Marquette University Athletics
Marquette Men's Cagers Tops Nunawading Spectres
11/15/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 15, 1999
By Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff
The exhibition gave Marquette University just what it needed: a look at a few other faces, different lineups and a chance to gear up for the season opener.
The Golden Eagles men's basketball team defeated the Nunawading Spectres of World Wide Basketball, 76-54, Monday night in front of an announced crowd of 7,215 at the Milwaukee Arena.
It wasn't a surprise that the Golden Eagles trounced the Australians (0-6). Marquette had a week of preparation since its last exhibition game.
Besides, this was Nunawading Spectres' sixth game in 11 days, and they have lost all of their games by double-digits (including a 50-point blowout to Brigham Young). This was also their third game in three days and although the Australian team played hard, it didn't have the height inside or the stamina to keep up with Marquette.
Marquette did a lot of things right in this final trial run before the season opener Saturday against Chicago State.
The offensive rebounding was impressive, even if the Australians' tallest starter stood 6 feet 8 inches. Second-, third- and fourth-chance opportunities for MU were created because Bart Miller, Jon Harris and John Polonowski crashing the boards. Marquette finished with 47 rebounds - 19 of them offensive - compared with 28 for Spectres.
Marquette, which had a 37-21 halftime lead, also spread the offense around effectively and continued its efforts to push the ball upcourt whenever possible.
The Golden Eagles got scoring from all 10 players who played, giving coach Tom Crean at least early indications that his team will have depth.
Junior Brian Wardle led the way with 14 points and five assists. Forward Oluoma Nnamaka scored 14, too. Senior guard John Cliff also added some flash with a few nice moves and 13 points, and the leading rebounder was Harris with 10. Marquette shot 54.5% in the second half while playing everyone.
Sometimes the Golden Eagles pushed too hard in their uptempo game, losing the handle on a dribble or sending a pass to the third row, which all contributed to 16 turnovers.
"We're still trying to keep the turnovers down," Nnamaka said. "We have to keep working on that."
Point guards Cordell Henry and Brian Barone looked upcourt more often than in the last exhibition game, as did rebounders who routinely sent outlet passes upstream.
"One of the things we wanted to do was run and that's one of the things we'll try to establish throughout the year," Wardle said. "Keep running, box out, get out and go."
Marquette went to the free-throw line only six times (and 14 in the two exhibition games), one statistic that pleased Crean was 20 assists.
"That's excellent, to me," Crean said. "That was a goal."
The starters were Henry, Cliff, Wardle, Polonowski and John Mueller. Nnamaka came off the bench, partly because he had missed some practice time with the flu.
Crean said he wasn't sure when he would settle on his lineup, using the exhibition to look at different combinations.
Junior center Greg Clausen dressed, warmed up but did not play, and freshman Krunti Hester did not dress because of an ankle injury that has hampered his practice time the last week and a half.
Clausen has been out with a torn ligament in his left knee, but Crean said he wwould be evaluated this week to see if he is ready for the regular season opener.
"It was a great opportunity for him, mentally, to get out there," Crean said. "He has been practicing (but) nothing live to this point. Once we know more, we won't be in a position to rush him. We're going to ease him back into it."
