Marquette in the NBA: Oso Ighodaro makes 2nd Career Start

This past week was a busy one for former Marquette players in the Association.

Oso Ighodaro (Phoenix Suns)

On 12/3, Oso made the 2nd start of his young career due to ongoing injuries to Jusuf Nurkić. In that game he went up against one of the brightest young stars in the game in Victor Wembanyama and helped hold Wemby to an ugly 0-8 1st half line. Oso also chipped in 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in a winning effort.

He came off the bench in the final 3 games through the weekend (which Phoenix coincidentally lost all of), but he played 20+ minutes in all of the contests. His athleticism also showed through against the New Orleans Pelicans where he caught a pass from Devin Booker off the screen and roll and flushed with authority.

Oso is averaging just over 4 points and 4 rebounds per contest while shooting over 60% from the floor, but is starting to see that uptick in minutes.

Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat)

Yup! He’s still doing it! Now in his 14th season, Jimmy is still the engine for the Miami Heat. He recently returned from injury but had an incredible 3 games from Wednesday through Sunday night where he scored 17, 24, and 18 on 23-36 shooting.

He also had one of the most fun ‘shots worth zero points’ that you’ll ever see, as he hoisted up last second shot before the halftime break against the Cavs.

Even at 35, Jimmy still looks like he has plenty to give the game of basketball on the court. He is averaging nearly 19, 5 and 5 while shooting 55.7% from the floor.

Jae Crowder (Sacramento Kings)

Jae is getting another shot, this time due to a handful of injuries in Sacramento. Now in his 13th NBA season, Jae has played in a total of 4 games with 1 start. He did play a total of 25 minutes in 2 contests on Tuesday and Thursday.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper (Dallas Mavericks) & Tyler Kolek (New York Knicks)

I lumped these two together because it is somewhat of a surprise that both are seeing very limited action.

OMax provided a highlight with a thunderous slam last week against the Wizards…

…and followed it up with a great block (in 1st half minutes!!!) against the Raptors later in the week.

Tyler is 10-22 from 3 point range in his limited action this year. He is seeing occasional first half minutes but mostly 4th quarter, game is out of hand, minutes.

Sam Hauser (Boston Celtics), Jamal Cain (New Orleans Pelicans), and D.J. Carton (Toronto Raptors)