1-0: Marquette 91, Mount St. Mary's 37

by Kyle Lobner on Nov 11, 2011 10:09 PM CST in Marquette Game Recaps

It doesn't always make for exciting basketball, but when you're facing an inferior opponent there's a lot to be said for stepping on their throat early and removing all doubt.

Marquette was able to do that in their season opener tonight, leading 24-7, 31-9 and 49-16 at times in the first half and never looking back en route to an easy season-opening victory, their eleventh in as many seasons.

This Mount St. Mary's team only won eleven games last season, so they probably wouldn't have presented a significant challenge to a ranked MU squad even at full strength. They played tonight's game, however, without 2010-11 leading scorer Lamar Trice, who is serving a suspension. They looked like a team that had no idea what to do without Trice on the court, and turned the ball over ten times in the game's first ten minutes and 29 times in the game.

Notes and awards to follow, but first we jump.

Tonight was the regular season debut for Todd Mayo, Derrick Wilson and Jamil Wilson. Mayo had three points, three rebounds and an assist, D. Wilson had two points, three boards and three assisteses, and J. Wilson went for two points and five rebounds.
It also would have been Juan Anderson's Bradley Center debut, but earlier today he was suspended for three games for accepting a Brewer ticket as a gift. He'll be eligible to return for the second game of the Paradise Jam.
If you're looking for something to complain about tonight, The Mount's offensive rebounding success is a little concerning. An undersized, undermanned Mountaineer squad beat Buzz's boys 15-10 on the offensive glass. Seven of Danny Thompson's game-high eleven rebounds were on the offensive end.
Tonight's 54 point margin of victory was larger than any of Marquette's 22 wins last season. Tonight's 91 points were MU's most since last January's win over DePaul.

Jimmy Butler Player of the Game: This one was over early, but Jae Crowder's 14 first half points helped get it to that point. He didn't score in the second half, but he didn't need to. DJO eventually passed him with 16 points in the game, but the game was significantly out of hand before his outburst really got going.

Joe Fulce Undersung Eagle of the Game: Junior Cadougan wasn't a big part of the scoring early tonight, but he did finish with 12 and tied a career high with ten assists. Not bad for a guy we weren't sure would start.

Smoothing the Davante "Big Smooth" Gardner Smoothest Smooth Play Of the Smooth Game: Jamail Jones got his 2011-12 season off to a nice start, and two of his eight first half points came on a thunderous dunk. So the inaugural award goes to him.

Up Next: The early-season gauntlet continues on Monday when Norfolk State comes to the Bradley Center. The Spartans will be playing their first game of the year and looking to improve upon last year's 12-20 record and sixth place finish in the MEAC. I'm sure Rubie will be thrilled to hear that this broadcast is also scheduled for Time Warner Cable Sports 32 and an early 6 pm start.

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Did we ever get confirmation

of which Brewer playoff game Juan went to?

I hope dude at least saw a win.

We pull our pants up and do our jobs here.

by Rubie Q on Nov 11, 2011 10:15 PM CST reply actions

I'm going to pretend

that it was The Pujols Game.

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 11, 2011 10:59 PM CST up reply actions

I can't confirm any of the stats

But on the radio with Homer & George Thompson after the game, Buzz seemed not terribly worried about the offensive rebounding numbers as many of them were long caroms off of long shots.

His thought process was that they were forcing bad shots, but the guys who were collapsing towards the ball from the weak side weren’t putting a body on their man on shots, leaving them open for long rebounds.

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 11, 2011 11:02 PM CST reply actions

Also

They got PLENTY of chances to grab those offensive rebounds by missing 39 out of the 55 shots they attempted.

We all have to chase one rabbit. If we try to chase two rabbits we won't catch either of 'em.

by Mr. Kensington on Nov 11, 2011 11:54 PM CST up reply actions

As the math shows

MU was actually a better offensive rebounding team, albeit just slightly.

I don’t know if Buzz actually knew the OR% when he was talking, but his concern with being better at avoiding giving up the ORs seems to be well placed here.

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 12, 2011 9:31 AM CST up reply actions

A look at the Four Factors

eFG%: MU – 59.4 MSM – 30.9%
Offensive Rebounding : MU – 41.4 MSM – 40%
Turnover : MU – 13.99 MSM – 40.9%
Free Throw Rate: MU – 31.3% MSM – 10.9%

Huh. When you look at it this way, the offensive rebounding wasn’t all that bad.

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 11, 2011 11:26 PM CST reply actions

Holy shit:

FORTY PERCENT of their possessions ended in turnovers?

Ur doin it rong.

We pull our pants up and do our jobs here.

by Rubie Q on Nov 12, 2011 9:33 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

That's what the math said.

29 turnovers divided by (55 shots – 16 OReb + 29 turnovers + (.475 × 6 FT attempts).

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 12, 2011 12:02 PM CST up reply actions

KenPom has some slightly different numbers.

Most notably a 43.3 turnover mark for MSM & slightly higher OReb numbers for both teams.

Chalk it up to box score differences? I just used the one on the SBN game page.

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 12, 2011 12:50 PM CST up reply actions

Also

Three point shooting is a major problem.

DJO & Jae were a collective 4-9. I’ll take 44.4% any day of the week.

