Wojo overcomes Duke. And the rest of Providence.

[tower912]

1.  Worried about Theo's knee.  Warrior, though.
2.  Somebody needs to take charge on the floor.   Who is the alpha?  Alpha's put the team on their back when the opponent makes a run.
3.  Cain was not good.  Made a couple shots, had a few boards, but on balance, ugh.
4.  Announcers said any team counting on freshmen as much as MU is going to be inconsistent.   Duh. 
5.  Watson made Lewis look like a freshman.  But Lewis didn't quit.  Nice follow dunk.  And he finally made a 3.
6.  Garcia is good and only getting better.  Would love for tonight to be the new normal.   The difference tonight.
7.  I really like how Cooley changes up defense.   And that flex offense is unique in this era of 4 out and dribble drive.
8.   MU got the first one it needed.   Woot.

[cheese ball chaser]

Marquette was the beneficiary of some really bad calls but I'll take it.

[pacearrow02]

Nice win...got a little dicey but must have had the lead for 35-38(ish) minutes of game time?  Essentially a wire to wire win back a desperate team in conference I’ll sign up for any day.

Time to start stacking up the wins.  Need Carton to take it to another level this weekend against Johnnies.  Not in point production necessary but handling the backcourt pressure we’ll see.

[mileskishnish72]

We needed it (desparately), we got it. Gotta make some hay with the weak sisters coming up.
Dawson was a stud. DJ had some nice moves, but has a disturbing tendency to get cornered and give up his dribble. One wonders what the nature of the knee problem (dating from OSU) is with Theo.

[MuggsyB]

We are just not sharp in our h-c offense Tower.  It starts with Carton but we need to make a concerted effort to move the rock and find more space with our screens off the ball.  Get Garcia more inside touches.  When DJ attacks downhill and kicks we can also get quality looks.  For some reason we really struggle passing off the bounce and creating open space.

[SaveOD238]

Needed that one and we got it.  Wasn't always pretty and we probably got a little hope from the zebras.

The alpha dog debate is a good one.  Carton can be that.  McEwen can be that.  Hell, even Lewis can be that for spurts.  Garcia has the skills but hasn't shown it in crunch time yet.  The problem is consistency.  Any or all of those guys could just not show up. Then we're screwed.

Another big point in today's game was turnovers.  We only had 8 (good) and we managed to force 10 (for us, good).  But I can't remember so many pick-pocket steals from an MU team in a while.  Maybe Wojo read that PT article.

On to the next one. 

[nyg]

Cain and Elliott literally cannot dribble the basketball.  Does everyone cringe like I do when they start.
Koby and Carton dribble too much.

Symir at the end of bench now, looks like Dexter getting a second chance.

Lewis and Cain's threes were huge, but Garcia's two tips off missed free throws and the gracious non goal tending call were the difference in the end.

Lewis good comeback game (except for a few defense against Watson). 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks. 

[mileskishnish72]

Yikes! Just looked at the box - 7 for 24 is definitely not going to do it. That includes 3 for 13 from our starting backcourt. Surprised that Theo only had 3 assts. - he looked like Stockton for a spell.

[MuggsyB]

Yes...cringe is the right word.  I'm nor sure why they and others seem to be in a rush when they have the ball and space to attack.  There's a difference between playing with pace to increase tempo and being out of control and in a rush.  It has always dumbfounded me.

[MU82]

To me, the key to the game was Marquette matching their physicality and hustle. We took that early lead but then PU outplayed us for a long stretch to go ahead. They were getting all the 50-50 balls and they were just playing tougher than we were.

But there was a TV timeout and after that we matched their intensity the rest of the way, and actually surpassed it for some long stretches. Don't know whether that was Wojo, his assitants, the seniors or some combination thereof, but we need to have that all the time.

Theo got away with two goaltends, including one that should have been an easy call. But them's the breaks. We've been on the wrong end of bad calls plenty of times, too.

In the second half, Cooley did a nice job of keeping Garcia from getting the ball where he wanted it. We needed others to step up, and DJ and Lewis did.

