Marquette Scouting Report
- Sam Bourne
- Nov 22, 2023
- 5 min read
Purdue will face another familiar non-conference opponent in the Maui Invitiatinal championship. Coached by Shaka Smart, Marquette is a fast paced, aggressive, and extremely skilled that proved what they can do with wins over UCLA and Kansas on their way to the championship game. This team is led by the trio of Tyler Kolek, Kam Jones, and Oso Ighodaro with solid supporting pieces that make them the one of the favorites in the Big East.
Golden Eagles Flying High
Ranked as the sixth best offense in the country, the Golden Eagles are a menace to defend. This starts with Tyler Kolek's ability to get to the rim and setup teammates. His running mate Kam Jones is a pure scorer who pairs his elite shooting with quickness that punishes teams who are too aggressive takinga way his shot. Although these guards are awesome, maybe the most important player is Oso Ighodaro. The big is an elite screener and his short rolling puts a ton of strain on defenses that are trying to contain Kolek and Jones. Also in the starting lineup, power forward David Jopplin is a solid scorer that had a lot of success against Purdue in Mackey a year ago. The fun for Marquette doesn't stop with the starters, Sean Jones and Ben Gold off the bench are solid scoreres with Jones using his quickness to attack the basket and Gold stretching the floor with some shooting.
Offensive Actions
The Marquette offense is built around dribble penetration to create advantages that flows into continuous actions involving Oso as a hub for the guards. Marquette will try to push the pace and everyone on the floor has the greenlight to try to get to the rim to score. They space the floor extremely well and give guys like Kolek a ton of space to breakdown their defender. Look for a lot of dribble handoffs and pick and rolls involving Oso and the plethora of Marquette guards.
ATO for Marquette
Marquette's movement around Oso
ATO for Marquette - Non-big setting the ballscreen is always a distraction
Player Profiles
#11 - Kolek
The lefty point guard is extremely crafty and understands how to operate in ball screens actions extremely well. He is nearly unstoppable when he gets to his left hand both finishing and passing. Force him to his right hand and he will become more of a passer. Help defense needs to be extremely active but the most important thing is on ball defenders taking away his left hand and forcing him right.
#1 - Jones
Very talented lefty guard, Shaka Smart has weaponized his off ball movement alongside Oso. Defenders need to be focused on disrupting his initial movement and be ready for him to cut backdoor or give some type of fake. He is another play like Kolek in the fact that he wants to finish with his left hand. On ball defenders, it is very important to take away his left hand and be ready his cuts especially as soon as he passes the ball he loves to rellocate to the three point line.
#13 - Ighodaro
Oso serves as the hub for the Marquette offense has great touch and agility around the basket. He passes well from the top of the key, but he is not super aggressive with drives. He doesn't shoot from outside 12 feet and really only has that shot put floater that he goes to frequently around the basket. Be ready for his short roll game, he is an effective screener and gets downhill on his rolls quickly. He is also an effective offensive rebounder by hitting the ball out to the perimeter for another player to get the rebound. Prime candidate to foul in late game situations with his poor free throw shooting.
#23 - Joplin
A well built stretch power forward that has a solid scoring fame off the dribble as well as on the catch. He is scoring oriented and will use his body to create space for his pullup. He is not super quick, so the priority is taking away his threes and digging at the ball on his drives.
#4 - Mitchell
An athletic defender that fits what Marquette is doing on the defensive end of the floor. On offense, he has struggled mightily shooting and does not create offense in the half court. On ball defender can roam off to help in the paint.
#22 - Jones
Really really quick backup point guard who has excelled when attacking the rim. He has not proven to the ability to shoot from three with a career 28% 3-point percentage so treat him in a similar manner to Zeigler from Tennessee. Help off of him and closeout with the expectation of a physical drive. He can play out of control at times so on ball defender needs to be disciplined and help defenders can be selectively aggressive to poke the ball loose from Jones.
#2 - Ross
An athletic guard coming off the bench for Marquette. He has shot 59% on 2-pointers and 33% from 3.
#12 - Gold
Strictly a stretch big for Marquette
Marquette's Defense
The Golden Eagles weaponize their lack of size with quickness and effort throughout the roster. Marquette is going to be extremely aggressive in order to speed up their opponent. This hectic style of defense works for Smart's team because of they are excellent in on the fly rotations. The man to man style is misleading because it quickly morphs into a connected blur of players rotating to cover up threats from all over the floor.
Marquette's Defense Principles
On ball defenders are aggressive trying to get deflections.
Weakside defense is treated like a zone and low man is ready to provide early help.
Aggressive gap defense digging at drives
Expect them to double the post with Joplin against Purdue
Mixes pick and roll coverages
Hard Hedge
Semi-drop
Trap
Predicted Defensive Matchups
Braden Smith - Stevie Mitchell
Lance Jones - Tyler Kolek
Fletcher Loyer - Kam Jones
Trey Kauffman-Renn - David Joplin
Zach Edey - Oso Ighodaro
Purdue's Gameplan
Establish the post
Weakside corner movement is vital for an efficient offense created from the post
Get the ball to TKR early and often and let Edey dominate the offensive glass
Lifting weakside players to the wing to open up post lobs to Edey
Controlled paint touches leading to perimeter back cuts
Basic PnRs will rarely work, getting into the paint and being patient with pass fakes will open up backcuts from the perimeter.
Cut against the defensive flow
Opportunistic transition offense
Early shot clock post offense against a scrambling Marquette defense
Attacking space and forcing Marquette's guards to play a step behind.
Hold onto the ball
Keep the ball high or the ball is gone
Be on balance, give a lot of pass fakes to open up backcuts.
Shallow drives, seeing the gap help and moving the ball into more space.
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