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Marquette Basketball: Key takeaways after November start

By Todd Welter

Nov 18, 2021; Charleston, South Carolina, USA; Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart pounds on the floor after a basket by the Mississippi Rebels in the second half at TD Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 18, 2021; Charleston, South Carolina, USA; Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart pounds on the floor after a basket by the Mississippi Rebels in the second half at TD Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports /
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Marquette Basketball Takeaway No. 3: The impact of Kolek, Mitchell, and Jones

There was a big question on which player would take over at point guard after DJ Carton unexpectedly left the program for the pros.

Tyler Kolek so far has been living up to his Travis Diener comparison.

https://twitter.com/dienertravis/status/1461889069722611714?s=21

He is averaging five assists per game and leads the team in steals with 1.4 a game. Kolek had the winning basket against Illinois. He played great against West Virginia and gave a great rendition of ”Take Me Home, Country Roads” in the victory.

He has been in a three-point shooting funk this season as he is shooting just 26.5% from beyond the arc. Otherwise, he is doing a solid job in the starting point guard role.

True freshman Stevie Mitchell has made an impact in the backup point guard role. He may just be averaging 5.6 points per game and 1.9 assists per game but he has been an effective defender. He has been a spark off the bench especially in the Northern Illinois game. The Marquette Golden Eagles had a sluggish start. Mitchell came in and provided some much-needed energy and scoring.

What Smart likes most about Mitchell is he is a natural-born winner.

"“And Stevie’s a guy that … he’s just got a purity for winning. He wants to win. He wants to help his team.”"

His fellow true freshman, Kam Jones has also been making his presence felt. Jones is averaging 7.9 points per game and he had a great Charleson Classic. Jones has already earned the green light to shoot when he wants from Shaka as long as it is a good shot.

"“He had one in the first half (against West Virginia) when he tried to make a H-O-R-S-E shot. So those he needs to pass. But when he takes good shots, there’s literally no one on our team I’d rather have shoot good shots than Kam Jones.”"

Smart recently did a minor tweak to the starting lineup by replacing Olivier-Maxence Prosper with Jones.

Marquette has also gotten a solid contribution from true freshman David Joplin. The Brookfield, Wisconsin native has provided some much-needed scoring off the bench.

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