You’re probably thinking ‘Charlie forgot about the Marquette game.’ Nope! I definitely didn’t. For as bad as the Green Bay Packers were this weekend, Marquette was almost as bad. Marquette Golden Eagles survived Robert Morris with a 66-62 win. It was very ugly. It felt like a loss, but it wasn’t. Robert Morris rated sub-300 team according to KenPom and they’re nearly found a way to lose to them. Should Marquette fans be worried right now or chalk it up to just a throwaway game?

Player of the Game: Brendan Bailey – This is a good bounceback game from Brendan Bailey. If you want a bit of a bright spot from this game, Bailey played pretty well for Marquette. He had 10 points and made two threes. Bailey figured out a way to get his offensive game rolling which has been an issue for him in the first three games. Hopefully, this will be a turn for Bailey against better competition next week.

One Thing to Ponder – Is it a good thing that Marquette did it without Howard and McEwen: Markus Howard only shot the ball six times. Koby McEwen only shot the ball five times. Eleven total field goal attempts by the two top scorers of Marquette feels obviously bad. But for others to pick up the slack and try to win a game is a good thing. Figuring out how to win with your best player having a bad night helps in the long run, although, it’s clear if Howard and McEwen both have bad nights against a good team, they’re gonna get blown out.

One Thing to Watch: Can they fix their turnover issues? – Marquette has 67 turnovers through four games. That’s less than stellar. Their turnover percentage currently sits at 316th in the country per KenPom. That’s not great. It is interesting to read Sacar Anim say ‘We’re force-feeding our bigs too much’ as a way to explain for it. I don’t know if I believe that entirely. While some guys have played together, most haven’t and it’s clear that is leading to more turnovers.

Next up: Marquette heads to Orlando for the Orlando Invitational to play Davidson. Many Marquette fans were nervous about this matchup heading into the season. They’ve struggled mightily to start the season losing to Wake Forest, Charlotte, and Auburn. They’re allowing a ton of points in the paint, and that’s an area where Marquette struggles this season. Can they fix that on Thursday? We shall see.

Charlie.