Marquette University Athletics
Marquette Men's Basketball Captures Season Opener
11/20/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 1999
By Lori Nickel of the Journal Sentinel staff
You can look at this season opener two ways.
The Golden Eagles gave their coach Tom Crean his first career victory. Marquette should have never struggled with a team that was 3-24 last year.
Or . . .
Marquette overcame a wretched shooting performance and used all 11 men to stave off a hungry Chicago State team with nothing to lose.
Either way, the Golden Eagles defeated Chicago State, 62-43, Saturday at the Bradley Center in front of 7,613 fans to win its ninth straight season opener. Marquette's Tom Crean got his first career victory and former Marquette player and assistant coach Bo Ellis showed he could be a head coach, too, with a much-improved Chicago State team that at times gave Marquette fits.
"The first win is nice," said Crean. "We've got a long way to go. I know that's one of the most overused cliches in the world, but that's where we're at. . . . I really appreciate all the fans that came out. I just hope they start to bring friends with them so we can start to get more people here and build a real home-court advantage."
The game was difficult to dissect if one is looking for a clue as to how Marquette will fare the rest of the season. There was good, and bad. And stats that looked good but were really bad.
Example: Though Marquette outrebounded Chicago State, 54-47, Crean was not happy with the rebounding and blocking out effort because his Golden Eagles gave up 22 offensive boards.
But Marquette did not collapse.
"We did pretty good," said senior John Cliff. "There were some rocky points, at times. Collectively, we turned to each other and found a way to win."
Senior Bart Miller threw in eight points, six of them in a crucial second-half run that resulted in Marquette grabbing a 47-35 lead with 7 minutes 48 seconds left. Sophomore Jon Harris hauled in 10 rebounds in 20 minutes. And Marquette's offense came from nine different faces, led by senior Cliff's 14 points and sophomore Oluoma Nnamaka's 11.
Marquette jumped out to a 27-18 lead after Cliff sank a clean jump shot and at that point, the Golden Eagles were in control. All 11 Golden Eagles (minus freshman Krunti Hester, who is nursing an ankle injury) had checked in by that point, even Greg Clausen, who returned from knee surgery to play 11 minutes.
But Marquette's shooting plummeted. So despite 26.9% shooting by Chicago State, the Cougars trailed at halftime by just three points (27-24) when 5-foot-4 guard Jermaine Hicks hit a pull-up jumper.
Marquette didn't help its cause by shooting 34% from the field, 15% from three-point land, and 59% from the free throw line. Cliff tried to lead this team offensively but shot 6 of 18 and 1 of 8 from the three-point arc. Starting center John Mueller, at 6-11, was blocked. Nearly everyone blew layups.
"Our defense was excellent. . . . we held them to 34%," Ellis said. "But we only shot 25% ourselves."
Some of Marquette's irregularity may be explained. Cordell Henry was under the weather this week, so Brian Barone got the start and the bulk of the playing time at point guard. Brian Wardle missed almost all of the first half because he was woozy from an early bump that gave him a slight concussion.
And then Crean tried multiple lineups.
"Everyone has a role on this team," said Cliff. "No, actually, I'm going to contradict myself, I'm sorry. No role is really set right now. He's just trying to find things that work right now. I think everyone right now is trying to feel everyone out."
Marquette went with a zone defense midway through the second half not so much because Chicago State crept in for so many offensive rebounds, but because the Cougars also drove to the basket too easily and too frequently for Crean's taste.
The Cougars were tied with Marquette, 32-32, when their leading scorer, Tim Bryant, banked in two of his 15 points with 15:40 left. But then Marquette buckled down on defense, Bryant fouled out, and the Golden Eagles rolled on.
"I knew people would be warm to me, that's the way they've always been since I've been coming to Milwaukee," said Ellis. "And it was fun.
"The majority of the (Marquette) kids here, I had a hand in bringing them here. And I had good relationships with them, and for sure, they didn't want to have to see me all summer to have bragging rights on this game."
