Marquette arrived with a tough game against VCU at the Maui Invitational with a potential matchup against a top ten team tomorrow with number six Wichita State. This was a great test for Marquette to see where there are as a team. They passed with flying colors. Other than a rocky start, the Golden Eagles had full control of this game beating VCU, 94-83. After a tight first half, Markus Howard and Sam Hauser’s offense proved to be the difference to help Marquette separate in this game. What an impressive effort by Marquette in general, but these two were so key in victory.

Markus Howard plays one of his most complete games as a Marquette player.
Sure, we did not see Howard get going until the second half, but he did so much more than just scoring throughout the full 40 minutes. Howard finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. That’s a helluva stat line for the sophomore. He scored 18 points in the second half along with four threes. Howard looked great out there in all facets, and I feel like we’re seeing a maturation in his game.

Sam Hauser is so goddamn special
Oh boy, let’s get ready for Sam Hauser man crush. I think all Marquette fans are having it right now because he’s awesome. Hauser is a Swiss Army Knife who can give you everything in a basketball game, and he did just that especially in the second half. He scored a career-high 20 points and nine rebounds with five offensive boards. He also rained in four threes especially some big ones in the second half.

Marquette’s passing was beautiful
Golden Eagles had 18 assists, but in a lot of ways, they had so many more hockey assists in this one. Marquette did a wonderful job passing the ball. They were fundamentally sound in always finding the open shooter or scorer. The other part of this that was great unselfish basketball that never seemed overboard where players were trying to make the extra pass far too often. Sacar Amin seemed to always be involved with making those hockey assists that set-up the score on the subsequent pass.

Freshman showed some nice signs
One thing to keep an eye on as this Maui Invitational goes on is the freshman for Marquette seeing some meaningful minutes and responding well to it. Theo John gave the team 17 great minutes and scored six points with four boards. Jamal Cain and Greg Elliott both contributed in other ways early on in this game.

Next up
You thought Purdue was a challenge, wait until you see Wichita State. Some are saying they’re the best team in the country with all of their starters back. This is a great challenge for Marquette. Maybe I’m drunk off the game I just watched on DVR, but I feel like they may have a chance. The soft rims at Maui really favors a team like Marquette who can score at will.

Charlie.