The Marquette Golden Eagles flew higher than the UMES Hawks in a 86-60 victory Tuesday night at the Bradley Center.

Marquette was led by Lazar Hayward and his career-high 28 points.  18 of those points came in the second half, as the Golden Eagles pulled away.

“I’m happy for him [on the career-high],” head coach Buzz Williams said.  ”We don’t need Lazar to score like that to win, but we need him to play like that.”

Hayward logged 30 minutes, and it was due to him staying out of foul trouble.

“We have to figure out a way to keep him and [Jimmy] Butler out of foul trouble in order to be successful,” Williams said.

Others had career-best performances.  Butler hit three 3-pointers, sophomore Chris Otule scored six points and David Cubillan tied a career-high with six assists.

Even though the scores don’t look different, Marquette played a very good second half against UMES.  The Golden Eagles attacked the zone, got into the paint, and hit quite a few 3-pointers.

“Anytime we can get a paint touch, it’s an automatic bucket” Otule said.  ”We have a lot of options in the post.”

Butler led the 3-point charge, as he connected on all three attempts.  Junior Dwight Buycks and Cubillan hit two, Hayward, Darius Johnson-Odom and Maurice Acker hit three’s as well.

Marquette’s second half was easily the best half of basketball it has played in the regular season, as the Golden Eagles outscored UMES 30-12 in the paint.

The team still has a long way to go, but the silver lining is that they are winning their early games by a wide margin.  Pittsburgh beat Wofford by three, Georgetown escaped with a win, Seton Hall won by 2 at home to St. Peters.  UCLA dropped their game, snapping a 37-game home win streak.

Game Notes:  Hayward moved into 26th place on MU’s all-time scoring list.  He’s one point behind Dwyane Wade…Cubillan ha 12 assists compared to two turnovers this year… Butler scored 96% of his points in the paint of from the line last year – that number should shrink considerably this year…Joe Fulce started, but only played six minutes.  His right knee was bruised and had to be drained vs. Centenary.  He is considered day-to-day…This was the first game ever between UMES and Marquette.

MU's Jimmy Butler fighting for a loose ball.

The Marquette Golden Eagles are entering the 2009-2010 basketball campaign projected to finish 12th in the Big East and are going to have to replace one of their best classes in school history of Jerel McNeal, Dominic James and Wesley Matthews. While critics seem to be sour on Marquette, those surrounding the program think they can do better than 12th, based on a strong freshman class, among other things.

That said, I saw the team play for the first time last night and here’s what I took away from the MU-Centenary game.

What I liked:

-Jimmy Butler- played a great all-around game scoring a career-high 27 points and 13 boards. He created his own shot and hustled all-around. He was MU’s best player by far in this game and has matured a ton since his first game last year. He went from a 8th man last year to the #2 guy this year based on situation and his development.

-Jeronne Maymon’s aggressiveness- He got the ball in the post a decent amount of times, and drove a couple other times drawing some fouls. He didn’t finish at the basket the way I would have liked, but he’s a freshman, with time to grow and develop. He played against a much smaller team, but he reminded me of Lazar when he played his rookie season at MU.

-Darius Johnson-Odom- This isn’t based on anything but the eye-test, but he looks like the best newcomer on this team. His shot looks really natural and smooth, he is very fluid on offense and I’m excited to see what he can do when he’s out on the floor. He has been fighting some injuries of late, but looks like he could be a solid player on this team.

-David Cubillian/Mo Acker- These seniors will be running the point for Marquette and both played like veterans. They didn’t make any major mistakes and know Coach Buzz Williams’ offense as well as anyone. They both made good decisions with the basketball and didn’t force the shots they took.

Distribution of the ball- MU moved the ball around a lot and got plenty of good looks as a result. Three players had four or more assists, DJO, Dwight Buycks and Cubillian. This team plays unselfish and with a variety of weapons on offense, they aren’t afraid to get everyone involved.