The rest of the team was 0-10, including 0-3 from Mayo and 0-4 from Jones.

I don’t think Anderson is going to solve this.

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 11, 2011 11:29 PM CST reply actions

:(

The rest of the team was 0-10, including 0-3 from Mayo and 0-4 from Jones.

That dog just won't hunt.

by Bush League All Star on Nov 12, 2011 12:45 AM CST up reply actions

It is kinda depressing, once teams realize we are a driving team its gonna be tough

Unless the stuff we saw from Vander wasnt a fluke, probably wasnt, but we need his slashing ability.

Seriously though, I love Jones’s stroke, it just didnt go in tonight, it happens. Also, I kinda laughed really loud when I saw Mayo come off that screen and immediately launch a pull up 3. Hahaha

by IWantFrys on Nov 12, 2011 10:22 AM CST up reply actions

First game.

Missing all of ten threes is disappointing, but if two of them had fallen it wouldn’t have been seen as a big deal.

Now that's great tasting chicken!

by Kyle Lobner on Nov 12, 2011 10:53 AM CST up reply actions

Still would have only been 31.6.

Not spectacular.

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 12, 2011 12:08 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah, I'm not gonna worry about it yet

We know DJO and Jae can both shoot it. Jimmy knocked some down for us last year, but not a ton. If DJO shoots slightly better from distance, Jae shoots it the same, and the rest of the guys can cobble together enough makes to account for the rest of Jimmy’s makes, we’ll be no different than last year

(Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself)

We all have to chase one rabbit. If we try to chase two rabbits we won't catch either of 'em.

by Mr. Kensington on Nov 12, 2011 12:32 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

All I know is Wisconsin launched 25 threes and made 15 of them

I didnt watch the game so I dont know if they had a ton of open looks, but if they are a 3 pt happy team, we need to shoot better than what we did to keep in the running with them and win at the Kohl

by IWantFrys on Nov 12, 2011 5:15 PM CST up reply actions

Nothing new for UW

They like their 3 balls…..and this is typically their downfall, as we know what happens when you fall in luv with the 3 too much.

by Mr.McCarter on Nov 13, 2011 5:15 PM CST up reply actions

crushed a cupcake

wish i could learn something more about this team. but MSM aren’t the 3D goggles that let me see the real picture.

fun game to watch though!

"Sportsmanship is just loser talk for losing."

by boyonthedock on Nov 12, 2011 2:13 AM CST reply actions

Saw more of Jamil than i anticipated

Wait, did I say Jamil? I meant Jamail. Actually, we saw considerably less of Jamil than I had expected. Just 2 points in 16 minutes, that’s not at all what I’d hoped to see in a cupcake blow out.

On the flipside, Jones got some good run and looked like a pretty confident player out there. If he keeps that up (and knocks down a few more triples) he might be able work himself into that first guy off the bench role.

We all have to chase one rabbit. If we try to chase two rabbits we won't catch either of 'em.

by Mr. Kensington on Nov 12, 2011 10:45 AM CST via mobile reply actions

From an outsider perspective

He seemed a little too eager to take shots last night. In a close game that would’ve been irritating as all hell. He got his points, but I’m not sure his performance was that encouraging.

Now that's great tasting chicken!

by Kyle Lobner on Nov 12, 2011 10:54 AM CST up reply actions

True

But what I liked was that he looked less like the tentative, hesitant kid, that seemed reluctant to do anything other than shoot stand still jumpers, that we saw whenever he go on the floor last season. He looked way more confident, and more like the dude that was making sportscenter in high school. That’s what I’m encouraged by.

And judging by the 20 minutes of floor time he got (most of any non-starter), I guess that he’s done something in practice to gain Buzz’s trust. Also a good sign.

We all have to chase one rabbit. If we try to chase two rabbits we won't catch either of 'em.

by Mr. Kensington on Nov 12, 2011 11:11 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

I'm with u Mr.K

He could score from all over the floor in high school, whether it b shooting a good clip from beyond the arc or slashing and throwing down some nasty dunks. Now that he looks comfortable on the floor in his 2nd year, I think we’ll see much more of the kid that we expected when he was coming in.

Further, regarding this “over eagerness to shoot”, it’s the first game of the season and we won be 50! Do you REALLY care that the likes of Jamail and Todd Mayo took a couple of xtra jumpers that they shouldn’t have? IMO, when we’re playing these cupcakes I would much rather these youngsters play loose and not tight/idle where they’re worried they get benched if they take a bad shot. Possessions just aren’t as valuable at this time of the year.

by Mr.McCarter on Nov 13, 2011 5:23 PM CST up reply actions

If he can be this team's version of Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson

I’m fine with that.

#TeamFlattop

Restoring carousel. Come help.

by Brewtown Andy on Nov 12, 2011 12:10 PM CST up reply actions

Smooth Play

I definitely LOVED Jamal’s dunk. But I may have given the nod to Vader’s alley-oop to DJO. Sure, maybe it should’ve been offensive basket interference, but it was damn pretty.

We all have to chase one rabbit. If we try to chase two rabbits we won't catch either of 'em.

by Mr. Kensington on Nov 12, 2011 12:26 PM CST via mobile reply actions