Marquette Game Review

Final Score: UW-77 MARQ-79

Another disappointing road loss following a large Husky lead. UW got hot early going up 11-2 only to surrender not only those 9 points, but an additional 3 and went into half-time down 37-34. UW fought back hard and went up by 1 point on a desperate Terrence Ross jumper 77-76 despite being mauled by two separate players. Did Ross get a foul call? Nope, just look at the free throw stats for how the night went for the Huskies. Marquette attempted 27 free throws while UW only shot 10 on the night. UW did not capitalize on the opportunities they had, making only 50% (Tony Wroten went 3-7 from the line and neither Ross nor C.J. Wilcox attempted a free throw. Heck only Desmond Simmons shot a pair outside Wroten and Aziz N'Diaye missed his AND1 opportunity).


The killer moment was right after the defense miscue resulting in Darnell Gant and Desmond Simmons tying their feet up and allowing a wide open Marquette 3-pointer to take the 2 point lead. Abdul Gaddy received the inbound pass and cross half court with 4 seconds or so remaining. Rather than call a timeout to compose the chaotic UW offense, Romar let Gaddy drive himself in the middle of two defenders and the sideline for a terrible game ending shot. Call the timeout, set up and a play, and execute. We do not yet have a go-to guy yet, though Terrence Ross showed a lot of potential and promise to be that guy with his heroic shot with 15 seconds to go. Without a go-to guy, a wild, out of control play is only going to result in a terrible shot as we saw tonight. Gaddy doesn't have the killer instinct to make a play in that type of situation.

A big moment for the Huskies came in the opening minutes when N'Diaye and Chris Otule, the Eagle center, went chasing after a loose ball. It appeared as though Otule's knee buckled or N'Diaye hit his knee, forcing Otule to head to the training room for an inspection. He did not return until late in the game. Without the big center in the paint, UW was able to get some nice shots off, resulting in the big first half lead.


UW shut Darius Johnson-Odom's shot down, holding him to 6-17 from the field, but 11 foul shots allowed the star player to put up 23 on the night, driving his team to victory. They also kept Jae Crowder to 2 points in the first half, but let the big man get free in the second as he went on to finish with 18 on the night.

A big reason UW was able to stay in this game was the rebounding differential. The Huskies dominated the glass with a 43-28 advantage led by N'Diaye with 13 boards (4 offensive as well). Ross and Desmond Simmons 4 coming on the offensive end (Ross had 9 total, Simmons 7).

Where UW truly suffered was the assist category. UW only managed 13 tonight as Gaddy only managed a measly 2 assists with 2 turnovers and Wroten put up 3 assists and 3 turnovers. Turnovers were a killer again with 16 on the night, but they didn't show up as strongly as the turnovers were spread out throughout the night versus a vicious streak. N'Diaye and Ross both had 4 turnovers tonight. Surprisingly, Darnell Gant led the team in assists with 4. Marquette, on the other hand, dished out 20 assists with 14 turnovers and did a much better job of moving off the ball and delivering to the open player.

Fouls killed the Dawgs throughout the night. Some tough calls offensively and sloppy fouls on the defensive end. The only starter without 4 fouls was C.J. Wilcox who had just 1 on the night. Terrence Ross picked up 2 fouls on offense, severely hindering his ability to attack the hoop for fear of a fifth.

Ross starred tonight and outside of his turnovers was the most complete player for the Dawgs. 19 points on 9-14 shooting, just 1 board short of his third double-double. He threw down a 180 dunk off a nice pass from Wroten (Number 1 on ESPN Top 10) and also jammed in a dunk following a terrible lay-in attempt by Wroten. Sadly, this performance by Ross gets somewhat lost by the fact that the Huskies couldn't pull out the W. If there is a player I want to have the ball in the final seconds, it's Ross. His shot with 15 seconds to go showed he could be the go-to guy. Unfortunately, we couldn't get him the ball for the potential buzzer beater.

C.J. Wilcox was off and on tonight. He finished with 15 points on 6-16 shooting. He had 4 blocks, two of which were emphatic and impressive. I still think he is one of our best defenders and doesn't get enough opportunities to go against their number 1 offensive threat. If Wilcox can put on 20lbs of muscle he could become a vicious defensive threat. While his early season efforts were valiant and impressive, Wilcox has been in somewhat of a slump lately despite the points he puts up. Wilcox needs to get to back to his 50%+ shooting that made him so deadly in the tournament.

Aziz N'Diaye did not get enough touches this game. I don't necessarily mean shots, just opportunities to get the ball and collapse the defense. He went 2-4 from the field and missed his lone free throw attempt. His 13 boards and 2 blocks were great. The 4 turnovers...not so much. His hands are improving, but he stills struggles with low passes and occasionally on contested rebounds.

