Winning on the road in conference against ranked teams

[The Sultan]

Kam did go cold. Bigger problem was that we got 20-21 OMax today instead of 22-23 OMax.

He wasn't on the team today?

[TSmith34, Inc.]

When Shaka put Oso back in at the end of the first half they attacked him 2-3 straight times ans scored each time because he couldn't pick up his 3rd. We weren't stopping them much anyway and not saying it was the difference in the game but you could argue that hurt our defense even more at that point.

Shaka was clearly trying to go into halftime trailing. It didn't work, and the lack of a deficit really  bit MU on the behind today.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

He wasn't on the team today?

Fixed

[brewcity77]

I understand your analysis but I happen to disagree with you.  Primarily because when the opportunity presents itself you have to take advantage of these situations in college hoops.  We've had two on the road against two of the best teams in the league and came up short.  There are no guarantees in this sport and game to game anything can happen.  We saw that today in Storrs.   Fortunately, we can bounce back immediately with a win on Wednesday but both the loss  ar X and the Prov loss are two we could have easily won.

So then we should've lost at home to UConn, because the opportunity was presented and the Huskies failed to take advantage of it?

The reality is both teams want to win. Both teams are playing hard. Today we saw two of the top-15 teams in the country go head to head, it was tied with a minute left, and the result went against us. It happens. Boum hit a contested shot over Oso, O-Max's response somehow rolled out.

The team that wins the Big East will be the one that can win road games against top-5 teams while not losing to the bottom 6. So far, Marquette, Xavier, Providence, and Creighton fit the bill but none have earned that elusive tough road win yet. The drawback is we only have two chances left, but hold serve at home and pull out one of the road games at CHI or XL and I still like our chances.

[wadesworld]

Kolek has been the leading scorer three times.  We lost all three.

Interesting stat. Hopefully as teams try to make him beat them with his scoring the other guys remain engaged. Teams did that last year and Kolek wasn't good enough to score as much as we needed. He's now scoring enough.

[BLWarrior91]

Shocking about UConn.  Did not see that coming.

Neither did they!

[cheebs09]

We weren't going to go undefeated the rest of the way, and this was probably one of our toughest games along with UCONN and Creighton on the road. They were right there in the end, and we had our chances.

You can't help but be fired up by this team.

[Newsdreams]

Ah crap, I didn't realize it before but this makes our "close game" record worse.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Our seeding is going down the drain

[MU82]

When Shaka put Oso back in at the end of the first half they attacked him 2-3 straight times ans scored each time because he couldn't pick up his 3rd. We weren't stopping them much anyway and not saying it was the difference in the game but you could argue that hurt our defense even more at that point.

I think you're right. I could see putting him in for offense if he had the chance to make such a switch, but it surprised me that he put him in when we were going on D. And yes, it made for an easy road to the hoop for X.

We weren't going to go undefeated the rest of the way, and this was probably one of our toughest games along with UCONN and Creighton on the road. They were right there in the end, and we had our chances.

You can't help but be fired up by this team.

Optimistic and reasonable. What are you doing on Scoop, sir?

[DoctorV]

 
4.   OMax was a step slow/out of place.     Just a little off.    Plays he has been making he was just missing and then out of position today.   He almost never misses that shot.   

Marquette losses continue to be synonymous with NOMax.

Overall an enjoyable game to watch outside of the hustle plays- would've loved to see some more EGBs in this one, some diving to the floor and getting after loose balls.
One in particular stands out when TyKo want finesse on a loose ball and one of their bigs, I believe it was Nunge, beat him to a ball and saved it in for an extra X possession.
Otherwise Tyler was awesome today. That first half was one of the best, if not the best, halves of his career and it was a joy to watch.

As for OMax, it seems like everytime Marquette loses he isn't quite himself out there. I don't mean to single any one player out, as Kam had a very poor night offensively as well, but it just seems like when he's off the team struggles to win a game.
My main qualm more than anything else is the rebounding. 4 boards tonight and 5 or less in 5 of the 8 BE games.
The young fella is 6'8 230. If Tyler and Stevie are matching him on the glass we have a problem.

Marquette lost this game on the glass, and in the loose balls. Rebounding, after all, is far and away this teams weakest link.
When your main lineup features 3 guards, and you're playing a team with two good bigs like Marquette will play several times in the BE, you cannot have OMax get 4 rebounds and come close in the rebounding battle.

In the next one, Bryce Hopkins, who is 6'7 220 and nowhere near as built as OMax, awaits. The same Bryce Hopkins who has 5 double double in their last 10 games. The same Bryce Hopkins who went for 29&23 last time he saw OMax.

Time to step up at home and get that one back.

[MuggsyB]

So then we should've lost at home to UConn, because the opportunity was presented and the Huskies failed to take advantage of it?

The reality is both teams want to win. Both teams are playing hard. Today we saw two of the top-15 teams in the country go head to head, it was tied with a minute left, and the result went against us. It happens. Boum hit a contested shot over Oso, O-Max's response somehow rolled out.

The team that wins the Big East will be the one that can win road games against top-5 teams while not losing to the bottom 6. So far, Marquette, Xavier, Providence, and Creighton fit the bill but none have earned that elusive tough road win yet. The drawback is we only have two chances left, but hold serve at home and pull out one of the road games at CHI or XL and I still like our chances.

