With the 2018-2019 season in the books, let’s take a few moments to look back at the performance of each member of YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles this year. While we’re at it, we’ll also take a look back at our player previews and see how our preseason prognostications stack up with how things actually played out. We’ll run through roster in order of total minutes played going from lowest to highest, which means that today we take a look at the transfer from Nebraska.....
Ed Morrow
Redshirt Junior - #30 - Forward - 6’7” - 235 lbs. - Chicago, Illinois
Ed Morrow Traditional Stats
Games | Min | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PT M | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | OReb | DReb | Reb | Ast | Stl | Blk | Fouls | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Games | Min | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PT M | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | OReb | DReb | Reb | Ast | Stl | Blk | Fouls | Pts |
33 | 15 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 58.8% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.8 | 1.3 | 61.9% | 1.9 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 5.6 |
Ed Morrow Fancy Stats
ORtg | %Poss | %Shots | eFG% | TS% | OR% | DR% | ARate | TORate | Blk% | Stl% | FC/40 | FD/40 | FTRate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ORtg | %Poss | %Shots | eFG% | TS% | OR% | DR% | ARate | TORate | Blk% | Stl% | FC/40 | FD/40 | FTRate |
105.5 | 20.7% | 19.1% | 58.8% | 59.6% | 15.5% | 18.3% | 5.0% | 23.7% | 4.5% | 1.9% | 5.7 | 3.4 | 30.9% |
WHAT WE SAID
Reasonable Expectations
Settling on what is reasonable from Morrow this season is a bit difficult as there are so many forwards on this team who could get playing time at the 4 and the 5. However, I do believe Morrow will come out of the fray with a healthy dose of minutes and I will project him that way. I expect Morrow to score around 11 points per game and grab around 7 rebounds per game. Realistically, your guess is as good as mine when it comes to numbers, but what I do know is reasonable is that Morrow beats the hell out of opposing bigs. Morrow is a massive dude who can punish opposing bigs down low, something we have not had since Davante Gardner. Morrow should be able to keep up his high offensive rebounding numbers at Marquette and hopefully increase his offensive rating which hovered around 100 at Nebraska. Overall, it is reasonable that Morrow comes in and get good minutes, goes to town on opposing bigs, grabbing offensive boards, and gathering a collection of highlight dunks/blocks.
Reasons To Get Excited
WE FINALLY HAVE A TOUGH BIG MAN!!!!! As I stated earlier, we have not had a tough big in a long time. As much as we all love Matt Heldt, no one sees him playing defense against them and rethinks their life choices that resulted in them in such a situation. Morrow on the other hand is big and strong enough to make even the toughest Big East center quiver. Morrow should be able to succeed as a rim running, shot blocking forward/center. If Morrow plays power forward, opposing teams will have a hell of a time keeping him off the glass which should really help Marquette as neither of our returning bigs have established reputations as great rebounders. When Morrow is playing center, he should be able to make opposing center uncomfortable away from the basket (assuming the reports of his outside shot are not similar to the facts we know about Ethan Happ). Overall, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about Ed Morrow, he is a true power forward that can block shots, defend, and most importantly rebound. Most importantly, Morrow fits well into the roster as we really needed someone to bring in some toughness and energy down low.
Potential Pitfalls
Morrow has been seen limping around campus a bit over the last week which makes me worry a bit about his health as he had foot problems at Nebraska and foot problems and big men do not go together very well in case you haven’t heard. However, my biggest apprehension about Morrow is his ability to use his left hand. I have watched all the video that has ever been taken of Ed Morrow playing basketball (okay, not really but I found a lot of it), and I am yet to see him attempt a shot with his left hand! That is something a hyper athletic big can get away with in high school, but I am shocked that the trend continued at Nebraska, if Morrow does not have a left hand here at Marquette, it will be tough to rely on him to be a consistent scoring threat down low. Morrow is probably the most proven newcomer on the team which does something to alleviate the concerns I have about Morrow’s off hand, but I would like to see him improve in that area anyway, especially if he starts to handle the ball more outside the paint as he has stated he wishes to.
Well, good news here. Addressing the pitfalls first, Ed made it clear this year that he was much more comfortable using both hands to finish around the rim this year. In fact, he was much more of an offensive threat than Theo John, in my opinion. Both are tough grinders, but Theo really relied more on the finesse of a post-up hook shot, while Ed went much more aggressive, put his body into defenders, and found openings above, around, or through them. He also showed an innate sense for finding the right spots to post up and was especially effective at quick cuts across the lane and utilizing the drop step to find the glass. He didn’t finish everything, sure, but all of the tools were there.
It’s actually funny that we said “WE FINALLY HAVE A TOUGH BIG” and it ended being Ed AND Theo. Ed was tenacious on defense, hardly ever giving ground even to guys bigger than him (which can be attributed to his strength). He showed us the things that made him a top transfer, including an offensive rebounding percentage of 15.5% (which would have been top 15 in the country had he played in 40% of MU’s minutes instead of 36%), defensive rebounding percentage of 18.3%, a 4.5% block rate, and a rather good 1.9% steal rate as well). And let the time he absolutely devoured Ethan Happ’s soul on a weak side block not be forgotten.
He never quite found an outside game, but considering the roster makeup, he was never really needed to play outside the lane or off the block. Going forward, that may change (because BOY HOWDY, has the roster changed a bunch this week), and I’ve heard rumblings that his jumper isn’t miserable, but his free throw percentage (61%) isn’t astounding and therefore I will reserve judgement until it’s more clear what he can offer away from the rim as a shot maker. With recent roster movement, I could see him being called on to play the 4 some going forward.
Ed increased his offensive rating (as we wanted him to in the reasonable expectations) but did not live up to the 11 points, 7 rebounds. He averaged 5.6 points and 4.5 rebounds. However, I will be honest in admitting I thought Ed would start over Theo [Editor’s note: Morrow did earn the start over John in the season opener.], and due to Theo’s incredible development, these numbers are not shocking. I don’t think Ed DIDN’T live up to expectations, those expectations were just made before we realized how well Theo would play. If I would have know beforehand we could have expected this season out of Theo, I would have called the numbers Ed put up reasonable. In fact, besides hitting the numbers, he did exactly what we thought he would.
Best Game
Probably the North Dakota game. Yeah, I know, not exactly a high level of competition, but he certainly put up the numbers. 18 points on 8-12 shooting, 8 rebounds (including 5 offensive rebounds), 2 blocks, 2 steals, 2 assists. Prettay, prettay, prettay good.
Season Grade, on a scale of 1-10
I’m gonna go with a 7. He accepted his role as the backup center even after stating he really didn’t care to play center when he transferred from Nebraska. The center platoon of Theo and Ed made a massive impact defensively for Marquette and firmly established how tough it would be to score at the rim for guards who made it into the lane. He did everything asked of him, and I believe he lived up to expectations. Considering what the roster looks like right now for next year, I believe he will continue to impress in a Marquette uniform.