Marquette Basketball: the great, the good, and needs improvement after upset win

Three games into the Shaka Smart era and the Marquette Basketball team already has a signature victory. The Golden Eagles rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to shock No. 10 Illinois with a 67-66 win at the Fiserv Forum.

Marquette has not made winning look easy in its first three games but as the old saying goes, winning is winning.

This win showed that more good nights are likely ahead under head coach Shaka Smart’s leadership–”likely” is the keyword as it is still very early in the season and in Smart’s tenure.

The defense was great for Marquette Basketball

Shaka Smart-coached teams are always known for their defense. Defense is how Marquette pulled off the upset.

The Golden Eagles limited Illinois to 37.9 percent shooting. Illinois was nine for 24 from beyond the arc. Marquette closed out the final five minutes by not allowing Illinois to make a field goal.

The biggest stat that carried the Marquette Golden Eagles to the win was 26 forced turnovers. The Golden Eagles also made key stops down the stretch to pull off the shocker.

Darryl Morsell had another great performance

The Maryland graduate transfer continues to have a huge impact on this young Marquette roster. During his four years at Maryland, Morsell’s calling card was his defense. In his first three games in the blue and gold, he is showing he has a stellar offensive game.

Morsell scored a team-high 21 points. He has scored over 20 in his first three Marquette games. He barely put up those type of points during his four years at Maryland. He continues to be the battle tested veteran this Marquette squad needs.

"“I done played a lot of college games. I done seen a lot of different things, different endings. I’ve won a bunch of different ways. I think it was big for our young guys to see that if we just stay persistent, keep guarding and get stops when we’re supposed to, we got a chance to get the win.”"

Morsell went 3-4 from beyond the arc and hit a key three-pointer as Marquette chipped away at Illinois’ 12-point, second-half lead.

Tyler Kolek was also pretty great

Kolek efficiently ran the point as he finished with 12 points and five assists. After going zero for two games from three-point range, he broke through with two long-distance shots. Kolek also gets the great distinction as he had the game-winning bucket in dramatic fashion.

Kolek’s steal had everyone in attendance on the edge of their seat and jumping for joy when his layup went through the net.

Justin Lewis and Kur Kuath were pretty  good

Lewis, one of three players still on the roster from last season, continued to show he is making major strides in his career with 17 points on 5-10 shooting.

Kuath, the graduate-transfer from Oklahoma, was big defensively down the stretch. He had a couple key blocks to lead the lockdown of the Illinois’ offense over the final five minutes. Along with freshman Steive Mitchell, Kuath made a huge steal at the end of the game to seal the win.

Three-point and free-throw shooting needs improvement

Marquette got beat on the boards 50-30 but Illinois is a great rebounding team–even without star center Kofi Cockburn who sat due to an NCAA suspension. Right now getting dominated on the boards is not a huge worry unless the 20-rebound disparity happens more often and against less-elite defenses.

What needs to improve is the three-point shooting. Marquette was five of 17 from beyond the arc with all the makes coming from Morsell and Kolek. Marquette is just 19 of 70 from three during the season’s early goings.

That number has to get better for a team with an offensive philosophy of threes and easy buckets around the rim.

Marquette was also not great at the line going 18-31. Some of that is youth but the Golden Eagles have shown they can get the line, so they need to get better at converting the 15-foot uncontested shot.

In the end, Marquette got the win. The Golden Eagles showed that when the game gets ugly and scrappy, they are very comfortable. Impressive for such a young team.