Marquette Basketball: Where to the Golden Eagles go from here?

Another uneven performance – this time in a loss at Seton Hall – has put Marquette Basketball in an early hole in Big East play.

Marquette Basketball (11-5, 1-3) has now played eight halves – plus an overtime session – of Big East basketball in 2020, yet only one such period could be described, as well, good. Outside of a first-half bullrush against Villanova at home, Marquette has struggled to do anything well for more than a few minutes at a time.

MU looked well on its way to tacking on another stellar performance at Seton Hall after a Sacar Anim trey pushed the Marquette lead to 11 midway through the opening frame. But the Pirates went on a 27-13 run over the final 10 minutes of the first half to take a lead into the break, and then kicked off the second half with another prolonged 16-8 run to take control of the game. After what seemed like a stabilizing win over Villanova, MU’s season is now teetering towards the brink of disaster.

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In reality, it may not be quite that dire – yet. Marquette was an underdog at both Creighton and Seton Hall, so really the home choke job against Providence is the only disappointing blemish on the resume. And a glance at the next six games on the slate – vs. Xavier, at Georgetown, vs. St. John’s, at Butler, at Xavier, and vs. DePaul – reveals a favorable path for Marquette to right the ship.

But right now, the Golden Eagles simply aren’t showing enough consistency to go on that nice little three-week stretch. Marquette’s defense has cratered since hitting Big East play; Steve Wojciechowski’s unit is forcing turnovers at one of the worst rates in the nation in January and is allowing opponents to connect on a hideous 53 percent of their two-point attempts.

Things have not been especially pretty on offense either. Markus Howard keeps doing his thing, but Koby McEwen still looks lost (he played 35 minutes at the point on Saturday and only attempted six shots). Brendan Bailey‘s play is all over the map, the team is getting next to no offense from its center spot, and Anim – the team’s second-leading scorer – is only averaging 8 ppg over his last three contests after posting 16 ppg in his previous seven.

Perhaps most disconcerting is Marquette’s penchant for blowout losses. Of the Golden Eagles five defeats this season, four have come by at least 14 points (at Wisconsin, neutral vs. Maryland, at Creighton, at Seton Hall). Losses are one thing, but this many non-competitive outings should be a huge red flag. Marquette did show impressive fortitude when it rallied from down 18 against Purdue early in the season, but since then, when the Golden Eagles don’t have it, that’s basically all she wrote. And right now, they really don’t have it.

So how does Marquette turn the ship around? The team is already banged up – Greg Elliott missed the SHU game and Theo John has been battling a fairly serious hand injury all year – so while it’s tempting to just give the rock to Howard and get out of the way, Wojo has to be careful to put too much pressure on his superstar senior. Marquette tried to ride its 5-foot-11 workhorse to the finish line last year – with superior surrounding pieces, mind you – but watched Howard struggle down the stretch as the wear and tear of a long season caught up with him. Plus, Howard already leads the country in points per game (26.8) and is third in usage rate (37.9). There isn’t much more he can do.

Prior to the Seton Hall game, I suggested Marquette utilize some small-ball lineups to negate the shot-blocking effect of Romaro Gill and Ike Obiagu. Perhaps Elliott’s injury rendered those lineups useless, as Marquette played all 40 minutes with a traditional big man on the floor. The Golden Eagles proceeded to shoot an abominable 7-22 on twos, and were clearly petrified of attacking the rim. I’d like to see some smaller, quicker rotations, especially as wings Bailey and Jamal Cain have shown their chops on the glass. Marquette’s bigs aren’t helping offensively or defensively at the rim right now; let’s see how the team looks with a little more speed.

On the other end, a disturbing trend has emerged. Marquette has become progressively worse at forcing turnovers throughout the Wojo era. See the rankings by year below:

2014-15: 61st
2015-16: 114th
2016-17: 189th
2017-18: 192nd
2018-19: 296th
2019-20: 311th

At one point, that shift in focus was probably a response to the team’s personnel; after all, the rosters featuring Howard, Andrew Rowsey, and Sam and Joey Hauser were not loaded with a ton of quick-twitch defenders. But for this current 2019-20 iteration to rank so poorly is shocking. This is quite possibly Wojo’s most athletic roster, yet the Golden Eagles are content to sit back and allow teams to run their offenses. Nobody likes getting picked up at half-court and dribbling with an opponent inside their jersey. Just watch Seton Hall’s Quincy McKnight – he makes everyone uncomfortable. Marquette’s defenders have similar ability if given the green light to attack.

Not all players can flip a switch like that. If it was easy to operate a Bob Huggins-esque defense, everyone would do it. But just a little more pressure-based defense could go a long way for the Golden Eagles, especially if it jump-starts their offense with some more transition opportunities.

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In the end, you are never as good – or as bad – as you look in a given moment. But Marquette is showing a lot more bad than good right now, and desperately needs to stop the bleeding before it’s too late.

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Marquette Basketball: How do Golden Eagles rebound after Seton Hall loss?

By Brian Foley | Jan 13, 2020

Another uneven performance – this time in a loss at Seton Hall – has put Marquette Basketball in an early hole in Big East play.

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