3-2 zone

[tower912]

1.  MU was definitely in the trading 3 for 2 zone.
2.  Stevie= disruptor.  So vital on defense.  Would like his lay ups to fall.  Taking the right shots.
3.  Oso good around the basket.
4.  A whole lot of really good defensive possessions for 25 seconds that ended up with a made contested 3.
5.  Also good enough to turn over Nova often enough to affect the game.
6. The bench played adequately.  Zaide and Ben both had solid runs.   Other than making 3's, Ben played well.
7.TKo attacking when the 3 isn't falling.  As well as attacking with the pass.  That is what has been missing.  Onions.
8.The stars showed up and showed out.   Even without the 3 ball falling.
9. Had to have it.  Got it.

[Uncle Rico]

Hard to believe Marquette won this game. 

According to the Willie-Meter in the game thread, I thought they were losing.

I give the game thread 4.5 🫏 out of 5

[forgetful]

Regarding #2, clearly he needs to slam them home. Didn't know he had hops like that.

[mugrad_89]

10. Jason Bennetti is our good luck announcer.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Big and must-needed win. 

Big 3 really showed up today:

TKo: 21/5/11
Oso: 18/7/5
Cam ( ): 22/6/4

Stevie is pretty special defensively.  The anticipation and instincts are fantastic. 

Jolp was solid but needs to nail those wide open 3's.

Some positive contributions from the bench, especially Zaide's shots from deep.  Ben needs to find his shot again but he also had some good moments.  Hopefully the minutes for Zaide and Tre will pay dividends down the road once Chase is back. 

Very thankful not to have to deal with Scoop after a 3rd loss in a row. 

Have a good week of practice and let's get one on the road.

[wadesworld]

Thought this was our best game since Maui. Nova hit a ton of incredibly hard distance shots and we still ran away with it at the end.

Get that offensive effort the rest of the year and we'll be fine.

[nyg]

Only three turnovers is crazy
Mitchell is crazy on defense and hustle. His deflection today were unreal.
Nice game by Kolek. Hope that made three gets him back on track.  It's what Gold needs to see.

MU so much better when Oso gets involved on offense.

Thing noticed is that Shaka hardly subbed in second half. Gold and Norman a few minutes and I don't think Lowery played at all. Am I right?

[shoothoops]

Points in the paint:

MUBB 60 Nova 18.

Entering the game MUBB was averaging 37 points in the paint per game.

24 assists
3 turnovers

Sheesh.

[tower912]

Only three turnovers is crazy
Mitchell is crazy on defense and hustle. His deflection today were unreal.
Nice game by Kolek. Hope that made three gets him back on track.  It's what Gold needs to see.

MU so much better when Oso gets involved on offense.

Thing noticed is that Shaka hardly subbed in second half. Gold and Norman a few minutes and I don't think Lowery played at all. Am I right?

No.   All three played.   Fewer minutes.

[MU82]

We really played a great game, one of our best this season.

Woulda been a blowout if Nova wasn't ridiculous from 3.

Big and must-needed win. 

Big 3 really showed up today:

TKo: 21/5/11
Oso: 18/7/5
Cam ( ): 22/6/4

Stevie is pretty special defensively.  The anticipation and instincts are fantastic. 

Jolp was solid but needs to nail those wide open 3's.

Some positive contributions from the bench, especially Zaide's shots from deep.  Ben needs to find his shot again but he also had some good moments.  Hopefully the minutes for Zaide and Lowery will pay dividends down the road once Chase is back. 

Very thankful not to have to deal with Scoop after a 3rd loss in a row. 

Great points ... especially the last one! Some Scoopers were acting like the season was already over.

[nyg]

No.   All three played.   Fewer minutes.

But really minimal, right?  Like two minutes each. 

Maybe I was just watching Mitchell all the time.......

[tower912]

Gold not quite as minimal.  Tre committed a silly foul.   Zaide was in long enough to miss a 3.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Sean is obviously a loss from a depth, energy and defensive perspective.  Feel horrible for him on a personal level.  We're still a better team with him but perhaps the one positive is that the ball is going to be in Tyler's hands more.  Today was a good start and we're going to need a lot more of that. 

[AlumKCof93]

Great win.  IMO, biggest shots were the late 3s from Stevie and TK and the 2 from Lowery in the first half.  Hoping ZL can continue to expand his role and play well on the road.  St. John's will be a huge test.

[Shooter McGavin]

Great win.  Much needed.  Would have been happy with a one point win.  To win this way will help the team with their confidence.  The big three were great today.  Loved seeing Kolek finally hit a three.  Will be good for him going forward.

Zaide is smooth.  Looking forward to his development.  Having an extra 6'5" athlete with experience come March is never a bad thing even with Ross back hopefully.  Those threes were huge to stem the Villanova three tide.

Love that Shaka has never lost to Villanova at MU. 

Now let's get a nice road win in New York. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Also, wish Raft and Benetti could do all of our games. 

[muwarrior69]

We really played a great game, one of our best this season.

Woulda been a blowout if Nova wasn't ridiculous from 3.

Great points ... especially the last one! Some Scoopers were acting like the season was already over.

Not just Nova, a lot of teams just hit 3s they should not against us.

[Mu92]

Nova is a good matchup for us. They have no rim protectors so kolek and kam were more effective on their drives.

[tower912]

Nova switching all 5 positions let Oso dominate, either through missed rotations or by favorable match-ups.

[DoctorV]

Nova is a good matchup for us. They have no rim protectors so kolek and kam were more effective on their drives.

They also play way too aggressive and far away from the basket against a team like Marquette.

Watch some film and pack it in Neptune

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Not just Nova, a lot of teams just hit 3s they should not against us.

I would be curious what the data is around that.  We're biased as fans so that's absolutely how it feels but I'm honestly curious if our opponents are hitting contested 3s at a much higher rate than would be expected. 

[MU82]

I don't know about the stat you're requesting, VBMG, but Nova came in shooting 33% from 3. Armstrong was at 26% and Moore 28%. Nova hit some tough 3s today but even if we didn't cover them at all, they hit way more than they usually do.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Shaka's post-game hit with Raft was interesting.  Essentially said the team needs to understand that they're really good AND still need to play with a level of desperation at all times.  For those who didn't see it he certainly wasn't inferring the team hasn't been playing hard but you did get the feeling they didn't expect to get punched in the mouth by Butler and Seton Hall.

Hopefully today flips a switch and they get some of that swag back. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I don't know about the stat you're requesting, VBMG, but Nova came in shooting 33% from 3. Armstrong was at 26% and Moore 28%. Nova hit some tough 3s today but even if we didn't cover them at all, they hit way more than they usually do.

100%.  Sometimes that's just going to happen at this level.  And sometimes guys who don't do much are going to go off.  It does feel it happens more against us but that could be completely biased-fan nonsense, which I'm absolutely guilty of. Really wondering if there's something to it this season. 

[1SE]

The bench played more than adequately- shout out to both Zaide and Tre - they played some man minutes today in a tough BE battle.