It was a tale of two halves Sunday afternoon in Chicago. And not the usual tale of two teams with better performing halves that make the game close in the end, but a tale of two standout scoring performances in their respective sessions that catapulted Indiana to an easy win over Marquette at the Waterkeeper Alliance Invitational at the United Center.
At the final open practice before the season began, head coach Shaka Smart spoke about how excited he and his team were to play two early-season neutral site games at the United Center in Chicago, the first of which a clash with Big Ten and college basketball staple: Indiana. Experience aside, this was not the excitement that Marquette was looking for.
Indiana controlled the game early and often behind one of the best first halves that you’ll see from a scoring standpoint. Marquette chased around Drake and then West Virginia transfer Tucker DeVries all half to no avail, as DeVries poured in 24 first-half points on 8-12 shooting and 5 threes on 7 tries. Indiana got great ball movement in their half-court sets, screening DeVries for open looks and leaving Marquette a half-step late in many of their recoveries. The Hoosiers took advantage, and cruised into the half up by 18.
The second half told the same tale, but the lead character had changed to Sam Houston senior transfer Lamar Wilkerson. Wilkerson led Indiana with 15 second half points, all coming from behind the arc where he shot 5-7 in the half. Marquette tried multiple defensive looks, including focusing on shutting down Devries in the second half, but Indiana was able to counter with performance elsewhere. Marquette cut the lead to as little as 10 points in the second half, but ultimately couldn’t keep up with the Hoosiers as they took their first loss of the season, 100-77.
A tough loss that looked pretty bad at times still gives us an opportunity to check the positive takeaways sheet. Marquette did a fantastic job at getting to the line, shooting 29-33, their highest efficiency in three seasons. Penetrating guards Nigel James Jr. and Chase Ross drew the most contact, combining for 18-21 from the stripe. The Golden Eagles also won a rare rebound war, outpacing the Hoosiers 38-34 on the boards, a win that Shaka and his staff will take. Chase Ross led Marquette with 19 points, followed by a career-high 16 points from freshman point guard Nigel James Jr.
Marquette ultimately lost the game on the defensive end of the floor, as consistent open looks led to some gaudy box score lines for two of Indiana’s top transfers, and going -7 in the turnover battle(a statistic that Marquette takes an enormous amount of pride in), certainly didn’t help. The team has many young contributors who play a major role in the team’s success, and losses like these end up being learning experiences for the road ahead. Oh, and we’re pretty sure that Indiana is good.
The road ahead moves back to Milwaukee for a Wednesday night matchup with the Ohio Valley Conference’s preseason pick to win the conference, Little Rock at 7pm CST on ESPN+.
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Check out our coverage of Drake punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament in 2024 with Indiana transfers Tucker DeVries and Conor Enright
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