Another slow start and more missed free throws

[MU Avenue]

I know there is almost three-quarters of the game to go, but Marquette seems slow out of the gate and has missed most of its free throws.

By this point in the season, MU should be putting this team away.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

25-8 isn't "putting them away?"   ???

[Big Papi]

Its been a week since they last played a meaningful game so I will forgive them for the slow start since they finished so well.  Good to see Dom dominate the first half for a change.

[rocky_warrior]

In case anybody's following via cell... 36-14 MU at half.  MU shooting 44%, holding UMBC to 30%

[MU Avenue]

But 10 minutes into the first half, the score was 10-4. Marquette's players have to start blasting out of the blocks, not take 10 or 15 minutes -- or the entire first half -- to warm up and find their strides.

Would anyone disagree that against most strong teams, MU will not fair well if it scores 10 points in the first 10 minutes?

[Big Papi]

Maybe if we were losing at some point of time in this game I would be a bit more concerned.  The half ended at 36-14.  Other than missed free throws I can't complain that they started badly when they were dominating their competition for much of the first half. 

Now the second half has been a bit sloppy but again they haven't played for a week after a huge UW-Madison game.  Also, young teams tend to play up or down to their competition.  At least this team does.

Meanwhile free throws is a huge concern and unfortunately we are just not going to be a good free throw shooting team this year.

[rocky_warrior]

BTW...68-46 MU final  8)

[mviale]

totally unacceptable

[MU Avenue]

... our slow start, low point production, fair three-point shooting and lousy free throw shooting provide much cause for concern.

I think mufanatic is right: There are some things we are just not going to do well this year.

I am confused by the argument some have made here that Marquette did not play that well today because it had a tough game with the University of Wisconsin at Madison and was then off for a week. Do players really recover that slowly or get rusty that quickly?

[Big Papi]

You dont think teams have letdowns?  Or for that matter look past certain opponents because of a rivalry game or big time opponent coming up?

Things like that do happen all the time.  In this case, a letdown. 

And as far as being rusty after having an extended layoff.  That is not a new theory.  It is brought up all the time in just about every single sporting event.  Is it a valid theory?  I don't know but it sure is brought up a lot.  Could it be a reason for a slow start?  Maybe.

We did end up beating a team we were supposed to beat.  There were some positives and some negatives in this game.  None of the negatives from this game are a surprise as they have appeared in just about every single game we have played.  We are a poor free throw shooting and poor 3 point shooting team.  I just don't know how much more we can get out of this game.  Your concerned that we had a slow start but we still were up by 20 plus at half.  I just don't see that as being a major concern.  Would you have been happier if we jumped out to a quick 20-4 lead and ended up being up 36-14 at half?  It is what it is a solid win that could have been much bigger if we were only a below average free throw shooting and 3 point shooting team instead of dreadful.

[HoopDreams]

Crean should have this team shooting free throws before, after, and during practice, honestly I cannot believe how bad our FT shooting is..kinda sad when Ooze is one of our best free throw shooters?? Free throws can win and lose games..

[mu_hilltopper]

This was one of those games where I read the box score, read CS ("MU Smokes the Retrievers") .. see the GoMU recap, the box score .. it all looks pretty good.  Sure didn't feel that way at the game.   Didn't feel like we were very sharp against a very weak opponent, who played 6 guys .. didn't Homer say the top two UMBC guys were out..

It was a 22 point win .. down to 11 with 9 minutes to go .. really wanted to see MU inflict some offensive damage, hitting 80+ points like the pre-season suggestion.  Not to be.  True, UMBC used up a lot of shot clock .. FT shooting was dismal.  Not sure anything was "tuned up" this afternoon.

[Nukem2]

Other than the FT's, it was not too bad a game for the first post-exam game.  These games are typically pretty ragged.  Today was not really ragged.