Game film review: Marquette vs. Mount St. Mary’s (Nov. 11)

By Mark Strotman

Breaking down game film won’t be as relevant once Buzz Williams puts together his true rotation, but with all 10 active players seeing at least 17 minutes, there was a lot to look at Friday night.

I also tracked all offensive rebounds Marquette gave up (only counted 14, and had no DVR. So make believe what happened on the other two). You can look at what happened on each, as allowing too many offensive boards was about the only thing Marquette did wrong in its opener.

20:00

Junior Cadougan with a five-second count defensively to begin the game. His defense, albeit against a freshman, was outstanding all night. He showed quick feet, active hands and is much improved from a year ago.

Get used to hearing this: Vander Blue played the passing lane beautifully to force a steal and foul on the next possession. His anticipation is unbelievable for his age. He’s still the best perimeter defender at Marquette.

Offensive rebound No. 1: Occurred on a 3-pointer and was a long rebound. Darius Johnson-Odom didn’t get to his spot but was guarding the perimeter. No real fault there.

Offensive rebound No. 2: This occurred right after the first offensive rebound, as Chris Otule had to come over to contest the layup. Again, no real fault.

17:50

Jamail Jones began his night by tipping a pass away on the in-bound. It was a little thing, but those are the types of plays that will keep Jones on the court. Later in this stretch his backcourt pressure forced a Mount St. Mary’s player to dribble the ball off his foot.

Offensive board No. 3: Davante Gardner didn’t jump on the weak side, allowing Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineer Raven Barber to snag the board.

Derrick Wilson with a great entry pass to Jamil Wilson, who sealed his defender for an easy lay-up. Derrick was great all night with his passes. He won’t score much, but he’s already a smart passer. Later in the stretch he drove to the basket off a fast break and found a wide open Todd Mayo in the corner for three, but Mayo missed.

Offensive board No. 4: Similar to the third offensive rebound, Jamil Wilson didn’t jump much on the weak side, which allowed the possession to stay with the Mountaineers.

13:54

Vander Blue forced two turnovers in this stretch, once by intercepting the ball in the passing lane and again by getting up to deflect a pass, which led to a fast-break bucket for Marquette.

Junior Cadougan drove the left baseline, got stopped, and found Chris Otule on a nice entry pass for two points. Cadougan made smart decisions all night.

10:11

Derrick Wilson picked the pocket of a Mount St. Mary’s guard, which led to an intentional foul.

Offensive rebound No. 5: Jae Crowder can’t handle the rebound, then knocked it off the backboard, allowing the possession to stay on that end.

9:17

Mayo took deep shots early, but they were all open looks. His shot looks good, and it seems like he’s going to be better used off the dribble, rather than at the point.

Jones intercepted a pass and went in for a huge, one-handed dunk. It was a super-athletic play and continued his excellent first half, where he scored eight of his 10 points.

7:54

Jones with two nice pull-up jumpers off the dribble. His first two makes were not set shots, but rather dribble pull-ups. This seems small. But dribble pull-ups are much tougher than set shots, and he’s going to have to create his own shot at times in the Big East.

6:25

Offensive rebound No. 6: The defense was turned around and Derrick Wilson was forced to try and out-rebound a Mountaineer. He didn’t.

Cadougan missed a wide open 3-pointer, but his form looked good. He’ll need to work on his reps, just like everyone else, but it was nice to see Cadougan get some fluidity in his jumper.

Gardner had a great pass from the post to Cadougan on the baseline. Cadougan’s shot was blocked, but Gardner’s pass was more important. He’s an excellent passer out of the post and, if he garners double teams, this will be huge for Marquette’s perimeter game.

Offensive rebound No. 7: This came on a 3-pointer and Jamil Wilson couldn’t get to the long rebound. No real fault by anyone.

2:32

Classic Darius Johnson-Odom, reading a pass and taking it away to go in for a huge, two-handed slam. Selfishly, I was expecting a bit more on the throwdown.

Jae Crowder drew the only charge of the night for the Golden Eagles, and it was a big one as Mount St. Mary’s had a wide-open shooter on the right wing who got the ball.

1:29

The only thing here was that Cadougan tried to do too much on the last play of the first half. Instead of attempting a floater, he tried to thread a pass to Otule under the basket and it resulted in a turnover.

SECOND HALF

20:00

The Golden Eagles showed great passing as Blue lasered a pass to a cutting Cadougan, who then found Otule under the basket for an easy bucket. Blue’s passing was pretty good most of the night, yet it still remains to be seen if he’ll be an option at point guard. He played exclusively on the wing Friday.

Offensive rebound No. 8: Off a missed free throw, Cadougan tried to tap the ball over a Mount St. Mary’s player to start a fast break, but the Mountaineer grabbed it.

Cadougan had two great entry passes to Otule that resulted in easy buckets. It’s early, but Cadougan seems to have great chemistry with the two centers (Gardner and Otule).

Offensive rebound No. 9: Barber missed a wide-open layup, then got his own rebound. It seemed like Crowder blew his assignment on that one.

Offensive rebound No. 10: Cadougan was forced to come down on the weak side and try to out-rebound Barber after Marquette’ defense was turned around following the previous offensive board.

Offensive rebound No. 11: Crowder was out of position.

14:42

Jones had a man’s rebound, skying high to pull down the board.

13:31

Offensive rebound No. 12: Johnson-Odom was beat badly on a backdoor pass and Crowder was forced to come over and contest the shot. Crowder blocked it, but his man scooped up the offensive rebound.

Blue with two nice transition finishes in this stretch. It doesn’t say much, because he did the same last year, but his early aggressiveness is good to see. His confidence will be key when the Big East season begins.

Marquette guards consistently closed out on Mountaineer jump shooters, making it difficult for them to get any rhythm offensively. Buzz Williams has to be pleased with the effort from his guards on the perimeter.

9:03

Jones continued to show active hands defensively, poking balls away and making it a nightmare for his counterpart to get anything started. He was the star of Friday’s game.

Offensive rebound No. 13: Marquette went with a very small lineup here (D. Wilson, Mayo, Jones, J. Wilson, Gardner) and Derrick Wilson found himself again inside trying to battle for a rebound. Jamil Wilson was up the court and not in position.

Derrick Wilson, who finished with two rebounds, had a great board in traffic. He was great all night defensively, and that play added to it.

Mayo showed why Buzz loves him as a scorer. Instead of taking a wide-open three, he drove to the basket, made the layup, and drew a foul. He finished the series off with a made free throw.

6:43

Cadougan made two 15-foot jump shots in the second half (one in this series) and, while both looked a little flat, they both went in. Tough to argue with that. Marquette’s offense will allow those looks at times, and Cadougan knocking two down is a good sign.

5:41

Jamil Wilson played good defense in the post in this series. His minutes (17, the fewest on the team) were about 50/50 in terms of playing small forward and power forward. He seemed more comfortable at the three, but showed this series that he can also bang down low. His versatility is going to be key.

Blue had an excellent drive to the bucket and then dished to Otule, who made an extra pass to Cadougan instead of going up for the shot. Blue looked very much like a point guard there.

4:25

No surprise here, but Gardner continued to use tricky moves inside all night, and it resulted in eight points on 2-of-3 shooting. He also drew two fouls using his pivot foot, hesitation and good body control when he went up. His offense will be key off the bench.

Cadougan, who again was underneath the basket on the weak side, did a nice job boxing out and drew a foul.

4:02

Derrick Wilson, like he did earlier to Jamil Wilson, gave a great entry pass to Gardner which resulted in an easy two points. His distribution skills, as said before, are great for his age.