Cooley, oh! A fantastic voyage

[Lennys Tap]

Most complete effort we've seen since Brent was around.

Great rebounding position and team rebounding effort, defensive rotations were outstanding, very few runouts/easy baskets, and the ball movement was great.  Very fun to watch.

This

[real chili 83]

Not bad. 

[MU82]

Really aggressive, connected and smart on defense (well, mostly smart; can't foul four 3-point shooters); and great mindset and execution on offense.

Kolek was outstanding getting the O into a great flow. Elliott also had 4 great passes, three leading to layups and the other setting up a wide-open 3.

Nice to see Kur back to impacting the defense. He was a non-entity in the UConn and Creighton losses. We need his presence.

Kam Jones will be this team's go-to guy next season. And maybe even later this season. We'll occasionally have to live with suspect shot selection, but I love his mentality.

So much fun to have a game like this. Very much needed it!

[rocky_warrior]

Fantastic start, and finish tonight.  I expected Providence to make a run in the 2nd half, but MU kept them off balance.  Reminded me of the Illinois game, but obviously much better offensively.

[We R Final Four]

Very fun game! Big time W!

This team sucks.

[The Lens]

I was car-jacked, shot and killed on the way to the game. 


Did we score 50?

[MarquetteVol]

We're solidly shaping up as one of those confusing teams on Selection Sunday that get the blind resume review. The good wins are accumulating and still not a bad loss.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Yes.  I have been saying this for quite some time.  There's a big difference between an "open" three and a good three.  We usurped this game early by slowing down in our half-court sets, moving the basketball, and establishing the paint with Kolek dropping dimes.  In tandem with slowing down, and taking better shots, we also took care of the basketball. 

This team without question has a number of good pieces.   We should be able to defend well enough to be in games when shots aren't falling.  Oso and Kur can finish around the rim.  I actually think Ighodaro could really break out by next year.  He's becoming much more fluid and confident.  Anyway, this was a complete team performance and hopefully they can bottle what we saw tonight.

I wouldn't say we slowed down. We did attack the paint more because our guys were able to beat their defenders both on and off the ball, they haven't been able to do that in past games. I do think as our guys get more experience, they are learning the difference between an okay shot and a good shot, meaning we're not taking the first three we see...but we still shot 23 of them. This has always been the system, we just finally got to see it when it is humming and it was beautiful.

[ski44]

Bump from 83 to 61 in Kenpom. Big time.

[Shooter McGavin]

I was car-jacked, shot and killed on the way to the game. 


Did we score 50?

Ha!

[Dr. Blackheart]

MU slowed it down and got very efficient. Lowest tempo game of the season and highest O efficiency. I noticed Nevada sitting next to Shaka all game and in his ear. Thank you.

MU flummoxed an All Big East Center, especially with Reeves out. Great defensive game plan.

JLew with a bounce back game. Played as an All Big Easter.

Let's build on this.

[MarquetteMike1977]

Awesome Win Merry Basketball Christmas!!

[lostpassword]

Haven't enjoyed a blowout like that in quite a while. Very impressive.

This got me thinking.  With thanks to http://muoverload.com/, I found that tonight looks like our 6th Big East win by over 30.  Second biggest ever.  Something we've only seen 1 other time in over a decade.

Big East wins by >= 30
Buzz: January 4, 2009 - Cincinnati (34)
Shaka: January 4, 2022 - Providence (32)
Wojo: March 14, 2019 - Saint John's (32) [Big East Tourney]
Buzz: January 18, 2011 - DePaul (30)
Buzz: January 17, 2010 - Providence (30)
Crean: February 23, 2008 - Rutgers (30)

Big East losses by >= 30
Wojo: Villanova - March 12, 2015 (35) [Big East Tourney]
Wojo: Villanova - February 10, 2021 (32)

Buzz and Crean never lost a Big East game by more than 30.  What I did notice is that Buzz's biggest loss ever (33 at Florida) and biggest Big East loss (25 to Louisville at MSG) are two road games I had the misfortune to attend.

[tower912]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401373533

Good stuff. 

[The Sultan]

That defensive effort in the first half was very impressive. Everyone knew where they needed to be and where rotations took them. Nice to see from a young team.

[real chili 83]

Interesting....not even a peep (so far) this morning about the game in the Providence Journal.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

JLew with a bounce back game. Played as an All Big Easter.

So you're saying, after Scoop crucified Justin, his game was resurrected three days later?

[tower912]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh2p8v8qbNI

Post game presser

[GurneeHitchkr]

Loved the game plan.  Getting points from the paint early established an offense and let the three's come later on.  Also, stifling defense. Glad they kept the pedal down after getting a big lead.

[Lighthouse 84]

Great to see a game where we didn't let the foot off the gas.  I expected a Friar run in the second half as well, but instead of losing the second half but still winning the game, Shaka had them playing as aggressively at the end as he did at the start.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

We're solidly shaping up as one of those confusing teams on Selection Sunday that get the blind resume review. The good wins are accumulating and still not a bad loss.

Interestingly, according to NET, we do have a bad loss. St. Bonaventure. They are currently slotted at 113 in the NET and that makes them a Q3 loss. We currently rank as their best win of the season with their two other wins at Charleston slotted closely behind us. They got blown out by the only other two good teams they have played and dropped a game to 4-7 Northern Iowa (I think Lofton was out). Their wins over their cupcakes haven't exactly been convincing either. They've missed their last three games due to a COVID pause. Hopefully they can come back rested and win the A10 like they were picked to do preseason.

[brewcity77]

So many thoughts on last night...


• Came out like a fireball. In the postgame, Shaka said he told the team to play like Justin's hair. They were loose and all over the place on defense. Great communication.
  
