The Marquette Golden Eagles took care of business against Presbyterian College in an 84-66 win. The victory boosted Marquette's record to 10-2 and stretched its winning streak to nine games. However, it wasn't always a pretty game, and head coach Steve Wojciechowski had some harsh words about Marquette's lackadaisical play after the match.
"I don't want to take anything away from Presbyterian, because I thought their kids played hard, but we did not play well in any facet of the game," Wojciechowski said in his postgame news conference. "I don't really look at any portions of the game with excitement or enthusiasm."
Marquette earned the win but allowed Presbyterian, ranked 337th out of 351 teams on KenPom.com, to make it a close game at times. The Golden Eagles shot only 34% in the first half and led by less than ten at halftime. The ups and downs continued as their lead thinned to eight with 7:57 left in the game. A 17-6 run, however, boosted Marquette's lead to 19 points with a little over two minutes left in the game. Despite the win, the team finished with a poor field goal percentage of 41%.
"There's a number of things on both ends of the floor — defensive intensity, execution of the game plan on the defensive end, offensively playing sharp, playing to our identity," Wojciechowski listed when asked what needs to be improved. "There's a laundry list too long to go through."
Marquette is done with its non-conference games and will begin its Big East schedule on December 30th against Seton Hall. The Pirates, along with most of the conference, will present a tough match for the Golden Eagles. The Big East boasts four teams ranked in the AP Top-25, including three teams in the top ten. The rest of the conference is strong as well; eight out of the ten teams rank in KenPom's top 100.
Marquette is so far on the path to achieving its three necessary goals for an NCAA Tournament bid. They are the following:
1. Finish 8-0 against teams not ranked in KenPom.com's top-100.
2. Finish 7-8 against teams ranked in KenPom.com's top-100, including one top-30 win.
3. Beat Wisconsin.
So far, Marquette is 3-0 against teams not in KenPom.com's top-100, 1-0 against teams ranked in KenPom.com's top-100, and the victor of the annual game against Wisconsin. In short: things are turning out well.
Marquette's 10-2 start matches the author's preseason prediction. The two losses, however, were predicted to be against LSU and Wisconsin, and they turned out to be against Belmont and Iowa.
The author predicted Marquette to endure a 1-2 start to the Big East schedule, which included a win against Seton Hall and a loss to Georgetown and Providence. Seton Hall is 10-2 and ranked 47th on KenPom.com. Providence is ranked 10th in the AP Top-25 poll. Georgetown has underperformed in a 7-5 start with losses to Radford and UNC-Asheville.
A win over Seton Hall could potentially lift Marquette into the AP Top-25 poll. It would be a momentum boost for what hopes to be an NCAA Tournament team -- and a footstep in the right direction for cultivating the intensity, execution, and sharpness that can help the Golden Eagles make madness in March.