Kolek bounces back and other notes

It probably deserves a longer writeup, but I’ll just note here that after a disastrous loss to Butler, Marquette’s 2-0 week against Villanova and St. John’s was a tremendous bounceback. I very much feared that with injuries mounting and tough opponents upcoming, a doom spiral was in the works.

But they showed they are made of tougher stuff than that, with a comfortable win over Villanova and escaping out of MSG by the skin of the basketball’s leather exterior.

Here’s a few observations after those much-needed victories.

Don’t call it a comeback

Good players have a bad game. Happens to the best of them. Some even have multiple bad ones in a row.

But what happened to Tyler Kolek first against Seton Hall and then against Butler seemed to be way more than missing shots or turning the ball over. It truly felt like the mental block that had stifled him midway through his first season with Marquette had returned out of nowhere.

The box stats are bad (7 points on 2/19 shooting over the 2 games) with 6 turnovers, and the advanced Hoop-Explorer player impact stats, which quantify both offense and defense splits were worse. He’d played 2 of the worst games of the past 2 seasons posting a -2.4 and then a -2.8.

The 3s were poorly timed and trrly some ugly bricks. The defense seemed lackadaisical. Shaka sat him more than normal for it. It even got to the point where he was getting called out by national pundits in multiple spaces by people like Seth Davis, saying he had been underwhelming this year.

And I rehash all that just to highlight how satisfying his bounceback last week was.

Tyler is still looking for his shot, but just put up 36 points and 22 assists and 11 rebs this week, playing all but 3 minutes.

What a way to bounce back for the #mubb all American. https://t.co/lAX7w8fhYV

— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) January 20, 2024

He still doesn’t look as comfortable with his shot as he did earlier in the season, but he’s attacking the rim with conviction and aggression, and setting teammates up for easy scores.

Oh, and he also leads the Big East in passing points created, and is 2nd in the league in total points created.

And if you were bewildered by his 3 missed free throws in the closing parts of the game, you weren’t alone.

Before Kolek's last 3 FT misses yesterday, he had gone 19/20 on FTs in the last 5 minutes of #mubb games this season, including 13/14 in clutch time.

Of those 19 makes, 15 had been swishes. Still can't believe he missed them.

— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) January 21, 2024

Still, there’s no one else in the country I’d rather want on the line.

Stevie Steps Up

With the loss of two guards with a penchant for feisty defense, Stevie’s impact was going to be even more crucial then ever. And boy has he stepped up.

Splitting his season into two buckets, pre and post hamstring injury that made him miss 4 games in December, you can see that he’s become much more of an offensive weapon, lifting his ORtg by 7.2 points through a combo of a higer eFG% and lowered TO rate.

He’s still racking up steals at a league leading rate while almost doubling his defensive rebounding rate.

But the biggest thing that jumps out is he’s doing it in much heavier minutes. His 35 against St. John’s was not only a season high, it was also the most he’s played at Marquette. It wasn’t just that Shaka needed warm bodies, Stevie was making an impact on both ends en route to a 12 point, 6 rebound line.

Mitchell has always been the glue guy, but at the current rate he’s playing, he might graduate from that tag.

Zaide Brigade

Mark wrote at length about Zaide’s defensive impact, and you should probably read it if you haven’t already.

Amid injuries, Zaide Lowery carves out defensive role

Because nothing he did last week changed the initial diagnosis. Lowery is providing the type of impact Marquette desperately needed no matter how you slice it.

Using Hoop-Explorer’s individual Player Impact scores against St. John’s you can see just where he graded out, as the most impactful defensive player on the floor.

At this point, he’s got Shaka’s confidence to the point he was being subbed in for defensive purposes in the last seconds of the game. Zaide has surprised us in the best way.

Oso Good

I am just as guilty as every national writer I mock when it comes to Oso. The man is playing as well as basically any big in the country and can’t even get better than 4th billing in a notes post.

He’s probably been Marquette’s MVP this season, plays an integral defensive role and is tasked with creating on offense. His line last week was good enough to be player of the week for most leagues, and yet he didn’t even make the Big East Honor Roll (as Marquette nominated Kolek rather than him).

He’s the kind of player who is such a bedrock, you kind of take for granted and assume he’s just always like this.

But as the number of games left on the seasons starts dwindling, it’s time to savor and appreciate the gift that is this basketball savant a bit more vocally.