Marquette Golden Eagles keep putting together an impressive non-conference resume. They went to Manhattan, Kansas and outworked, outhustled the Kansas State Wildcats. Everyone expected this game to be close, and it wasn’t. Marquette jumped out to a first-half lead then held on in the second half despite a couple of spirited runs by the Cats. This might have been Marquette’s most complete game of the season. They played an excellent first half then held strong in the second half to win by eight points, 73-65.

Player of the Game: Jamal Cain – What a game from Cain. He continues to have a great season for Marquette. This is the type of development you hope with a player. This is the breakout game for him. He scored 17 points, 9 rebounds and stopped almost every run that Kansas State put together in the second half. Cain played 33 minutes and had an offensive rating of 146. This is the last game that he will be starting the game on the bench unless he’s comfortable beginning the game there.

Crashing the offensive glass! Jamal Cain of @MarquetteMBB #PTRW Cain didn’t get the pass, instead of pouting and standing, he did the right thing. pic.twitter.com/Z2Y2wJ73fF

— Steve Finamore (@CoachFinamore) December 8, 2019

Honorable Mention: Sacar Anim – He didn’t have exactly the best game, but I like what Anim has been doing on offense in the last three games. Anim has been more aggressive than we’ve seen out of him for a majority of his Marquette career. I like the fact that Anim is taking more shots and trying to be a scorer on offense. If Marquette gets regular production from Anim and Cain, they’re going to be very good.

One Thing I Liked: Marquette’s defense is legit good – I said this on The Daily Tap today, but this is the first Steve Wojciechowski team that matches the personality of its coach. For the first time, Wojo has a defense-first team who works their asses off on defense. They can be part of the top tier of the Big East this season with this defense.

Resume Watch: As I said, Marquette has put together one of the best resumes in college basketball. Now, they’re going to need to keep winning games to be part of the NCAA Tournament conversation, and if they want to be a top seed in March. It will not be easy in a tough Big East, but this team looks like they have the makeup to do it.

Next up: Marquette enjoys 10 days off for finals and they will be back at it against Grambling State on December 17th. Grambling State is the worst team that Marquette will likely face this season. Hopefully, Markus Howard can get right before the Big East season.

Charlie.