Marquette vs. Florida: Player Grades

Marquette’s attempt to avenge last season’s Sweet 16 went terribly awry as the Golden Eagles got waxed 82-49. It’s difficult to assign grades in such a lopsided affair, but here are my quick evaluations of the sordid affair:

Junior Cadougan: 2 pts, 2 ast, 2 to, 2 fls  He got in foul trouble early on and had to sit much of the first half so his play is not at fault for the initial deficit. However, he knows better than to pick up cheap fouls back to back. Once he came back he was never able to penetrate the Florida zone and put up a couple of airballs.  F

Chris Otule: 0 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast Chris looked like a freshman out there at times and was over-matched in the paint by Florida’s bigs. He didn’t handle their pick-and-roll well defensively either, giving Florida plenty of time to make the right choice. F

Trent Lockett: 5 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast  Trent’s shot must have been lost in his move from Tempe, because it has yet to show up as a Golden Eagle. He did get to the rim a few times, but wasn’t strong enough to finish. His defense wasn’t bad, but this was a game where Marquette really needed another scorer and Trent came up short.  D

Vander Blue: 20 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 3 to. If there is anything to take away from this game is that “IT” has finally clicked for Vander. He looked like the 5-star recruit he was in high school on both ends of the floor, taking open shots, driving to the hole, and playing good defense. That’s four straight good to great games for the Madison native, and this one came against one of the best teams in the nation. A+ 

Jamil Wilson: 3 pts, 6 reb, 5 to  As well as Blue played, Jamil was the inverse. I didn’t think he could play worse than he did against Butler, but this was it. He was 1-8 from the floor and even air-balled a free throw. It’s obvious Wilson is a confidence scorer and today he had absolutely none. His defense left much to be desired as well, as he got dominated by Florida’s bigs inside. He will bounce back, but today showed how far he still has to go to live up to his potential. F

Davante Gardner: 6 pts, 1 reb It’s a chicken and egg situation with Gardner. He didn’t get enough touches, particularly in the first half, to make a dent in the deficit, but he was not able to get good positioning all night. Defensively he was not able to contain the pick-and-roll and only grabbed one board all game. C-

Derrick Wilson: 6 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast He had to play extended minutes because of Cadougan’s foul trouble and played very well. He took the ball to the basket a few times and displayed some rarely seen scoring ability. His defense caused two steals in the first half and only turned the ball over once. Definitely something to build on for the sophomore. B  

Juan Anderson: 0 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast He didn’t log much time in the meaningful moments of this one, but even in that limited time you saw how far Anderson still has to go. He only attempted one shot and couldn’t figure out where to position himself out on the floor. D

Jake Thomas: 3 pts, 1 ast His defense wasn’t any good tonight, but neither was any body else’s. He hit one of the two 3-pointers he took and got on the wrong side of a top-10 play when his lay-up was sent 15 feet the other way. He has impressed me, though, as I never thought he could play more than 10 minutes a game effectively. As he said on Monday, he needs to shoot more seeing as no eligible player not named Vander has that ability. C- 

Steve Taylor: 4 pts, 1 reb He was in over his head on defense, but as a baby-face freshman, I wouldn’t expect anything else. He had a few buckets go in and is getting valuable experience. C-

Jamal Ferguson: 0 pts, 1 to He didn’t play enough to warrant a grade, though he did commit one garbage time turnover. NA