National perspective

[MU82]

The Charlotte Observer led off its college basketball roundup with our win over K-State, as follows:

Marquette's Howard scores 45, upsets K-State

Markus Howard scored 45 points and went 19 for 21 from the foul line, and Marquette used tight defense to counter Kansas State's in-your-face play in an 83-71 victory Saturday, handing the 12th-ranked Wildcats their first loss.

Sacar Anim added 16 points for the Golden Eagles (6-2), who didn't back down from the physical Wildcats. Marquette outrebounded Kansas State 34-25 and kept attacking the rim in holding a double-digit lead for most of the second half.

Playing its first true road game against its toughest foe of the young season, Kansas State (6-1) saw its defense falter. Marquette shot 57 percent from the field, about 20 points higher than what Kansas State had allowed.

A few observations:

++ We Scoopers are very close to our team, meaning that we sometimes don't realize how college hoop observers who aren't MU fanatics (or haters) view the Warriors. It's usually interesting to me to get an outside perspective, even in a short blurb like this one.

++ Even though we were the betting-line favorite, the general view of most of the country is that when an unranked team beats a highly ranked team, it is an "upset."

++ I smiled as I read the plaudits for our lads' defense and toughness.

++ We really didn't just settle for 3s yesterday, and we really did attack the rim. It's one of the reasons we shot such a high percentage, and obviously a major reason Markus took 21 FTs.

++ It shows we can win games even if we don't go wild from behind the arc. We were only 6-for-22 from distance, our fewest 3s in a game all season ... and yet we still beat a quality opponent. We had trouble beating even mediocre teams in previous years if we didn't shoot well from deep.

++ I assume this little article was AP's quick game recap, but the Observer didn't give attribution.

++ Yes, I am one of the tens of Americans who actually still gets the newspaper delivered to his or her home 7 days a week. I consider supporting local journalism (and the free press in general) to be one of the most important "charitable contributions" I make every year.

[4everwarriors]

O boi, hear wee go now, hey?

[brewcity77]

++ We really didn't just settle for 3s yesterday, and we really did attack the rim. It's one of the reasons we shot such a high percentage, and obviously a major reason Markus took 21 FTs.

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention our actual 2PFG% yesterday. Markus was 19/21 from the FT line. As a team, we were 19/22 on 2PFGs. That's 86.4% from inside the arc. We shot more than 10 percentage points higher on 2PFGs than we did at the line (75%). I would be very curious to know the last time we shot that kind of percentage from 2, especially against a high-major team. KSU came in top-20 in the nation in defensive eFG%. They dropped from 18th to 58th after that game. That was an absolutely ridiculous performance inside the arc.

[4everwarriors]

Inn befour da loc, hey?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Inn befour da loc, hey?

Did I miss something?

[tower912]

Nothing objectionable

[skianth16]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention our actual 2PFG% yesterday. Markus was 19/21 from the FT line. As a team, we were 19/22 on 2PFGs. That's 86.4% from inside the arc. We shot more than 10 percentage points higher on 2PFGs than we did at the line (75%). I would be very curious to know the last time we shot that kind of percentage from 2, especially against a high-major team. KSU came in top-20 in the nation in defensive eFG%. They dropped from 18th to 58th after that game. That was an absolutely ridiculous performance inside the arc.

Being able to attack the rim and score inside so well was a great thing to see yesterday. One of my biggest complaints about Wojo so far has been that his teams feel too one-dimensional on offense. Yesterday's gameplan and execution totally dispel that criticism. I would love to see us continue to have this kind of flexibility on offense as the season goes on.

[Marcus92]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention our actual 2PFG% yesterday. Markus was 19/21 from the FT line. As a team, we were 19/22 on 2PFGs. That's 86.4% from inside the arc. We shot more than 10 percentage points higher on 2PFGs than we did at the line (75%). I would be very curious to know the last time we shot that kind of percentage from 2, especially against a high-major team. KSU came in top-20 in the nation in defensive eFG%. They dropped from 18th to 58th after that game. That was an absolutely ridiculous performance inside the arc.

My jaw dropped when I saw the 2-point percentage in KenPom's box score, and commented in Tower's game thread that it was a huge factor. Also, apart from Markus, the rest of the team was just 2-12 from beyond the arc. And we still won convincingly.

https://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=57083.msg1060952#msg1060952

[Lennys Tap]

++ Even though we were the betting-line favorite, the general view of most of the country is that when an unranked team beats a highly ranked team, it is an "upset."

The general view of the majority of Americans is flat out, provably false? You could have knocked me over with a feather!

