Joplin at Wintrust.

[romey]

The lack of rim protection on defense is a problem as well.

As in, with 6 seconds left in regulation and the two point lead we let a guard all the way to the rim.

[GoldenEagles03]

I'm not worried about this team. I'd be worried if we didn't know what the issue was.

We are winning games despite our glaring issue, and that issue is fixable. If DePaul can get 27 points from their bench, I'm confident Marquette can figure it out. Someone or someone's will have to step up and I believe they will. Too much talent.

[Judge Smails]

DePaul looked pretty good tonight. As the number 7 team in the country, every opponent is going to bring us the best they've got. Yes, DePaul made a bunch of prayers and we are struggling with zones, and the lack of production from the bench is concerning.  But it was a Big East road win nonetheless. I was impressed with Chase's clutch shooting at the end of regulation and Jop's 3 point shooting in OT. I don't think things are as dire as some folks are making it out to be.

[JWags85]

I don't think Lappas has a vendetta against MU, but I think he's overly obsessed with wanting to see/cheer for a big upset.  The past 2 games he's been frothing at the mouth praising mediocre players as they played MU close.  Tonight the last 3-4 minutes of regulation was insufferable with his nonsense.  He was venerating Enright into Kolek levels He absolutely stinks

[DoctorV]

Kam was 0-9 and Chase was 0-4 from 3

Each hit a 3 under 50s left with Marquette down to take this game into OT.

That's really all you need to know on how grateful Marquette fans should be about actually pulling this one off.

Offensively and shooting wise, Benny and David saved the pooch, and they were the ones struggling earlier this season.

Great defense in a massive moment again on the over and back by Tevie. One of those moments when you knew it would take him to bail out out... those are getting too common.

Shaka and Kameron just feel a bit "off"
Kams counting stats end up looking ok, but you can just see it. It's like he's always positive re-enforcing his teammates out there but he's trying to convince himself it's all ok, if that makes sense.
I think he needs to come off the ball to just re-set and get some new space a bit, but who can take him off the ball?

As for Shaka, he subbed the entire bench in together early, they sucked and blew the lead, and he never trusted them again, except to play Tre, who has been pretty rough.
Not being able to get something out of Zaide, Parham, Damarius this deep into the season against DePaul after a few full weeks of practice is a tough look, but Shaka knows and he's earn the right to do what he pleases. Maybe he's trying to show them all that you don't play if you aren't ready, especially defensively.

That said, 15-2, 6-0 in conference with a top 10 ranking is better than we could've wished for, so get back in the lab and right that ship before any Ls come and it'll all be alright.
Just win em all and get to 29-2, 20-0 and it won't matta how close they are

[Shooter McGavin]

Kam went for 18 pts, 11 assists, 6 rebs and 3 steals, and he committed only 1 turnover in 42 minutes.

Shooting poorly doesn't mean he played poorly.

Agreed.  He will get out of this slump.  But in the meantime he's doing everything else at a high level to keep them in games.

Wades said in another thread that we are going to get every teams best shot.  I completely agree.  Keep grinding out wins while the Riveras and Gunns of this conference keep shooting lights out against us and I think the team will be better for it come March. 

Was hoping the bench would get more time against this portion of the schedule.  Agree with others that this will be paramount to going on a deep run.  DO and Parnham need to help out on offense while their defense suffers as freshmen, otherwise Shaka has to sit them in close games.  We are missing an athletic wing who can score.  Still hoping DO can help with that this year.  The sophomores are not stepping up enough to be relied on consistently.  Was surprised that Parnham came in for Stevie when he fouled out. Thought it would be Zaide for defensive purposes.  Maybe he was not feeling well either. 

I'll take the win and move on. Fun but nerve racking game to be at.

[Zog from Margo]

That game was painful to watch but MU figured out a way win.

First half D was brutal. MU let DePaul get comfortable scoring in the paint and the confidence carried over to the 3s. At the end, most of the 3s DePaul hit were defended. 12 points by one guy in 42 seconds. Not sure I've ever seen that.

Against the zone, you see that MU does not have a player that's played PG for a long time. IMO, they abandoned the pass to the FT line too quickly. If a top defender dropped to the FT line initially. MU stopped looking. That area often opened up but MU just tossed the ball around the perimeter.

Take the win. MU has a lot to work on.

[ski44]

Kam 8-40 from 3 in BE play, yet MU is 6-0 in conference matchups. Wait until he starts cookin'.

[Shooter McGavin]

Kam 8-40 from 3 in BE play, yet MU is 6-0 in conference matchups. Wait until he starts cookin'.

That is the hope.  Kam need to hit from three for this team to be at its best.

