Player Grades: MU vs. Southern

USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t a visually pleasing performance by any stretch of the imagination, but Marquette was able to outlast Southern for a 63-56 victory. As a reminder, the grades are based on an individual curve. An “A” game for Deonte Burton may be a “C” game for Jamil Wilson. Expectations and roles are taken into consideration. Anyways, here are the player grades.

Steve Taylor, Jr- 0 pts, 5 reb, 0-2 FT
You can clearly tell the rust is weighing down Taylor after spending most of the offseason recovering from an atrophied quad following knee surgery. He was getting his hands on boards but didn’t have the same explosiveness in going back up, leading to a couple shots getting stuffed. Those freebie misses were all on him though, no excuses. Overall not a game for the highlight reels, but no cause to panic. C-

Jamil Wilson- 10 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast
He got out to a quick start with a nice make on a contested 3, and generally played well, leading the team in rebounds and assists. He made both his shots from long distance and grabbed some clutch boards late. The only quibble is he has to be much more aggressive. The way games are being called he can be making a living at the line. He went 4 of 4 from there in his two trips. Outside of Mayo, MU is missing that player who can get to the hole during a crucial play. Paging Jamil. B+

Chris Otule- 2 pts, 3 reb, 2-8 FT
This was one of Otule’s worst games in over two years. Forget the free throw woes, which aren’t his forte, he had difficulty getting any position all night and  didn’t grab one rebound in traffic. Off night for the big guy, but expect a big bounceback on Tuesday. D

Jake Thomas- 2 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 TO
Getting a surprise start, Jake Thomas played the fifth most minutes on the team with 22. I just don’t see it. I’m not one to rag on players but he is a net negative on the floor most of the time. When his first 3 bricks out he stops looking at the basket completely and treats the rock like a hot potato. On defense, he has problems sticking on his man and often finds himself out of position. I get that Buzz trusts him right now and that Jajuan Johnson is even worse defensively, but with a PG as reluctant to shoot as Derrick is, Jake becomes a detriment. Let’s see how long it takes the freshies to catch up. D

Derrick Wilson- 1 pt, 3 ast, 4 reb
He is what he is. Derrick played a team high 34 minutes and was decent on defense. On offense, he is just not a creator. He feeds the post well and doesn’t make many bad mistakes, but he doesn’t have the ability to penetrate. The few times he does and gets fouled, he struggles at the line, going 1-4 on the night. The one thing that can be said is that his post feeds led to free throws on three or four occasions, including a lightning-quick pass to Gardner. Those won’t show up but do matter. C

Davante Gardner- 25 pts, 3 reb, 15-20 FT
Ox had a first half for the record books, scoring 18 points on 8-8 shooting from the line and 5-7 from the field. Despite the offensive outburst, he only saw 9 minutes in the second half, after seeing 14 in the first. That’s on Buzz. I’m not sure if he was sending a message about defensive intensity, but holding him out until the 14:07 mark is foolish. Davante lost concentration after that and was uncharacteristically shaky from the line, going 7-12. A very good overall game, but this had greatness written all over it. A

Juan Anderson- 0 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl
Juan missed the only shot he took and had a few iffy fouls called on him preventing some runouts, but he never looked comfortable out on the floor in the 11 minutes he saw. D+

Todd Mayo- 20 pts, 5 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast
All hail Todd. If it wasn’t for his aggressiveness in the second half, the Fs would be flying on here and on Twitter. He was fantastic. Aggressive, smart, shifty and most importantly, confident. It’s been awhile since this Todd showed up. I don’t expect him to do this every game, but having a player capable of doing this will be crucial in more than a few games this season. A+

Deonte Burton- 2 pts, 1 reb, 2 fls, 10 min
That pull up jumper, doe. Burton wasn’t great on the night, but was the best of the freshman by a wide margin. The game still moves a bit quick for him, but he looked like he belonged defensively. C

John Dawson- 1 pt, 1 TO
Wasn’t great down the stretch, with a TO and a few bobbles, marring an otherwise solid debut. He only saw six minutes of action and split a pair of free throws. C-

Jajuan Johnson- 0 pts, 1 reb, 0-4 FG
He’s aggressive all right, but needs to focus that energy in the right direction.  The two jump shots he bricked with his funky shot were good looks, but the two drives looked  forced. More troublesome was the defense. Almost every possession he ended up scrambling. The one time he was in great position he got called for an iffy foul that Wayne Larrivee just laughed at. Rough debut, but looking forward to bigger and better things the next few games. D