The Marquette Golden Eagles suffered their first loss of the season in the hands of Iowa State Cyclones but there are still positives to take from the game. Coach Shaka Smart finally has a good bench.
The Golden Eagles bowed to the Cyclones, 70-81, with some of his starters unable to produce the numbers expected of them.
Stevie Mitchell and Kai Jones led the way with 13 and 14 points, respectively. David Joplin only had eight while forward Ben Gold only had 5 points.
Royce Parham topscored for them with 17 points while Damarius Owens provided 11. They played 23 and 26 minutes, respectively, and that turned out to be a much needed relief as other starters struggled.
Smart praised the duo and called them talented offensive players.
“Not surprised at all that those guys had big offensive nights,” he told reporters after the game.
Parham and Owens’ performance is reflective of what the team has been building around.
Smart previously explained that him shuffling the line-up constantly is their way of getting his players to achieve a certain standard and make sure that everybody will fulfill their role, whether as a starter or as a reserve
Marquette Golden Eagles bench still has something to improve says Shaka Smart
Although he commended the bench, he thinks they can still improve defensively.
We need to grow them up in other areas of the game because this is not like football when you run off the field when the defense is in. Where we lost the game tonight, you can point to a lot of things. We could not put the ball into the basket but we have to be sounder defensively. Tougher, stronger, sturdier on the defensive end than we were tonight if you want to go on the road and beat a top 10 team.
Marquette fans expect a different team come the next game.
The team will face state rivals Wisconsin Badgers next. The latter struggled in their last game, too, and lost to Michigan Wolverines.
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