Marquette Basketball: Keys to first round matchup with Murray State
By Brian Foley
Limiting Ja Morant
Howard and Morant’s most remarkable skill is being able to maintain highly efficient numbers under an incredibly heavy burden. The two guards rank in the top five nationally in usage rate, yet still possess plus offensive efficiency marks.
Morant, specifically, is sitting in the 89th percentile in offensive rating, 91st percentile in true shooting percentage, and the 100th (!) percentile in assist rate. He isn’t a deadeye three-point shooter, but he is certainly good enough to hit open treys (34 percent), and he will absolutely kill teams at the free throw line (8.3 free throw attempts per game at an 81 percent clip). So yeah, this is going to be a tough assignment for Marquette’s Sacar Anim.
If there are any holes in Morant’s game, they come from his chaotic, helter-skelter style. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for Murray State, because he largely thrives under such freedom, but he can get a little loose with the ball at times. In the Racers’ four losses this year, Morant averaged 6.8 turnovers per game, and while that isn’t much different than his 5.0 mark in MSU’s 27 wins, two possessions could certainly be the difference in a tourney game. Marquette ranks just 298th in defensive turnover rate, though some of Wojo’s teams in the past have been solid in this regard. The Golden Eagles may need to ratchet up the intensity for one game to force Morant into poor decisions.
On the other end of the floor, the scouting report on the sophomore guard is that he is “overaggressive” on defense and gambles too often but still has enough length to still be a plus-defender. Marquette will have to drag Morant through the wringer, either with Howard or Anim. Howard never stops moving with or without the ball, forever scampering around screens to get free on the baseline. If Morant switches onto Anim to conserve energy, Anim should use his thicker frame to attack the rail-thin Morant in the paint.
Murray State is not much of a defensive unit – 81st in defensive efficiency – so if Marquette can break down the Racers and tire out Morant, he may also get a little sloppy on offense as well.