[MU82]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention our actual 2PFG% yesterday. Markus was 19/21 from the FT line. As a team, we were 19/22 on 2PFGs. That's 86.4% from inside the arc. We shot more than 10 percentage points higher on 2PFGs than we did at the line (75%). I would be very curious to know the last time we shot that kind of percentage from 2, especially against a high-major team. KSU came in top-20 in the nation in defensive eFG%. They dropped from 18th to 58th after that game. That was an absolutely ridiculous performance inside the arc.

Wow, that's an incredible stat. Thanks for providing it.

[YoungMUFan4]

And one of the 2pt misses was when Sacar nearly brought the house down

[MuMark]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention our actual 2PFG% yesterday. Markus was 19/21 from the FT line. As a team, we were 19/22 on 2PFGs. That's 86.4% from inside the arc. We shot more than 10 percentage points higher on 2PFGs than we did at the line (75%). I would be very curious to know the last time we shot that kind of percentage from 2, especially against a high-major team. KSU came in top-20 in the nation in defensive eFG%. They dropped from 18th to 58th after that game. That was an absolutely ridiculous performance inside the arc.

I thought I saw a tweet that it was the best since 2003 but I could be wrong on the year.

[PGsHeroes32]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention our actual 2PFG% yesterday. Markus was 19/21 from the FT line. As a team, we were 19/22 on 2PFGs. That's 86.4% from inside the arc. We shot more than 10 percentage points higher on 2PFGs than we did at the line (75%). I would be very curious to know the last time we shot that kind of percentage from 2, especially against a high-major team. KSU came in top-20 in the nation in defensive eFG%. They dropped from 18th to 58th after that game. That was an absolutely ridiculous performance inside the arc.

And 1 of those misses was the Sacar dunk

[Jay Bee]

The Charlotte Observer led off its college basketball roundup with our win over K-State, as follows:

Marquette's Howard scores 45, upsets K-State

Markus Howard scored 45 points and went 19 for 21 from the foul line, and Marquette used tight defense to counter Kansas State's in-your-face play in an 83-71 victory Saturday, handing the 12th-ranked Wildcats their first loss.

Sacar Anim added 16 points for the Golden Eagles (6-2), who didn't back down from the physical Wildcats. Marquette outrebounded Kansas State 34-25 and kept attacking the rim in holding a double-digit lead for most of the second half.

Playing its first true road game against its toughest foe of the young season, Kansas State (6-1) saw its defense falter. Marquette shot 57 percent from the field, about 20 points higher than what Kansas State had allowed.
A few observations:

++ We Scoopers are very close to our team, meaning that we sometimes don't realize how college hoop observers who aren't MU fanatics (or haters) view the Warriors. It's usually interesting to me to get an outside perspective, even in a short blurb like this one.

++ Even though we were the betting-line favorite, the general view of most of the country is that when an unranked team beats a highly ranked team, it is an "upset."

++ I smiled as I read the plaudits for our lads' defense and toughness.

++ We really didn't just settle for 3s yesterday, and we really did attack the rim. It's one of the reasons we shot such a high percentage, and obviously a major reason Markus took 21 FTs.

++ It shows we can win games even if we don't go wild from behind the arc. We were only 6-for-22 from distance, our fewest 3s in a game all season ... and yet we still beat a quality opponent. We had trouble beating even mediocre teams in previous years if we didn't shoot well from deep.

++ I assume this little article was AP's quick game recap, but the Observer didn't give attribution.

++ Yes, I am one of the tens of Americans who actually still gets the newspaper delivered to his or her home 7 days a week. I consider supporting local journalism (and the free press in general) to be one of the most important "charitable contributions" I make every year.

That article is simply a Milwaukee-based AP reporter's story.

BTW, some people have a weird definition of "upset".

[MomofMUltiples]

That article is simply a Milwaukee-based AP reporter's story.

BTW, some people have a weird definition of "upset".

I'm pretty sure Kansas State was upset that they lost.

[Oldgym]

I'm pretty sure Kansas State was upset that they lost.

Bra-vo!

On the subject of national perspective, note Katz Player of the Week.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2018-12-03/college-basketball-gonzaga-virginia-michigan-top-power-36

[MUMountin]

And 1 of those misses was the Sacar dunk

And the other was his transition layup from the free throw line.  Love the aggressiveness, but needs to slow down just a hair.

[rocket surgeon]

i'd love for k-state to keep a higher ranking throughout the year as it helps us, but i think their #12 was a bit generous.  they could've had a bad day, we are improving and can be better than advertised or...?  but k-state is a terrible shooting team, especially from the 3.  their powerhouse wins were kennesaw state, denver,  eastern kentucky, pennsylvania, mizzou and lehigh