5 Takeaways from Marquette basketball narrowly beating Kansas State

Takeaway No. 4: Greg Elliott made a key contribution of the bench

The redshirt junior has been with the Marquette program for five seasons–he missed his second year with an injury. He has battled injuries during most of his career. This season he got off to a rough start after being suspended for four games for a “lapse in judgment.” He barely played in the Jackson State game.

His experience came through in this victory as he came off the bench to score eight key points and dish out two critical assists.

"“Once I got the suspension, it was what it was. After that, it was just about my body language and the way I interacted with everyone around me. I’m an upbeat person, but at the time I was down because of what was going on. But it was just about my body language and being there for my teammates. Being a leader at the end of the day. I knew no matter what, even if I was suspended, I was still the older guy and all the younger guys looked up to me. So I knew no matter what I had to be our rock. I just had to be the same Greg every day. Even on the days when it was tough, I had to be the same Greg. And then today, I could finally show because I actually got to play more.”"

He was definitely a hero in this win.

Takeaway No. 5: Marquette Basketball responded to adversity and picked each other up

Kansas State started the second half blazing hot with a 7-0 run in the half’s first minute. Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart called a quick timeout.

The young, inexperienced team playing in another hostile environment could have folded up again like in what happened against Wisconsin.

Instead, the Golden Eagles answered back. Kur Kuath had two dunks and a block. Jones made a key three-pointer and the defense hunkered down to get the game tied again by 13:53 left in the game.

Marquette just grinded out the victory from there.

They also did a great job of picking each other up when someone was struggling. Tyler Kolek and Darryl Morsell did not have the best shooting night.

Both did a decent job running the point on the offense as they combined for nine assists–Kolek had seven. They were a combined 3-20 from the field with just eight points–all eight coming from Morsell as Kolek went scoreless.

The rest of the team picked up the offensive slack from two key expected scoring contributors. All 11 Marquette scholarship players played and only Stevie Mitchell was the only other player not to score.

Kolek’s shooting slump continued and it did get to a point where it almost seemed like he was hesitant to shoot. You could see his teammates were encouraging him to shoot when he had an open look. He found other ways to impact the game with eight rebounds and two steals.

It was not a pretty victory by any means but it was a team victory and those are always nice to have.