• Loved the defense on Watson. He got a few buckets, but they really limited him in the post and I think the fouls drawn helped frustrate him on both ends. And holy crap is he a lazy defender. He would not play for this team with that level of defensive effort.
  
• Tyler might have a mediocre offensive rating, but boy does he make this offense run. 9 more assists and top-25 nationally in assist rate. He sees the floor so well and last night it was infections. 24 assists on 31 made baskets compared to just 6 on 19 for the Friars.
  
• Kam's spin cycle triple was a brilliant highlight. Thing of beauty. He has quietly been awesome in Big East play, ranked 5th in conference games in offensive efficiency.
  
• Oso is 1st in offensive efficiency in Big East games, #1 nationally in 2PFG%, and #14 nationally in offensive rating. He's having a 2018 Matt Heldt type season but with about double the usage. Another solid offensive game last night.
  
• Game of runs in the first half. 18-6 good guys to start, 12-4 response by PC, then the 20-0 to put it out of reach and put a stranglehold on the game.
  
• This was a fantastic metric win. So glad they didn't let up, though it was disappointing to see them go up by 37 only for PC to score the last 5 points because Marquette's previous biggest Big East margin of victory was 34 over Cincinnati 12 years ago to the day. Anyway...up 25 in kenpom, 26 in the NET, and 33 in Torvik overnight. Need to improve the conference record, but Marquette's computer numbers are finally into bubble territory.
  
• PC really missed Reeves tonight. They are undefeated when he scores a point and 0-2 when he doesn't. Not saying he would've made up a 32-point deficit, but I expect a (much) tougher contest at the Dunk if he's back and healthy.
  
• Really felt like we took our frustrations out on PC after being close against Xavier, UConn, and Creighton. They won't all be this easy, but it's fun to see what this team can be when the defense is doing what it's supposed to and we hit shots on the other end.
  
• Is there any question defense and deflections lead to offense, even when it isn't live ball turnovers? It was holding them to 6 points in the first 11 possessions (only three that resulted in points) that got us going and then absolute suffocation in the 20-0 run that kept fueling our offense.
  
• Really hope this is the start of something. Next two are very winnable. Get back to .500 in conference and we can fire up those NCAA dreams again.

[zcg2013]

After last night, I just had a sour taste on Watson. Always thought he was good, but with the beatdown we put on, he got angry and threw two elbows at different players, but nothing got called. I've seen that a few times that he swings them when angry.

However, great great game. Let's hope this sparks a run.

[cheebs09]

I'm really hoping this allows the team to relax a little bit. I'm thinking they were a little tight trying to get that first win. Hopefully this kicks off a great stretch.

[MU82]

So many thoughts on last night...


• Came out like a fireball. In the postgame, Shaka said he told the team to play like Justin's hair. They were loose and all over the place on defense. Great communication.
  
• Loved the defense on Watson. He got a few buckets, but they really limited him in the post and I think the fouls drawn helped frustrate him on both ends. And holy crap is he a lazy defender. He would not play for this team with that level of defensive effort.
  
• Tyler might have a mediocre offensive rating, but boy does he make this offense run. 9 more assists and top-25 nationally in assist rate. He sees the floor so well and last night it was infections. 24 assists on 31 made baskets compared to just 6 on 19 for the Friars.
  
• Kam's spin cycle triple was a brilliant highlight. Thing of beauty. He has quietly been awesome in Big East play, ranked 5th in conference games in offensive efficiency.
  
• Oso is 1st in offensive efficiency in Big East games, #1 nationally in 2PFG%, and #14 nationally in offensive rating. He's having a 2018 Matt Heldt type season but with about double the usage. Another solid offensive game last night.
  
• Game of runs in the first half. 18-6 good guys to start, 12-4 response by PC, then the 20-0 to put it out of reach and put a stranglehold on the game.
  
• This was a fantastic metric win. So glad they didn't let up, though it was disappointing to see them go up by 37 only for PC to score the last 5 points because Marquette's previous biggest Big East margin of victory was 34 over Cincinnati 12 years ago to the day. Anyway...up 25 in kenpom, 26 in the NET, and 33 in Torvik overnight. Need to improve the conference record, but Marquette's computer numbers are finally into bubble territory.
  
• PC really missed Reeves tonight. They are undefeated when he scores a point and 0-2 when he doesn't. Not saying he would've made up a 32-point deficit, but I expect a (much) tougher contest at the Dunk if he's back and healthy.
  
• Really felt like we took our frustrations out on PC after being close against Xavier, UConn, and Creighton. They won't all be this easy, but it's fun to see what this team can be when the defense is doing what it's supposed to and we hit shots on the other end.
  
• Is there any question defense and deflections lead to offense, even when it isn't live ball turnovers? It was holding them to 6 points in the first 11 possessions (only three that resulted in points) that got us going and then absolute suffocation in the 20-0 run that kept fueling our offense.
  
• Really hope this is the start of something. Next two are very winnable. Get back to .500 in conference and we can fire up those NCAA dreams again.

Great summary, brew.

I know you weren't saying that Oso is only as good as Heldt or anything like that, but still seeing their names side-by-side made me chuckle.

As the 2017-18 season wound down, I felt one of the signs that we'd be good in 2018-19 would be if Heldt only played 5-10 mpg; well, after averaging 22 in 17-18, he ended up averaging 6 as we had a real good 18-19 season (till Hausershima).

Conversely, with Oso, I just want to see him play more and more. He's not quite a consistent defensive presence yet, but he's rapidly improving, and I really like his upside. I appreciated Heldt's hard work and team-first attitude -- it wasn't his fault he was the best 5 available in 17-18 -- but I don't know that anybody ever said "I really like his upside."