Alright, I have had a night to sleep on the loss. While this is not in ANY way some comprehensive list, here are some things off the top of my head. Let's keep in mind that we were down 68-63 before Marquette;s last round of free throws.
Negative
1. We shot 33% from three, or 11 for 33. I distinctly remember Guerrier and Hawkins each missing two wide open three pointers. If two of those four that I recall go in, we shoot 13 for 33 from three point land, good for 39%. And we are winning in the final minute. I know posters get annoyed that we shoot so many three pointers when we are "not good at them," but the fact is we SHOULD be making more of these! Guerrier was 0 for 2, and both were wide open. Hawkins was 1 for 5, many of them wide open. DGL was 0 for 3. Our issue last year was jacking up BAD three point attempts ... I am hopeful that we can correct missing GOOD three point attempts.
2. We actually outrebounded them 40 to 38. We had 12 offensive to their 10, and both teams had 28 defensive rebounds. So, it is pretty clear that our issue was FINISHING at the basket ... and that is way more evident when you see we were 10 for 27 (37%) from two ... that is bad. We all can probably remember multiple layups and put backs that rolled of the rim, and we NEED those to go in to beat a top 5 team.
3. This one isn't new ... 15 turnovers to Marquette's 8. HAVE to change that, but I have some hope we can get that under control as the season progresses. This IS only game three...
Positive
1. 85% from the free throw line was great to see! It shows we can do it, and it's a mental thing (at least IMO). We might not shoot it that well every night, but by golly you CANNOT make 50% of your free throws come March. That was a nice improvement.
2. We had SEVEN blocks to Marquette's ZERO. I sincerely hope we can continue to figure out how to use our great mixture of size/length and speed/athleticism to improve. This team has the pieces, we just need to clean things up.
3. In contrast to what I said yesterday, I actually like our upcoming games. Three games in Champaign that we SHOULD win to get to 5-1. Then a road test at the RAC vs. an underwhelming Rutgers team ... it might be a nice opportunity to exorcise some demons we have had in that building vs. a team we should beat. Then if we are 6-1 and feeling confident, we go give it our all vs. FAU in New York and Tennessee in Knoxville!