Brew,

I feel strongly that we controlled UCONN at Fiserv.  I also feel strongly that unlike the other BEast teams we were in prime position to beat Providence and also let one get away this morning . 

[Goose]

Muggsy

IMO if they pulled out this one it would have been far bigger win than UConn earlier this week. Today was a tough ask and they almost pulled it out. No moral victory, but I am not going to dwell on it. They need to regroup and get the win on Wednesday.

[WarriorFan]

Shooter

I wish Gold had got some more minutes. I think he has a very edge to his personality and play.

I wouldn't have minded if Gold stayed out there even if he picked up 3 fouls.  He needs to learn how to defend these big centers, and he can pull them out of the middle on D with his shooting.  Really need 10-12 good minutes from him every game. 

[#UnleashSean]

I lost myself in the fight. Nothing to be ashamed of losing a road game against the best of the big east. A couple of buckets drop and we'd still be at goolsbys.


This is the type of game that wojo would have lost by 30.

[WarriorFan]

Overall it was a great game and the better time on the night won.  X made the right adjustments, took advantage of MU cold shooting, hustled like it mattered, and didn't get turned over too much.  These are the games that make it fun to play in the BEAST.  If the jerseys were switched, we would LOVE that Xavier team (except Kunkel).
- Need OMAX to keep up with the speed and complexity of the better teams MU faces
- Need to figure out how others stay engaged with the opposition lets Kolek score
- Most importantly - need to trust the bench a bit more.  Ross, Gold, Jones all need the level of trust Jop gets.

On to the next!

[MuggsyB]

Muggsy

IMO if they pulled out this one it would have been far bigger win than UConn earlier this week. Today was a tough ask and they almost pulled it out. No moral victory, but I am not going to dwell on it. They need to regroup and get the win on Wednesday.

I don't disagree Goose but as Marquette Mike pointed out we were 1-12 from distance in the 2nd half. We also got obliterated on the boards, didn't get to loose balls, and Kam scored 2 pts in about 30+mins after his initial barrage. The bottom line is that the game was totally there for the taking for us and instead of seizing it we mentally couldn't get over the hump. 

We had so many empty possessions after leading 61-58, it was beyond frustrating.  My honest opinion is that losing close games to good teams on the road isn't particularly relevant when you look at the contexts of what happened in Providence and Cincinnati.  Hopefully we learn from this one yesterday but it really stings when you look at the missed opportunity. 

[muwarrior69]

X got away with a bit more contact but I don't think the officiating was all that bad. Only one that made me mad was Oso's fourth. Soft-ass call.

There was a lot of body/chest contact that could have been called either way.

[brewcity77]

Brew,

I feel strongly that we controlled UCONN at Fiserv.  I also feel strongly that unlike the other BEast teams we were in prime position to beat Providence and also let one get away this morning .

For most of the second half, sure, but definitely not in the first half.

Losing is never as fun as winning, but there are two teams out there. Both are made up of high-level, Big East athletes. Both want to win. Both have competent coaches (unless you're playing Georgetown). Only one fanbase will leave happy. We have two losses, sure, but they were both on the road and we were tied in the final minute of regulation. We'd all love to go 40-0, but it will probably never happen, and the league is more entertaining when we have teams to compete with us. It won't be as satisfying beating teams like UConn, Providence, or Xavier at home unless we know they are good enough to give us a game. Unless we want to go back to C-USA, we need to accept that while we're good, other Big East teams are good too.

[1SE]

I think after this game teams will

1) take away TKs left

2) deploy 2 bigs whenever they have them

I would bet the farm we see Sonogo and Kilngon on the floor together next time around

[rgoode57]

 has a very good team and Nunge played a hell of a game. Then Bohm took over in the last three minutes when they had the ball. No ball movement in second half and poor shooting. X got all the 50 / 50 balls mostly because they had more hustle in the second half. Still, a tie game with 1:00 left. Nothing to cry about. Just congratulate X and take care of business with Prov on Wednesday.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I think after this game teams will

1) take away TKs left

2) deploy 2 bigs whenever they have them

I would bet the farm we see Sonogo and Kilngon on the floor together next time around

The 2nd time through the conference will be interesting and a growing experience for the team. This starts on Wednesday.

X threw out their gameplan at half essentially. Slowed it down and banged it inside.

[tower912]

Yes.  X took away TK's left hand, collapsed driving lanes and the paint until MU started beating them from the outside.   Offensively they sent 3 to the boards knowing that with MU's switching that at least one of the bigs would be on the perimeter.     
   They made it a slog and it worked.

Nothing to do but learn and get better.

[CTWarrior]

Ah crap, I didn't realize it before but this makes our "close game" record worse.

We can joke about it, but our offense gets noticeably worse in late and close situations.  We seem to take a lot of bad shots in those scenarios.  To be fair, today's biggest miss was O-Max's point blank shot that would have tied it.

[mileskishnish72]

We can joke about it, but our offense gets noticeably worse in late and close situations.

Absolutely true. And that problem needs to be recognized and corrected.

[The Sultan]

I don't think our offense was the problem late yesterday. After the under 4:00 TO

1. Chase Ross dunk
2. TK missed 3, Joplin turnover
3. Joplin made 2
4. Oso made 2
5. OMax missed layup
6. Joplin two made FTs
7. OMax layup after TK missed 3

So we had 10 points in seven possessions. (Not counting the one at the very end.) The problem is that Xavier only had one empty possession after the turnover. We couldn't stop them from scoring.