Marquette game thread

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connecticut72
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby connecticut72 » Sat Jan 18, 2025 4:22 pm

I think we had a time outWHY WHY was it not called. Bad!!
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muskieman
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby muskieman » Sat Jan 18, 2025 4:22 pm

THE RUN PART DEUX Time to be road warriors
I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can't trust em.
Kevin Reilly
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby Kevin Reilly » Sat Jan 18, 2025 4:23 pm

Alright. Great win. Did everything we could to mess it up at the end but pulled it out. Conwell was awful especially that last turnover. Go X
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muskieman
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby muskieman » Sat Jan 18, 2025 5:24 pm

Image
I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can't trust em.
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olsingledigit
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby olsingledigit » Sat Jan 18, 2025 8:14 pm

Kevin Reilly wrote:
Sat Jan 18, 2025 4:23 pm
Alright. Great win. Did everything we could to mess it up at the end but pulled it out. Conwell was awful especially that last turnover. Go X
Conwell was fouled on that last possession but they called a held ball instead.
Dressed to the Nines - Last of the LHS Single Digits - Dedicated to John "The Beer Spiller" McCormick, my son-in-law who passed June, 2016 at age 44. Long time Xavier fanatic and friend of many Lew Hirt Members. RIP Mac Strong! We miss you.
bluegrass
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby bluegrass » Sun Jan 19, 2025 12:58 pm

The defense has been much improved these last 2 games. Huge win. Let’s see how they play at SJU Wednesday. We got punked by them 2 weeks ago. I look for a much better game this time.
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby Kevin Reilly » Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:00 pm

Olsingledigit your right Conwell was fouled on that last play but when you run to the corner when the other team is pressing your asking for a double team or turnover. Conwell is not a good ball handler and is a turnover risk when pressured. Really the only guy who is strong with the ball and reliable is McKnight. As good as Conwell was last game and he won it ... he was equally bad this game. I can't remember a 6 foot three guard getting his outside shoot blocked 4 times in one game by a defensive guard.
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby Kevin Reilly » Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:06 pm

Connecticut72 you are right about Freemantle improving his B=ball IQ. He plays 100 times smarter than he use to.
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby Kevin Reilly » Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:36 pm

Very pleased we pulled out a tough road win against a top ten team on the road but can we really win 8 of our last 12 games? The defense was there yesterday and I would think we would have to match that effort the rest of the season to have any chance. A lot of things would have to happen for us to have a chance. Staying healthy, getting some help from the bench, no let downs against teams we would be favored to beat, Swain taking the next step and finishing around the rim. Maddox playing confidently, Some improved play from Hugley. There is no margin for a let down . A pretty tall order with this team. I'm guessing we win between 6 to 8 more games and end up N.I.T. bound
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Re: Marquette game thread

Postby Anti-Homer » Sun Jan 19, 2025 5:53 pm

SM showed that despite occasional hiccups (like not subbing in Hunter for Free in the final 8 seconds for defense and designing a play to throw it to Conwell where he got trapped), he is still one hell of a coach. I think I may be the only one qualified to judge, as no one else on this board coached CYO girls' and boys' teams to league titles in the same year, before the era of NIL, no less. He ran two creative plays to start both halves that got Free a shot at the rim. Also, you can see how disciplined all players were in staying in front of their man, completely flipping the script from the 1st game, when MQ entered the lane at will. They obviously emphasized that in practice.

It was clearly the best defensive half for the Muskies. led by McKnight, the best PG at X since Holloway (yes, I remember we had Boum), and future NBA-er (not next year) Dailyn Swain. MQ was challenged anytime they entered the lane, and most of their shots were in the last 7 seconds of the shot clock. X also deflected so many balls and changed so many shots, which is a great feat for a team whose tallest player is 6’8.”They also completely shut down Jones, and made MQ into an outside shooting team, something a very astute poster said would be key to X’s success. MQ shot 28% from 3, and 37% from 2, well below their averages. Why? Few shots were at the rim.

This is the only way X could survive, since:

- They had 8 2nd half T.O.s (only 3 in the 1st)
- Gave up 12 offensive boards.
- Shot 40%/12%/69%, all below season averages.
- Survived the worst shooting game from the co-scoring leader in Conwell (following his best), who also scored 11 points below his season average. I think getting blocked on three treys shook his confidence a bit. He did score on a key drive under 5, then set up Foster for a bucket in consecutive plays, however.

McKnight showed why he is such a valuable player. He set the tone defensively making whomever he guarded dribble parallel to the basket, then had an unbelievable block on a surefire dunk by a MQ player in the first 10 minutes. He also stopped MQ’s comeback when he converted on back-to-back, end-to-end labs, increasing the lead from 10-14. The best 3 for 9 ever. Oh, and as usual, had a 5:1 A/TO ratio, including a great pass to Free to build the 17-point lead in the 2nd half, and the great pass to Swain when he was on his rear for a dunk. Man, I’m going to miss him.

Swain is continuing his leap which started five games again. He is great at getting to the rim, and if he learned to finish, he would average 15 points a game. He also had 9 boards and an incredible six offensive ones. I’m thrilled he’ll be back next year unless his camp insists that he plays point next year. X should be 2-1 minimally, and possibly 3-0 against the two best teams in the league. They need to do the same with the Johnnies on Tuesday that they did with MQuette, which is to crowd the lane and make them shoot from the outside. A tall task, but they showed they could do it. No way Conwell doesn’t show up in this game, right?

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