or (b) mistakes by the starters. As much as people like to point out their gripes about guys not scoring, there really weren't that many mistakes being made.

I know this will probably get some resistance, but we had 7 minutes where the defense faltered a bit. Even still, we held a top-10 team to 52 points and put up one of the best defensive showings I've ever seen by a Buzz team. And as far as the run-outs and fast-break points tOSU got, those weren't mistakes on the defensive end.

So move to the offense. Again, it wasn't so much mistakes as the simple case of shots not falling. We had easy chances inside that didn't fall and at least a half-dozen uncontested threes that didn't fall. Taking those shots are not mistakes. They are shots the guys should have been taking, unfortunately they simply weren't making them.

You want an example of a mistake, look at Davante's three attempt. And Buzz pulled him right after. I'm not happy that Jake, Todd, and Jamil missed the shots they did. But they took a ton of good shots that on most other days should have gone in. For some reason they didn't. But Buzz won't pull a guy for missing a shot that he was correct to take. And until they take shots they aren't supposed to take (like DG's three) my guess is you'll keep seeing those guys get the lion's share of the minutes.

[LAZER]

So move to the offense. Again, it wasn't so much mistakes as the simple case of shots not falling. We had easy chances inside that didn't fall and at least a half-dozen uncontested threes that didn't fall. Taking those shots are not mistakes. They are shots the guys should have been taking, unfortunately they simply weren't making them.

Unfortunately, for Thomas and Wilson, I think it is a little more than the shots not falliing.  I'm sure Buzz will disagree, but I would say Wilson shooting a 3 is just as big a mistake as Gardner shooting a 3.

[Boone]

Right. It's completely irrelevant whether or not Derrick's and Jake's shots are contested or uncontested. Their MU history has shown they can't shoot. Period.

[MerrittsMustache]

Because no one was playing cold on the other end of the court. The fan perspective is that everything starts on offense. That is the exact opposite of how things actually go at Marquette. People pining for Johnson and Dawson need to realize that what will get them in is either (a) improving their defense in practice or (b) mistakes by the starters. As much as people like to point out their gripes about guys not scoring, there really weren't that many mistakes being made.

I know this will probably get some resistance, but we had 7 minutes where the defense faltered a bit. Even still, we held a top-10 team to 52 points and put up one of the best defensive showings I've ever seen by a Buzz team. And as far as the run-outs and fast-break points tOSU got, those weren't mistakes on the defensive end.

So move to the offense. Again, it wasn't so much mistakes as the simple case of shots not falling. We had easy chances inside that didn't fall and at least a half-dozen uncontested threes that didn't fall. Taking those shots are not mistakes. They are shots the guys should have been taking, unfortunately they simply weren't making them.

You want an example of a mistake, look at Davante's three attempt. And Buzz pulled him right after. I'm not happy that Jake, Todd, and Jamil missed the shots they did. But they took a ton of good shots that on most other days should have gone in. For some reason they didn't. But Buzz won't pull a guy for missing a shot that he was correct to take. And until they take shots they aren't supposed to take (like DG's three) my guess is you'll keep seeing those guys get the lion's share of the minutes.

Gardner wasn't pulled simply for taking that 3. He was pulled because he took it with about 20 seconds left on the shot clock (and possibly without there being a paint touch, I don't recall exactly). Buzz has said numerous times that Gardner is a decent outside shooter but he needs to take those outside shots within the offense.