Not one of Jamal's better games. Every time he dribbled, I winced, and usually for good reason. And he couldn't hit a 3 most of the night (nor could anybody else). But that late 3 he hit was extremely important, and he also had a put-back when we were having trouble scoring.

I'm a little worried about Koby's FT shooting in winning time. He missed some against GT, and now missed a bunch here. After one, he tapped his chest and said, "My bad." No foolin'! But he played really hard and well, especially on D.

That game had the feel of a must-win. Wojo seemed amped, as did Cooley. It was nice to see the guys respond to a game that obviously was important.

Time to take on the Johnnies in a game that won't be easy.

[MUfan12]

Dawson is making a lot of really good decisions the last few games.

I need Justin Lewis to stay engaged more often. I know he's a freshman, but it's noticable when he decides he wants to play or not. Him figuring that out might be the difference between a tourney bid or no bid.

[The Thing]

Although we did get some calls going our way late I thought earlier the calls were all going against MU. I felt there were at least three layups that could have been fouls on Providence.

[Dr. Blackheart]

82,
I think that dust-up scrum led into that time out. MU responded physically especially Lewis. PC was definitely trying to push the BE chippiness and MU responded.

[Big Papi]

We are our own worst enemy at times.  Stupid turnovers and stupid shot selections after little to no offensive movement.  We should of won this game comfortably but we let them hang around.  Thankfully things went our way the last few minutes even with our awful free throw shooting the last few minutes.

 

[The Thing]

I’ll take 8 turnovers from this team in a game any time.

[BM1090]

Marquette was the beneficiary of some really bad calls but I'll take it.

One bad call.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

We are our own worst enemy at times.  Stupid turnovers and stupid shot selections after little to no offensive movement.  We should of won this game comfortably but we let them hang around.  Thankfully things went our way the last few minutes even with our awful free throw shooting the last few minutes.

I agree on the shot selection tonight, but this is a weird one to harp on turnovers. Think we set a season low tonight. Since the Villanova debacle, we have seen the team tighten up its handle more every game.

[Newsdreams]

We are our own worst enemy at times.  Stupid turnovers and stupid shot selections after little to no offensive movement.  We should of won this game comfortably but we let them hang around.  Thankfully things went our way the last few minutes even with our awful free throw shooting the last few minutes.

We were 3 point favorites

[skianth16]

We were 3 point favorites

The Vegas line is a lot less meaningful in terms of assumed margin of victory than the 15/16 point lead we had late in the first half . I'm sure that's what mufanatic was referring to.

[CAGASS24]

I like the inside emphasis - we have finishers down there as well as a athletic rebounders but let’s see some more kick outs per game - I counted only two tonight - these guys all seem like better catch and shoot from long range as opposed to the shake and bake - I know wojo has always encouraged to get out and run but when we’re in HC let’s play inside out a few more times a game - helps reduce TOs and we’re a good FT bunch too

[MU82]

82,
I think that dust-up scrum led into that time out. MU responded physically especially Lewis. PC was definitely trying to push the BE chippiness and MU responded.

Works for me! I thought Koby really set the tone there, but several of our guys picked up the intensity. Nice to see.

One bad call.

Theo should have been called for goaltending twice. The one, where Theo slapped it off the backboard after it already hit the board, should have been easy and would have been a huge hoop for PU.

Also, Providence lost about 7-8 seconds they never should have lost after a made basket with a minute to go.

But as I said earlier, I'm not gonna cry for Providence. We've been on the wrong end many a time, and will be again.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Also, Providence lost about 7-8 seconds they never should have lost after a made basket with a minute to go.

The refs stopped the game and reset the clock there.

[RideMyBuycks]

The refs stopped the game and reset the clock there.

No they didn’t. They confirmed the correct call. The ball was through the hoop before the 1 minute mark in which case the clock runs.

[Dr. Blackheart]

No they didn’t. They confirmed the correct call. The ball was through the hoop before the 1 minute mark in which case the clock runs.

They stopped the game and reset the clock. Feel free to rewatch it.

[Dr. Blackheart]

PIP+FTM 54-34 in MU's advantage, led by 16-3 in fast break points.