For Friar fans thinking the team could have a spirited effort and score a top-10 victory over Marquette to end 2024, they had another thing coming Tuesday night. The Friars came out looking ok but it didn’t last long as Marquette would ratchet up the defensive intensity. The rout was on. PC would start the game scoring ten points in the game’s first three minutes. The Friars would only score 10 more points for the remainder of the first half and found themselves in an insurmountable deficit at the break, trailing 47-20.
The second half the Friars played a much more respectable brand of basketball; however, they never showed any remote signs of potentially trying to comeback. Marquette would cruise to a 28-point victory in one of the worst performances the Friars have had at home in a decade.
Marquette outplayed the Friars in every facet of the game. The Friars allowed Marquette to hit 11 threes, have a +16 edge in points in the paint and score 27 points off of PC’s 22 turnovers. When Marquette wasn’t hitting threes, it was a layup line with the Friars providing zero resistance. Kam Jones and the rest of the Golden Eagles essentially toyed with the Friars all night. PC actually won the rebounding battle but there was a sequence in the second half that was emblematic of the entire game. With the game all but over Anton Bonke blocked Damarius Owen’s layup, Marquette would then get the offensive rebound, miss a three, get another offensive rebound, miss a three, get another rebound and Owen’s would lay it in for two. The Friars showed zero want to in this one, and it was pretty disappointing.
Being in attendance for this game was rough. The place was packed and ready to will the Friars to a victory but as soon as the team faced a little adversity, they collapsed like a deck of cards. Throughout the game there were a smattering of boos. Personally I don’t care for booing the home team, but the way they played in this one you can’t really blame some of the Friar faithful to boo. It was that bad of a performance.
So where do the Friars go from here? They now sit at 7-7 on the year and hit a new low after that loss to Marquette for what has seemed like month plus of lows. The coaching has come under fire, and it’s hard to defend at this juncture. Their offense is so bad it almost feels impossible to envision this team being competitive the rest of the season. Defense has been their calling card but the offense puts them on the defensive so much that their wills to defend would ultimately wane, and it certainly did Tuesday night. Hearing Coach English in the post game press conference you continue to get a sense that the players just aren’t executing what he is looking to execute. There are fingers being pointed in multiple different directions but one thing seems clear: something needs to change.
Getting Bryce Hopkins back in the lineup should help some things but are we sure that’s even going to happen? Bryce is coming off significant knee surgery and you certainly don’t want to see him push it to the point where he blows out his knee again. However Kim English keeps saying he’s day to day, but he hasn’t played in 21 days. That doesn’t sound like day-to-day to me. Kim said they’ll see if he can have good days these next few and hope they have in back for Sunday’s game against UConn, I’m highly skeptical he suits up for that one. I’d feel badly for Bryce and his family if he is seriously hurt and is having to face this incessant chatter that’s going on amongst the fan base in regard to the PC star forward’s future. I’ve been fighting these chatter and rumors for some time, but it’s gotten to the point where you’d have to wonder if he ever returns for the Friars again this season.
With or without Hopkins the Friars need to find a way to play better. You would hope that these players are looking in the mirror realizing they are much better than what they’ve shown. Playing at UConn on Sunday is probably the last tilt you’d want the Friars to play to get out of this rut. I’d expect this thing to get worse before it gets better but hopefully the Friars can figure some things out and be more competitive as we enter 2025.
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It’s hard to imagine that given the make up of this team that, a turnaround is in order but, I sure would like to see what happens if Hopkins became available to play for the rest of the season. My guess is that wish will not be forthcoming and in fact, the best case scenario would be a red shirt year. The question is whether he combines a red shirt with a transfer. In regards to the reality of this season, I honestly believe that Kim has boxed himself in an unenviable position. He made promises to the portal players, we will play an NBA style offense which will give you the best chance of going on to the next level. Unfortunately, I think that, even if he wants to play Mela and Oswin more he simply can’t. If he doesn’t keep his word to this initial portal group then, word is going to travel that he’s not honest and that is a future killer using the portal. So we’re stuck with this offensive system and the not ready for prime time portal players. Defensively, the NBA plays very little zone so, even when the play on the court screams for Kim to get into a zone, he simply refuses. Against Marquette, PC had the height advantage but Marquette had the speed and quickness advantage. As the game went on, it was apparent that we couldn’t guard their quicker players and as a result it looked like they were offensively in lay up lines. Had we at least sat back into a zone, we had options like putting Oswin and Bonk in at the same time which would have forced Marquette to shoot from the outside. No adjustments made and a blow out ensued.
I’m not one who wants Kim’s head on a platter. No way! This guy is respected, can recruit and once he and his staff figure out the portal, I am extremely confident in the future but until then, its going to be ugly.
And by ugly I mean, on January 25th at the AMP in front of a standing room only crowd, Thomas Sorber, Jayden Epps, Drew Fielder and the traitor known as eddie cooley may indeed put a licking on this group of sad sack Friars.
And as a result, the booing you heard the other night will sound like a soft lullaby compared to the vitriolic reaction to losing that game to that team and that despicable person.