Wow, sweet win, but …

[MU Avenue]

... these games in which Dominic James is all but dormant in the first half and on fire in the second half are hardly how we want to be playing.

James deserves huge applause for tearing it up in the second half, scoring Marquette's final 18 points and finishing with 22. But his slow starts, should they continue, will place MU in some precarious situations against really strong teams.

This is an important win against always-tough Valparaiso. But it should not have come down to James' putting on another of his second-half, one-man shows.

[spiral97]

I've noticed that James tends to turn it on when things are close.. when things get comfortable he seems to dissapear... hey I am glad he's clutch but my heart needs him to play the whole game!

[mu_hilltopper]

Yup. He was 4-13, which is a pretty dismal 30% fg number.  11-13 FTs is pretty great, for sure, and hitting a 3 to win is pretty great.

But 2 measly FT points in the 1st half, then turning it on?  Sure wish he could have had a more balanced night, so we didn't need heroics at the end to eek out a win.

[rocky_warrior]

Yup. He was 4-13, which is a pretty dismal 30% fg number.  11-13 FTs is pretty great, for sure, and hitting a 3 to win is pretty great.

But 2 measly FT points in the 1st half, then turning it on?  Sure wish he could have had a more balanced night, so we didn't need heroics at the end to eek out a win.

By Crean's post game interview, it sounded like James was battling *something* (physical? emotional?  other?) tonight, and his performance at the end was choking TC up.  Sure would like to know the story (but we may never).

[🏀]

hilltopper, you're right on.

DJames turns it on when he needs to. It would be better if he showed up for the whole game.

[mviale]

Looks like MU had a tough time getting motivated for this game. I missed it too as I thought Trader Joes may be more interesting tonight.

[Harrison]

Dj picked up his second foul with 8 minutes left in the first half and did not play again.  I think we were up 15 at that point.  he missed the few shots he had taken but we were playing well.  They came back to cut it to 7 by half.  He played less than 10 minutes in the first half is the biggest explanation for his low numbers at halftime.

[TJ]

I was going to add that part of DJ's 1st half performance was due to his being out the majority of the first half because he had 2 fouls and MU had a double digit lead.  It just seemed like he decided that he wasn't going to lose and took matters into his own hands.  Valpo couldn't stop him, even though they knew it was coming.

Valpo also couldn't miss a big shot down the stretch.  They were hitting 3's all over the court, even well guarded ones where there was nothing else MU could do.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yup. He was 4-13, which is a pretty dismal 30% fg number.  11-13 FTs is pretty great, for sure, and hitting a 3 to win is pretty great.

But 2 measly FT points in the 1st half, then turning it on?  Sure wish he could have had a more balanced night, so we didn't need heroics at the end to eek out a win.

By Crean's post game interview, it sounded like James was battling *something* (physical? emotional?  other?) tonight, and his performance at the end was choking TC up.  Sure would like to know the story (but we may never).

The photo with Crean and DJ after the game seems to put even more stock into the emotional element...definitely seemed like he was choked up.

[Mayor McCheese]

well... after the emotional game with Duke, figured there might be a let-down game, maybe this was it, and if it was, good thing we won... maybe this game will bring MU back to earth, showing that every team will come out fighting, even harder now that we are a top ten team

[MUshrooms]

I attended the game and I think there was definitely more going on than just the 2 fouls DJ had in the first half.  He was out for probably around the last 13 minutes of the first half, even when Valpo was making its comeback.  My friends and I figured he must have made Crean mad by saying something stupid, but maybe there's more to the story that we don't know...

[Big Papi]

DJ was dormant in the first half because he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and was in foul trouble.  I don't know what more he could have done when his shot was falling.  Fire up more shots?  THat would have been bad.  He was what 0 for 6 or 7 in the first half and had 2 fouls and sat the bench for 7 or 8 minutes at the end of the first half.  On top of that we had a big lead even with him playing so bad.  I actually prefer that he steps to the side and gets others involved when he is not needed like that first half.  I don't want it to be like two years ago where it was the Diener show for 40 minutes.  No one else was involved and when Diener was out of the game and than hurt, we struggled mightly.  Dom took over when he needed to.  Im okay with that.