Team #80 - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
On Tuesday October 9, 2021 I was able to see my 80th Division I College Basketball team. SIUE took on the Marquette Golden Eagles to open the 2021-22 College Basketball Season. I knew absolutely nothing about SIUE going into this game other than they play in the Ohio Valley. I was expecting a blowout after SIUE was defeated by Division II opponent Quincy College in an exhibition game in the previous days. This game also marked the start of a new era for Marquette, as this was the first game under new Coach Shaka Smart. Based on the little information I had about the game, I expected Marquette to blow the doors off of SIUE but that was not the case. SIUE had solid guard play, they just did not make any three pointers. When you shot 2 of 14 from three point range, you can't expect to win many games.
You could tell Marquette was still feeling things out. I guess I should have seen this coming with a new coach and four transfers in your starting lineup. It should be no surprise to anyone that Shaka Smart was pressing the entire game. At first I was confused by this, truly I did not feel that Marquette had the athletes to press a full game. Marquette really struggled to press. Early on Smart featured, Freshman Justin Lewis and Tyler Kolek on the wings of the press. SIUE was able to get many easily layups early on as the wings of Lewis and Kolek were not dropping fast enough once the ball was advanced up the court. The pressure really started to get to SIUE once Freshman Oso Ighodaro came into the game. He had a couple of deflections and steals which helped Marquette get on a roll defensively. The one player I was very curious about with Marquette was Darryl Morsell. Morsell, is a transfer from Maryland. At Maryland, he was a very defensive minded player but it was obvious very early that he will be the man at Marquette. Morsell, will certainly be Marquette's best player this year and finished with 21 in this game. Despite some unforced errors, SIUE made it kept it within 5-10 points most of the game. But in the end, Marquette would begin the Shaka Smart era with an 88-77 win over the SIUE Cougars.
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