Marquette (2-2) at Orlando Classic

November 27-30

HP Field House | Orlando, FL

TV: ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU

Radio: 540 ESPN

MiSIX Keys to the Game

1. Winning ugly.

2. Juan and Duane.

3. Bad boards.

4. Good pressure.

5. Extra-large Jackets.

6. Classic rundown.

According to Wikipedia, attrition warfare is a military strategy in which one side attempts to win by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses. It goes on to say that the outcome of such an approach is likely to be a Pyrrhic victory — a situation in which one side has been victorious in some way, but without any sense of achievement.

In related news, Marquette played New Jersey Institute of Technology on Monday. An announced crowd of 11,966 was in attendance, although the actual number was lower because of lots of snow flying sideways at 40 mph. The ones who braved the conditions saw a game that was only slightly better than the weather and had few redeeming qualities save the fact that the Golden Eagles managed to win. Their offensive (double meaning) numbers back that up:

FG% eFG% Pts/100 TO% Ast Ast/TO MU season 44.3% 50.2% 106.9 16.8% 17.0 1.48 MU vs. NJIT 35.3% 38.2% 101.6 19.7% 12.0 1.00 Difference -9.0 -12.0 -5.3 +2.9 -5.0 -0.48

Outside of those two and the final score, there weren’t many positives to carry forward into the Orlando Classic this holiday weekend. And when looking at the season as a whole, there are people throwing around terms like “growing pains” and “rebuilding process.” Four games might be a little soon for that, but some patterns have emerged.It wasn’t all bad for Marquette, which rebounded better and got to the free-throw line more often than it had in the previous three games. Plus, it was the second straight solid performance for two players: Juan Anderson and Duane Wilson, who accounted for 61.3% of the offense (38 of 62 points) and 67.6% of the free-throw attempts (23 of 34).

Arguably the most glaring deficiency has been rebounding. Even with the aforementioned “better” performance against NJIT, the Golden Eagles still lost the battle of the boards, as they have in every contest this year. They’ve also been on the short end when comparing their offensive rebounding percentage to their opponents’, with the exception of Ohio State, whose single mark in that column had more to do with the fact it didn’t miss that many shots all night. And we really don’t mean to pile on, but Marquette’s total rebounding percentage of 44.1% is 311th nationally.

OK, point made. Let’s balance things out with a positive development on the defensive end. In our season preview, we surmised that the new regime would emphasize “high-effort, man-to-man defense.” That pressure seems to have paid off in the turnover department, where the Golden Eagles rank 20th in the number forced per game (18.2) and 17th in opponents’ turnover percentage (26.2%).

The two areas we just mentioned present a good news/bad news scenario for Thursday’s Orlando Classic opener against Georgia Tech. On the positive side, the Yellow Jackets’ 1.00 assist-to-turnover ratio is the second worst in the eight-team field. More worryingly, their 45.5% offensive rebounding percentage is best at the tournament.

eFG% Pts/100 FTRate OffReb% TO% Ast/TO Marquette 50.2% 105.1 40.8% 28.5% 16.5% 1.48 Ga. Tech 50.8% 106.8 44.4% 45.5% 17.6% 1.00 Kansas 43.2% 98.2 52.2% 35.2% 18.0% 1.03 Michigan St. 58.1% 110.4 21.2% 39.3% 20.2% 1.49 Rhode Island 51.7% 98.4 42.8% 42.2% 24.2% 1.02 Rider 53.0% 104.4 27.9% 26.2% 15.5% 1.02 Santa Clara 48.0% 96.2 33.2% 26.4% 16.3% 1.02 Tennessee 47.4% 99.7 43.5% 43.8% 19.4% 0.70

Who Marquette faces after that is anyone’s guess, including ours, so we’ll say Rider and then Rhode Island. But just in case that doesn’t happen, we might as well take a quick glance at everyone:In general, it looks like Marquette’s going to have its hands full with Georgia Tech, whose top three scorers are also three of its top four rebounders. Charles Mitchell and Demarco Cox are particularly concerning because they’re really, really big. Both are 6-foot-8, so it’s not like they’ll tower over their defenders. But with Mitchell occupying 269 pounds worth of space and Cox weighing in at 276, it’s very possible the Golden Eagles’ attempts to slow them down will look a little like this.

Kansas

With the exception of an absolute steamrolling put on them by Kentucky, the Jayhawks have been their usual pretty good selves so far. They’ve rebounded well and gotten to the free-throw line a bunch, and a different player has led them in scoring each time out. Among the guys pulling down more than 20 minutes per game, however, junior forward Perry Ellis stands out as the most efficient shooter (52.6 eFG%) and most frequent visitor to the line (94.7% FTRate). He also makes very snappy clothing.

Michigan State

It might be easier to say what the Spartans haven’t done well in their first four games. They haven’t been to the free-throw line much (21.2% FTRate) and they turn over the ball a bit more than Tom Izzo would like (20.2 TO%). But they’re 42nd nationally in scoring efficiency (110.4 Pts/100), 20th in effective field-goal percentage (58.1%) and 12th in total rebounding percentage (59.6%). They also have a do-everything guard in Travis Trice, who leads the team in scoring (18.0/gm) and assists (7.0/gm) while grabbing a healthy four rebounds per contest.

Rhode Island

The Rams play pretty darn good defense, ranking 30th in opponents’ effective field-goal percentage (40.0%), first in defensive rebounding percentage (87.3%) and third in total rebounding percentage (61.4%). But they also commit more turnovers than any other team in the tournament and score at the third worst clip (second worst if you take Kansas’ garbage fire against Kentucky out of the equation). E.C. Matthews wins the leading-scorer title by a slim margin over Hassan Martin (16.3 vs. 15.7), but Martin gets the much more important honor of our respect by absolutely trouncing Matthews in effective field-goal percentage (69.2% vs. 47.5%).

Rider

The second most efficient shooting team at the Classic (53.0%) and the best at taking care of the ball (15.5 TO%), Rider’s top two scorers are also its most efficient among those getting major minutes: guards Teddy Okereafor (14.3 ppg, 60.3 eFG%) and Zedric Sadler (11.8, 62.5%). The team also reminds everyone at every possible opportunity that they are the Broncs and not the Broncos because monosyllabic mascots are all the rage these days.

Santa Clara

This is not a good team. It doesn’t score much, and its opponents score frequently. But Santa Clara does hang on to the ball pretty well, as its turnover percentage of 14.3% is 58th in the country, and it also ranks 33rd in opponents’ two-point percentage (39.0%). It also would like nothing more than to meet up with Rider at some point during the tournament so planet Earth can finally settle the heated Broncs vs. Broncos debate.

Tennessee

If you thought Santa Clara’s offense was crummy, get a load of the Volunteers. Their effective field-goal percentage is second worst in the field (worst if Kansas/Kentucky never happened), they don’t share particularly well (334th in assist percentage at 38.8%), and they foul, like, all the time (350th nationally with 28.0/gm). Josh Richardson is pretty good, though, as the senior guard is first on the team in scoring (18.0/gm), third in effective field-goal percentage (55.6%) and second in rebounding (7.0/gm). He also plays classical piano, which is pretty boss.