Desmond Simmons finally garnered some solid minutes and had 21 on the night and boy, look at his production. 3-5 shooting, 7 boards, 2-2 from the free throw line, 1 assist, and only 1 turnover. I love what he did defensively as well and minus whatever nonsense happened on the last second play between him and Gant, it was a very solid night for the redshirt freshman.

Darnell Gant came back once more and showed the fire I've been wanting to see since his junior season. He shot very well hitting 6-9 from the field, draining 2-3 from outside. He had 14 points and only 1 turnover. His 2 rebounds were much lower than I want, but we won the rebounding battle so I'll limit my complaints about that this game.

Abdul Gaddy, how the mighty have fallen. After a huge start to his sophomore season, the junior has looked slow at times, hesitant even. Tonight was no different. 2-11 shooting and a terrible pass with 34 seconds to go and the score tied at 75. Gaddy attempted a pass to Ross with 34 on the clock only to throw it wide where Ross' defender picked it off, forcing Ross to pick up his fourth foul of the night and rather than UW taking the final shot, Marquette took the lead and forced the early shot by Ross in order to give the Huskies time for a second shot in case of a miss. While Wroten may turn the ball over a ton, his uptempo play may be better suited for the Dawgs and Gaddy may find himself coming off the bench if he doesn't pick up his play soon.

Speaking of Tony, he continues to be a driving force for the Huskies thought he tends to drive me crazy as often as he drives me wild. Wroten had 13 on the night with 5-9 shooting and got the foul line in droves, though he couldn't find the bottom of the net yet again. He had 6 boards to compliment his 3 assists and turnovers. I have to admit, his lay-ins are as ugly as his free throws. He refuses to use his right hand and consistently forces lay-ins instead of pump faking and drawing a foul. As much as it pains me to say this, Wroten may be our best starting option at this point. Despite his turnovers and sloppy play at times, he seems to have a much bigger drive to win and shows much more emotion on the court, which translates into tougher play (for the most part). If Gaddy can start driving to the rack and garnering free throws like Wroten I'll change my mind, but we need a point guard willing to attack the hoop since our wings still struggle with that.

Martin Breunig and Shawn Kemp combined for 7 minutes 1 turnover and 4 fouls. Not much to say about them outside of that.

What Need Improvement:

Offensive Movement:

While UW did show improved movement to start the game, by the time the second half rolled around UW had gone back to a slow and stagnant half court offense. The assist column showed just that as players had to create their own shots versus coming off screens for open opportunities. The majority of the problems come from the Huskies not running hard and tight enough off the screens, easily allowing the Marquette defenders to stay with their man.

Final Minute Composure:

Second straight game where UW has allowed a game tying or winning shot at the end of regulation. UW needs to find itself in crunch time and develop a go to plan that every player on the team should know. A simple play, both offensively and defensively, that can create and shut down opportunities respectively.

Free Throws:

Only 1 free throw from a starter. 1. Pathetic. Get to the hoop, play through contact, and draw the foul. Wroten does that, even though he can't make a free throw to save his life. Drawing fouls is a great way to create problems for the opposition and early minute fouls are devastating when they pile up on players. UW needs to get aggressive and open the lanes.

What Was Good:

Terrence Ross:

The early season expectations of Ross are really starting to rear their heads. Ross was 1 rebound away form his third straight double-double. He has thrown down extremely athletic dunks, sunk some beautiful fade aways, and drained some fantastic 3's. His 180/360 dunk was crazy and definitely deserved the Number 1 spot on ESPN. He tends to be quiet in the first half, something I attribute to both the teams inability to move the ball well in the half-court and Ross not being aggressive enough and demanding the ball. He could put up 25 a game if he can perform in the first half the way he scores in the second.

Rebounding:

N'Diaye, Ross, Simmons, and Wroten. They'll be our 1, 2, 3, and 4 for rebounding throughout the season. Game in and game out, these four players get up and dirty to grab the rebounds and chase down loose balls. 41-28 rebounding margin is fantastic. They held Marquette to 8 offensive boards, while grabbing 17 of their own resulting in 20+ second chance points. Rebounding is the glue that kept us in the game and kept it from being the blowout loss I predicted.

Final Thoughts:

Hard to know what to say. The close game makes me think this team has grown as they should have beaten what is looking to be a very strong, top 10 team. On the other hand they showed the same sort of mistakes that has them sitting at 4-3 with Duke on the horizon. The Huskies need to find leadership, they need to start moving the ball again, and they need to control themselves down the stretch and not panic. I'm not sold on this team yet, but a win over Duke could prove to be a great sign of good things to come. Even a close game could give me a little more hope that tonight was not a fluke and this team can truly compete with the best. Unfortunately, the loss tonight leaves UW with one more opportunity in the non-conference season to make a statement and pick up a marque win that is so often discussed in late February and early March. If UW loses to Duke, they will have their work cut out in conference to establish themselves as a tournament worthy team due to how poorly the conference has performed thus far in the non-con. Here's hoping for the best.

Go Dawgs.