SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- We beat Marquette 73-66. It doesn’t matter that we had a 23 point lead. Every victory in the Big East is a great win and to beat the Golden Eagles after what they did to us last year is golden. At this stage, winning tough games means more than winning easy ones.
- Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters both had sterling games, offensively and defensively. Triche’s shots were key to blowing up to the big lead in the first half and Waiter’s block against Johnson-Odom and his break out to a lay-up over DJO, (two of the best guards in the country) was the key play in trying to hold onto the lead. Dion also had a pretty scoop shot to end the first half, after Marquette had begun their counter-run. He absolutely has to be the guy with the ball for a last possession. He’s a guy who can actually make those clear-out plays work.
- CJ Fair had a couple of huge plays himself, a steal after a Marquette steal where he anticipated an entry pass on a fast break, and a rebound of Scoop’s missed free throw to steal a possession where we could drain the clock some more.
- Kris Joseph seemed to be playing a bit out of control at times and didn’t have a strong handle but he was 4 for 4 from three point range and got us 17 big points.
- Fab Melo had the confidence to take charges even after he already had two charges. The tactic makes me nervous but he seems to have a knack for doing it and JB likes it, (I’d rather a guy in front of the center take the charge).
- When I got to the Dome I saw Baye Keita and Matt Tomazewski practicing under the basket and it seemed as if Baye could certainly jump, which JB had said on his show was the problem. It turned out he could play and he gave us 20 important minutes, going up against a center that outweighed him by at least 70 pounds, he scored 4 points, had 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. He also bled in two free throws that are still bouncing around someplace as we were trying to hold onto the lead down the stretch. JB said after the game that Baye “probably hasn’t been at the foul line in 6 months“. But he got the job done.
- Our defense in the first half was, per JB, the best we played all year. Marquette went 11 minutes and 13 seconds without a field goal. All they got in that stretch was a single free throw, after which we went on a 19-0 run. During that time they were 0 for 12 from the field with 7 turnovers. They had 12 points with 2 minutes and 19 seconds left in the half. I only recollect a couple of open misses in that stretch. We were in everybody’s face the whole half.
- We’ve now had runs of 23-0, 20-0 and 19-0 this year. JB said that everybody ahs run, that’s basketball. But not everybody ahs runs like that.
- We out-rebounded a good rebounding team 43-36. More telling was that Marquette had one offensive rebound- to out 15 defensive rebounds- in the first half.
- With Georgetown and Cincinnati going down, we are the last team with an undefeated record in conference play.
- This wasn’t the night. We’re still #1.
- Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters both had sterling games, offensively and defensively. Triche’s shots were key to blowing up to the big lead in the first half and Waiter’s block against Johnson-Odom and his break out to a lay-up over DJO, (two of the best guards in the country) was the key play in trying to hold onto the lead. Dion also had a pretty scoop shot to end the first half, after Marquette had begun their counter-run. He absolutely has to be the guy with the ball for a last possession. He’s a guy who can actually make those clear-out plays work.
- CJ Fair had a couple of huge plays himself, a steal after a Marquette steal where he anticipated an entry pass on a fast break, and a rebound of Scoop’s missed free throw to steal a possession where we could drain the clock some more.
- Kris Joseph seemed to be playing a bit out of control at times and didn’t have a strong handle but he was 4 for 4 from three point range and got us 17 big points.
- Fab Melo had the confidence to take charges even after he already had two charges. The tactic makes me nervous but he seems to have a knack for doing it and JB likes it, (I’d rather a guy in front of the center take the charge).
- When I got to the Dome I saw Baye Keita and Matt Tomazewski practicing under the basket and it seemed as if Baye could certainly jump, which JB had said on his show was the problem. It turned out he could play and he gave us 20 important minutes, going up against a center that outweighed him by at least 70 pounds, he scored 4 points, had 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. He also bled in two free throws that are still bouncing around someplace as we were trying to hold onto the lead down the stretch. JB said after the game that Baye “probably hasn’t been at the foul line in 6 months“. But he got the job done.
- Our defense in the first half was, per JB, the best we played all year. Marquette went 11 minutes and 13 seconds without a field goal. All they got in that stretch was a single free throw, after which we went on a 19-0 run. During that time they were 0 for 12 from the field with 7 turnovers. They had 12 points with 2 minutes and 19 seconds left in the half. I only recollect a couple of open misses in that stretch. We were in everybody’s face the whole half.
- We’ve now had runs of 23-0, 20-0 and 19-0 this year. JB said that everybody ahs run, that’s basketball. But not everybody ahs runs like that.
- We out-rebounded a good rebounding team 43-36. More telling was that Marquette had one offensive rebound- to out 15 defensive rebounds- in the first half.
- With Georgetown and Cincinnati going down, we are the last team with an undefeated record in conference play.
- This wasn’t the night. We’re still #1.
