Marquette University let Stonehill know they are the bigger fish in their Thursday Big East match-up as they dominated their visitors, 94-59, through the lead of star forward David Joplin.
The 6’8 received a 5-star rating from the Big East IG account with his 27 points on an efficient 83.3 field goal shooting.
This is a follow-up to his previous game against the Georgia Bulldogs where he scored 29 points.
His coach Shaka Smart said the game showed how the BIG EAST All-Academic Team member is starting to mature.
“He’s playing with more maturity. He’s acting with more maturity,” Smart said.
“I liked his posture. I liked the look on his face. He’s playing to win. He’s internalizing our game theme. He’s internalizing our defensive priorities. And those things make you a leader on a team like ours.”
The three games before Joplin’s two-game outburst were something meant to be forgotten.
Marquette Universith won all three games against Purdue Boilermakers, Maryland Terrapins, and Central Michigan Chippewas but Joplin hardly made an impact as he failed to break into double digit scoring.
David Joplin explains key to his high scoring game
Stonehill was not much of a challenge for Marquette Universiy but Joplin himself had a personal battle with himself.
He won it based on the result of the game and his personal statistics. How did he do it?
The 22-year-old senior said he is just trying to more aggressive.
Try to just be who I am. Try to get the game going early.
I feel like some games I’m more passive. Just trying to be more aggressive and try to get it started from the jump.
He also tied to a little of everything being the more senior member and being among his team’s top players.
Crashing hard. Sprinting back. Talking. Pointing. Guarding. Those are the things that they said they needed from me. I got to be able to bring that, regardless of how I’m doing scoring the ball.
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