GameCap - December 9 vs. Wisconsin
Well, I think that after almost two days I might be over the loss just enough to do this. Maybe.
The Warriors managed to stay within a few points for much of the game, but at the end of the day they just couldn't overcome a 39% shooting effort that included an abysmal 17% from behind the three point arc, and walked away with a 70-66 loss.
Wisconsin's Alando Tucker showed that he was the best player on the court, putting up 28 points and getting key baskets every time Marquette started a run. Wesley Matthews and Lazar Hayward were primarily the two men assigned to guard him, and neither could keep him under control. Tucker made a few difficult shots with defenders all over him, but on many occasions was able to drive to the hoop uncontested.
In a game where Marquette absolutely needed Dominic James to step up and be a go to guy, James failed to deliver. He put up 19 points to lead the Warriors, but committed two turnovers to only one assist and jacked up seven shots from downtown, making only two. There has been a lot of talk about Dominic leaving to go to the NBA after this season, but right now that would be a major mistake. He is a 5'10'' shoot first point guard who has a poor jump shot and struggles enormously at the charity stripe. I can't see many teams in the Association that have a need for that right now.
His fellow members of the Big Three didn't fare so well either. Jerel McNeal threw 16 points into the effort and was able to add 4 assists and 5 boards, but also turned the ball over 4 times and fouled out. Wesley Matthews struggled for the second straight year against his hometown school and continues to struggle offensively. He seemed ready to break out after a big game against Texas Tech a few weeks ago, but hasn't had a big game since. It seemed like this could be his big game, since he grew up in Madison and his father was a star for the Badgers, but even though the intensity was clearly there for him, the results were not.
One thing that definitely bothered me, and clearly some others as shown by posters over at MUScoop, is that about 30% of the Bradley Center crowd was made up of Badger fans. Now, since tickets never went on sale to the general public, this means that they got their tickets from season ticket holders that sold or gave away their seats. Some of them definitely got them by purchasing 5 game plans, but those were all in the upper deck. Everything in the lower deck came from season ticket holders, and there should be some penalty for this. Marquette did, once again, set a record for attendance at a college basketball game in the state of Wisconsin, with 19,020. When they announced the attendance figure, one of my friends turned to me and said that he would rather that the Badger fans just weren't there, even though we wouldn't have set a record. I couldn't agree more. On a related note, the students showed up in force. Many showed up in the early hours of the morning. I showed up at nine and had to settle for an upper deck seat.
Marquette never really seemed to be in this game, despite hanging around in the 6-10 point range for most of it. Wisconsin dictated the tempo for much of the game, never a good thing for the Warriors, and no one could provide an answer for Alando Tucker. There were definitely things to be learned from this game, and Tom Crean and the boys have four cupcakes to figure things out. If they don't, it will be a long season in the Big East.
The Warriors managed to stay within a few points for much of the game, but at the end of the day they just couldn't overcome a 39% shooting effort that included an abysmal 17% from behind the three point arc, and walked away with a 70-66 loss.
Wisconsin's Alando Tucker showed that he was the best player on the court, putting up 28 points and getting key baskets every time Marquette started a run. Wesley Matthews and Lazar Hayward were primarily the two men assigned to guard him, and neither could keep him under control. Tucker made a few difficult shots with defenders all over him, but on many occasions was able to drive to the hoop uncontested.
In a game where Marquette absolutely needed Dominic James to step up and be a go to guy, James failed to deliver. He put up 19 points to lead the Warriors, but committed two turnovers to only one assist and jacked up seven shots from downtown, making only two. There has been a lot of talk about Dominic leaving to go to the NBA after this season, but right now that would be a major mistake. He is a 5'10'' shoot first point guard who has a poor jump shot and struggles enormously at the charity stripe. I can't see many teams in the Association that have a need for that right now.
His fellow members of the Big Three didn't fare so well either. Jerel McNeal threw 16 points into the effort and was able to add 4 assists and 5 boards, but also turned the ball over 4 times and fouled out. Wesley Matthews struggled for the second straight year against his hometown school and continues to struggle offensively. He seemed ready to break out after a big game against Texas Tech a few weeks ago, but hasn't had a big game since. It seemed like this could be his big game, since he grew up in Madison and his father was a star for the Badgers, but even though the intensity was clearly there for him, the results were not.
One thing that definitely bothered me, and clearly some others as shown by posters over at MUScoop, is that about 30% of the Bradley Center crowd was made up of Badger fans. Now, since tickets never went on sale to the general public, this means that they got their tickets from season ticket holders that sold or gave away their seats. Some of them definitely got them by purchasing 5 game plans, but those were all in the upper deck. Everything in the lower deck came from season ticket holders, and there should be some penalty for this. Marquette did, once again, set a record for attendance at a college basketball game in the state of Wisconsin, with 19,020. When they announced the attendance figure, one of my friends turned to me and said that he would rather that the Badger fans just weren't there, even though we wouldn't have set a record. I couldn't agree more. On a related note, the students showed up in force. Many showed up in the early hours of the morning. I showed up at nine and had to settle for an upper deck seat.
Marquette never really seemed to be in this game, despite hanging around in the 6-10 point range for most of it. Wisconsin dictated the tempo for much of the game, never a good thing for the Warriors, and no one could provide an answer for Alando Tucker. There were definitely things to be learned from this game, and Tom Crean and the boys have four cupcakes to figure things out. If they don't, it will be a long season in the Big East.
posted by Rob Stack @ 11:44 AM
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