What I didn’t like:

-Lazar Hayward- In addition to him getting in foul trouble early, which has been a knock on him for a while, he struggled to get any offense going. He missed all three of his 3-pointers and didn’t dominate the way he could have. He is MU’s best player and he needs to find a way to stay on the floor

-Chris Otule- I keep hearing how much he has improved from last year and to be honest, he doesn’t look anything special. Granted it was one game, but his hands didn’t look too good, two turnovers and two fouls in six minutes. He needs to be more aggressive on the boards. I’m not sure what to expect him from, but I’m not expecting him to provide any significant contributions.

-Fouls- Marquette committed 12 team fouls in the first half, and Hayward picked up his 4th with 12 minutes left to go in the game. They were lazy at times and out of position other times, resulting in the volume of fouls called

-Team Defense- Marquette looked poor on defense, especially on rotations and back screens. They allowed too many layups and reached way too much. Buzz has preached about the importance of defense since day 1 and MU still has a bunch to learn before getting to where they need to be.

-Offense vs Zones- MU faced a 3-2 defense and it was tough for them to move the ball around, and when they did it was around the perimeter. They didn’t get much dribble penetration against the zone.

What I do like about the non-conference schedule is that it allows coaches to experiment with different lineups and I’d like to see what Buzz does with a lot of new faces.

Joe Fulce looks to bring energy to the 2009/2010 Golden Eagles

In the weeks leading up to the first game of the season, most college basketball players and coaches shy away from making predictions or guarantees.

But then there’s Joe Fulce.

Two days before Marquette Madness, Fulce has guaranteed a title: The 2009 Dunk Contest championship.

“The dunk contest will be fun this year because I’m going to win it!” Fulce laughed.  “I’m representing for the lean, long, dunk machines.”

Obviously the season is more important than a dunk contest for the fans, but with his prediction, Fulce is telling everyone that he is healthy for the 2009-10 season.

“I’m in the best shape that I’ve ever been in,” Fulce said.  “I haven’t had any problems or any pain, just rehabbing hard every day.”

Head coach Buzz Williams agrees that Joe has looked strong.  “Six weeks into what we’ve been doing, he’s looked good.  He hasn’t missed a workout, hasn’t missed a sprint.  He’ll be able to help us for sure.”

Fulce has spent a lot of time rehabbing on his own this summer while recovering from knee surgery.  When the rest of the team went home in August, Fulce stayed in Milwaukee.

A lot of credit has to be given to assistant trainer Ernest Eugene, who has worked with Fulce since his surgery.  Williams said that Fulce spends time before and after every workout with Eugene strengthening his knee.

“I had at least three rehab sessions a day that lasted two hours, just getting all the muscles strong around my knee.  I wore compression sleeves all the time, and iced all night.  I came back a lot earlier than expected thanks a lot to Ernest.”

The work has paid off for Fulce, and he feels it after this most recent boot camp.

“After boot camp last year, I couldn’t walk up the stairs because of my knee.  This year, it feels good.  It’s a good feeling.”

Fulce expects to bring a lot of energy to this year’s team.  He has been playing a few different positions during summer workouts, and he feels he’s flexible enough to contribute from several different spots during the regular season.

“Right now, my position is an energy guy,” Fulce stated.  “I want to run my opponent down until he has to sub out.  I really think I can help on the boards and use my length in the passing lane.”

His teammates have also noticed his improvements, including newcomer Darius Johnson-Odom.

“Joe’s been looking real good,” Johnson-Odom said.  “One day in the gym, he did a reverse dunk that was amazing.  Jimmy tried to block his dunk, so he reversed and did the dunk on the other side.”

The wait has for Fulce been a long one, with transfers and injuries limiting him to 11 games a year ago.  This year, Fulce is ready to help the team. Even ready enough to answer the question of team expectations straight.

“We’re going to surprise a lot of people,” Fulce said.  “Predictions are tough, expectations are what they are, but all I can say is, expect the unexpected this year.”

This article can be found at Marquette Hoops and on my site.