How Marquette can work its way out of early Big East struggles
The Marquette men’s basketball team has learned that it will not just cruise through the Big East this season.
After last season’s gaudy 17-3 record to win the conference, the Golden Eagles (11-4, 2-2 Big East) are getting every team’s best shot.
MU has dropped its first two league road games, but the 11th-ranked Golden Eagles look to get back in a groove against Butler (10-5, 1-3) at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Fiserv Forum.
“Losing games exposes issues that sometimes can sometimes be under the surface,” MU head coach Shaka Smart said. “We’re not entitled to winning. I keep telling our guys that.”
The Golden Eagles can set a Big East record by winning its 21st straight league home game. But in order to repeat as Big East champion, MU will likely have to fix a few issues that have cropped up in the first four conference games.
Get Kam Jones out of offensive slump
It’s not ground-breaking insight to point out that MU is at its best when stars Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones are playing well.
But their importance has been underscored by Jones’ offensive slump over the first four conference games.
Jones is averaging 14.5 points per game, just a tick behind Kolek’s team-leading 14.6. However, Jones’ scoring average has dipped to 11.5 against Big East foes. In those games, he is shooting just 18 for 57 (31.6%).
Jones was 3 for 10 on three-pointers in Saturday’s loss at Seton Hall, but Smart saw something when the 6-foot-5 guard pulled up and nailed a triple with just over one minute remaining that pulled MU within 76-73.
“The way you get out of a shooting slump is you focus on everything else,” Smart said. “You focus on defense, you focus on your teammates, you focus on getting lost in the fight.”
“Then you jump up and you shoot the ball like you know how. He made that three late. Because we were losing and he was just playing. He jumped up and shot it.”
While Jones’ three-point stroke can be streaky, he is known to be a crafty finisher around the basket for his size. But in Big East games, he is only 11 for 25 (44%) on two-point shots. Last season in 20 Big East games, Jones shot 55 for 90 (61.1%) on two-point shots.
“I’m a firm believer in even if a guy is half a second out of the present - for whatever reason, there’s a million reasons it could be - half a second in the past, half a second in the future or more, you’re not going to shoot well and you’re not going to play your best,” Smart said. “And so I got to do a better job helping him with that because he’s a wonderful player. When he does it, that’s a huge domino for our team.”
More defensive consistency
MU’s defense is performing more efficiently than last season, something surprising given the loss of the Golden Eagles best defender in Olivier-Maxence Prosper, now with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
MU’s defensive efficiently is ranked 12th on college basketball analytics site kenpom.com. Last season’s team finished 43rd.
But the Golden Eagles still have many possessions where they let teams get easy baskets. In the loss at Seton Hall, MU forced 22 turnovers but also suffered lapses that grated on Smart. The Pirates' Kadary Richmond worked his way to six baskets around the rim and finished with 21 points.
“It was bizarre game from the standpoint of we had some phenomenal, I mean just textbook, defensive possessions where we’re flying around,” Smart said. “Playing the way we want to play. Getting our hands on the basketball. Helping each other, five guys connected as one.
“Then we had some other ones where it’s not surprising that we gave up baskets. Not in a stance. Not talking enough. Putting two guys on the ball when we’re not supposed to do that. Not rotating effectively. Not putting our chest on the driver. And if you don’t do that, then guys like Kadary Richmond are going to make you pay. He’s too good of a player.
"So we’ve got a lot of things that we have to get better at from this game.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Defending Big East champion Marquette is 2-2 in first four league games