[Shaka Shart]

St. Thomas

That was the worst loss

[The Thing]

I don't think Lappas has a vendetta against MU, but I think he's overly obsessed with wanting to see/cheer for a big upset.  The past 2 games he's been frothing at the mouth praising mediocre players as they played MU close.  Tonight the last 3-4 minutes of regulation was insufferable with his nonsense.  He was venerating Enright into Kolek levels He absolutely stinks

Let's get a blowout win in the next game he calls and we will not have to deal with it.

[The Thing]

By the way, I'm a bit disappointed in the thread title. I was thinking something along the lines of Goldtend? or Ben-e-foot

[tower912]

If the goaltend had been overturned, the thread was going to be Block of Gold.   I was typing 'Over-Kam-ing adversity' as the shot at the end of regulation was in the air.  Depauling Outcome was up for a while.  Defense failed to travel.  I was rooting for one more 3 from Ben and an easy win.  Ben Gold's Five would have been fun for the music geeks out there.   

I hate the title, too.  I, too, have to live with a disappointing win.

[TallTitan34]

Goldtend

Nicely done!

Ben-e-foot

Boooooooo!

[CTWarrior]

Kam needs to find his jumper badly.

Wish Ben was comfortable flashing at the free throw line against a zone due to his size but he clearly is not.

Hopefully Shaka can find some better rotations to get the bench some minutes without completely disrupting the flow of the game because that unit has regressed and then he's forced to play starters most of the 2nd half.

That shooting display from Rivera made me nauseous.

Hopefully this is a bit of a wake-up call. Can't lose any games to DePaul, Butler or Seton Hall.

It is uncanny.  When Ben gets a pass in the lane with his back to the basket, he doesn't even look at the basket and is desperate to get rid of the ball as fast as he can.

[CTWarrior]

He also had the hot take "the key to DePaul winning the game is maintaining their lead".

Their lead was one at that point.

I actually thought that was a cogent point at the time, one of a few he made last night, but it turned out not to be correct.  We took the lead and they took it right back and stretched it to 5.

[Skatastrophy]

It is uncanny.  When Ben gets a pass in the lane with his back to the basket, he doesn't even look at the basket and is desperate to get rid of the ball as fast as he can.

He's like a guard in some ways

Like catching that point-blank pass from Chase at full speed and managing to go up for a dunk with only one step. Our past bunch of centers would have had to stop and 2-foot jump that bad boy.

[MU90620]

If the goaltend had been overturned, the thread was going to be Block of Gold.   I was typing 'Over-Kam-ing adversity' as the shot at the end of regulation was in the air.  Depauling Outcome was up for a while.  Defense failed to travel.  I was rooting for one more 3 from Ben and an easy win.  Ben Gold's Five would have been fun for the music geeks out there.   

I hate the title, too.  I, too, have to live with a disappointing win.

Win Jop We Trust

[tower912]

If I was more cruel, I would have used 'Joplin, Misery' at some point.  Love the pun, hate the message.

I have a bunch of Kam related puns ready to go when he starts taking over games again.

[Billy Hoyle]

Maybe "packing" their arena isn't a good thing. They seemed to feed off the crowd. Maybe their typical empty gym is worse than a semi road game.

I thought games at Wintrust (and Allstate Arena before) counted as home games for us.

[RJax55]

Maybe "packing" their arena isn't a good thing. They seemed to feed off the crowd. Maybe their typical empty gym is worse than a semi road game.

I have had this thought for awhile now. This is one game during the season Wintrust has a bit of a buzz to it.

[rgoode57]

This team has three major issues: lack of bench performance; inconsistent outside shooting; and continued problems against zone defense. The problems against the zone can be fixed by the coaching staff. The other two issues will either cure themselves or they won't.

[Big Papi]

1. We will continue to get everyone's best shot against us and the Big East might be down this year, but it is not out.  Lots of solid teams.
2. We have to bring it defensively all game every game.  Second game in a row where our defense was not good for long stretches in the first half.
3. To continue with point 2 above, the bench is struggling to defend at the level the starters defend.  Is this fixable?
4. I don't know if Zaide is struggling with his injury, but he is the one that needs to step up defensively first, then offensively to be able to play 20 minutes a game subbing out the starters.  He has the ability; he needs to do consistently sooner than later.
5. Some clutch shots at the very end of the game from Kam, Chase and Joplin.
6. Happy to see Gold have success offensively after that awful game against Georgetown and that was a great block.

[StillAWarrior]

...he's right back up there with Flagg for POY.

I think that ship has sailed. And not primarily because of anything Kam has done...or hasn't done (although he hasn't helped himself too much lately). Kam is still getting mentions for the NPOY race, and that's great, but it seems like the sports press has shifted hard in favor of Flagg over the past week or 10 days. I think Flagg has the momentum and I'd be surprised if anything slowed that down.

[The Sultan]

Not to mention, Flagg looks really good.