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Marquette Basketball: The key to Golden Eagles’ defensive improvement

By Jacob Zinkula

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JANUARY 20: Sam Hauser #10 of the Marquette Golden Eagles celebrates with his teammates in the second half against the Providence Friars at the Fiserv Forum on January 20, 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JANUARY 20: Sam Hauser #10 of the Marquette Golden Eagles celebrates with his teammates in the second half against the Providence Friars at the Fiserv Forum on January 20, 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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While the offense is the driving force, it’s Marquette’s defensive improvement that makes them a legitimate threat in the NCAA Tournament. One player deserves the most credit.

Ever since Markus Howard walked on to campus two seasons ago, the Marquette Golden Eagles have had one of the most high-octane offenses in college basketball. Led by Howard, Marquette has been launching and hitting threes at very high rates, and it’s translated into a highly entertaining and successful offense. Unfortunately for Golden Eagles supporters, however, this offensive prowess hasn’t translated into postseason success.

(All statistics used in this article were found via KenPom and sports-reference and are up to date through the games completed on Feb 2.).

Two seasons ago, Marquette fell 93-73 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but to be fair, they drew an unlucky matchup. Their opponent was South Carolina , who would go on to make a Final Four run.  And the location of this game? South Carolina. Last season, however, Marquette finished 21-14 and didn’t even make it to the tournament. If the offense has been good, one could probably guess what the problem has been: DEFENSE. The last two season. Marquette has ranked 165th and 162nd in defense per KenPom.

But things have been different this season, as Marquette has shot up to 40th in defense. The most notable improvement, in my opinion, has been in defensive two-point percentage, as the Golden Eagles have risen from 162nd to 40th in this metric. It’s obviously been a team effort to generate this improvement, but I think one under the radar player has had the most impact.

From a statistical perspective, block rate seems to be the best way to measure a player’s interior defense. Last season, 6-9 sophomore Theo John played only 11.8 minutes per game as a freshman, registering a decent 7.1% block percentage. This season, John is averaging 19.9 minutes per game, but his minutes have risen to 23.4 per game in conference play. He’s even played over 30 minutes in three of nine conference game, and his interior defensive presence is a big reason why. John’s block percentage has shot up to 12.0%, 14th in the nation.

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(If curious, here are the nation’s leaders in block rate). At 5.0%, 6-7 junior Ed Morrow has the second highest block rate on the team behind John, and he’s only playing 13.5 minutes per game. At 6-8 and 6-9 respectively, Sam and Joey Hauser are the only other contributors that theoretically have the height to be interior defenders, but they only have blocks rates of 1.5% and 0.3%. And it’s not as if Marquette’s improved 2-point defense can be explained by a strategy of “packing the paint” with defenders. The Golden Eagles are allowing 3-point attempts at the 55th lowest rate, suggesting defenders are actually pushing out towards the 3-point line. There’s obviously a multitude of reasons Marquette’s 2-point defense has improved, but from an individual perspective, John seems deserving of a lot of the credit. /

(Credit to Big East Conference)

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John’s minutes per game average will likely continue to rise as the season progresses. As long as he can stay of out too much foul trouble, John should continue to be the driving force behind Marquette’s interior defensive improvement.

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