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Marquette Basketball: The good, bad, and the ugly for the Golden Eagles

By Brian Foley

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: head coach Steve Wojciechowski of the Marquette Golden Eagles reacts from the bench against the Seton Hall Pirates during the Big East Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden on March 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: head coach Steve Wojciechowski of the Marquette Golden Eagles reacts from the bench against the Seton Hall Pirates during the Big East Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden on March 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 23: Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Steve Wojciechowski reacts during the first half of the game against Louisville Cardinals at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 23: Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Steve Wojciechowski reacts during the first half of the game against Louisville Cardinals at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /

The Ugly

Jamal Cain’s development: Jamal Cain put together a promising freshman campaign, and when combined with his size and springy athleticism, there was a decent chance he exploded as a crucial wing piece in 2018-19. Instead, the exact opposite has happened, and after Wojo tried (and failed) to get him going with three consecutive starts in mid-November, Cain is firmly in the doghouse. The sophomore did not attempt a shot in five total minutes over the last three games. MU is thriving right now, but a Cain re-emergence gives the Golden Eagles a different element that could cement them as the Big East favorite.

Turnover rate: Even after a season-low eight turnovers against Wisconsin, Marquette still owns one of the worst turnover rates among high-major teams (20 percent). The biggest culprits? Transfers Chartouny and Morrow, who both rank inside the top 15 in turnover rate among the 600-some high-major players to play in at least 30 percent of their team’s minutes. Chartouny at least balances the miscues with a top-40 assist rate, but both players need to be more focused with the basketball.

Halftime speeches: Too often this season, the Golden Eagles have started second halves in a coma. Indiana went on a 14-5 run over the first four minutes to essentially end that game. Presbyterian held MU to just one basket in the first three-and-half minutes to put the Golden Eagles on upset alert. Kansas rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit with a 22-0 run over the first nine-plus minutes to crush MU’s hopes of a monster win.

And Wojciechowski was forced to burn timeouts less than three minutes into the half against both K-State and Wisconsin. College basketball games are too close to spot your opponent a couple buckets out of the gate in the second half.

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On the whole though, Marquette’s positives easily outweigh the negatives. If Wojo and Co. can build on their strengths and clean up some smaller miscues, the Golden Eagles will be riding high throughout the winter.

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