- The 2-3 zone is proving effective. It seems to hide the defensive liabilities of Truck Bryant and Casey Mitchell, and is giving Marquette problems. Coupling this with playing Truck at the two, allowing him to dribble, could the be the first sign of the course this season may have to take.
- Deniz Kilicli has put together a few decent trips offensively. He's picked up a couple baskets but, more importantly, he seems to be passing the ball better.
- New year, same old foul trouble for John Flowers. He's on the bench again with four. The Mountaineers' most consistent player has to find a way to stay on the floor.
- Truck hits a big three and the Mountaineers lead for the first time.
- Bryant is playing like a changed player. he';s scoring, and on the last fast break he put it behind his back to a trailing Joe Mazzulla. He's playing with flair, while he'd been dragging aroujnd with this hangdog look for the last few games. This season is a big one for Truck, I'd love to see him tun it on and be the layer we're all pretty sure he can be.
- Things are tense and tied with ten minutes left. As badly as the Mountaineers have played lately, I'm glad this game is as competitive as it is. They still need to leave Milwaukee with a win, though.
- These juco guys who are leading Marquette are pretty nasty. It goes to show you what kind of talent you have in the Big East. Teams like St. John's and Marquette, who don't look like much on the schedule, can bring it with anybody.
- The Golden Eagles have figured out this zone, and Darius Johnson Odom is just shooting over it at will. A misplayed ball under the Marquette bucket gives them a chance to push the lead to six at the last television timeout. Things aren't looking good for the Mountaineers.
- Deniz Kilicli is playing his finest game as a Mountaineer. His fourteen points represent the zenith of his offensive play this season. The way he and Truck have played today, it gives me a little hope that this team could score some points after all. The hot three point shooting helps.
- The zone spits out a turnover and Truck takes it the whole way to give the Mountaineers a one point lead with a minute and a half left. What a scrappy performance for Truck, who has poured it in tonight like the Mountaineers need him to do the rest of the year.
- Now down one, Flowers fouls out. He's had a tough couple of games. He's not allowed to play as physically in the Big East as he'd like. He needs to get more minutes, and to do that he has to stay out of foul trouble.
- ...and in a moment it all comes apart. Truck makes a lazy pass for a turnover and Casey Mitchell grabs jersey for an intentional foul. On the most important possession, a double dose of stupidity. It will be hard for the Mountaineers to win last-possession type games since they just don't play smart offensive basketball.
- Ugh. In the Mountaineers last significant possession Truck dribbles for fifteen seconds and then jacks one up. That's gonna be it boys. On one hand Truck showed incredible scoring ability tonight, but played dumb when it counted.
- It's a five point road loss for the Mountaineers. So many positive things. The fact we were hanging with a team playing in the 70s was good, because I didn't think that would happen. Playing dumb at the end just kills it though. A bitter loss.
- These Mountaineers need to get it together, or else they're going to be 0-4 by the time they get back to Morgantown.
- On one hand, there were so many positive things to take from this game. Truck and Turk finally scoring the ball. The 2-3 zone looks like it will have its place as will the duel point guard looks. At the end though, this game was lost in two horrible offensive sets when they needed points the most. Absolutely frustrating.
Filed under:
West Virginia Vs. Marquette: Mountaineers Fall To Hot-Shooting Golden Eagles
By
Aaron Hawley