Notes: Sam Hauser breaks out of slump in big way
On February 1, freshman Sam Hauser was one of Marquette's few bright spots in an 86-72 loss at St. John's, scoring 14 points and going 4 of 8 from beyond the three-point line. In the games between that contest and the rematch at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Tuesday night, Hauser ran into the first extended rut of his career.
Over that four-game span, Hauser scored just 12 points, including a scoreless effort on Saturday against Xavier in which the sharpshooter from Stevens Point missed all five of his shots with each coming from three-point range. That performance marked the lowest point of his shooting struggles during that stretch as the normally reliable long-range shooter made just 1 of 12 three-point attempts.
Facing St. John's for a second time on Tuesday night, Hauser put his slump behind him in a big way. He opened the game with a three-pointer and added three more on as many shots over the next 5 1/2 minutes. He cooled off slightly after that early barrage, finishing with a team-high 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting, including 5 of 7 on three-pointers, in a 93-71 victory.
"Previous games the shots were right there so I wasn't too worried," Hauser said. "This game they fell, so that's a relief."
When upperclassmen run into problems with their shots, some might say they're going through a slump. When a freshman like Hauser, who is shooting 44.2% from three-point range, begins to show signs of having trouble, people might deduce they've hit the so-called "freshman wall."
MU 93, St. John's 71: Matt Heldt stars in victory
If there is a such thing, Hauser broke through it on Tuesday. For his part, though, Hauser doesn't put too much credence into the idea.
"It's a long season," Hauser said. "I'm sure everyone has a point during the season no matter if you're a freshman or a senior where your legs get tired, but you've just got to fight through that and get your treatment and be ready to play every day."
As impressive as his shooting was, Hauser impacted the game with more than just his shot. He grabbed eight rebounds and had four steals, battling hard on the defensive end to deny passes into the post, box out and create problems St. John's inside and out.
"It's nice to see Sam hit a shot, obviously, but Sam is not a player who is defined by his shooting," head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "That's what I love about him. He's a guy who makes winning plays even some that don't show up on the stat sheet. He's a winner. He's been a really good rebounder for us. A lot of his rebounding is not being averse to physicality and just wanting to get the ball because it's important to get it. He makes good decisions, he had three turnovers today, but he usually is a low-risk player and he's a great teammate."
Tidbits: Wojciechowski earned his 50th career win on Tuesday night, improving his record as a head coach to 50-42. ...
Redshirt junior Andrew Rowsey scored 18 points and led Marquette with six assists. He had 18 points and a season-high seven assists on Saturday against Xavier, making this two-game stretch his best of the season in terms of dishing out helpers. ...
As a team, Marquette had 22 assists and improved to 16-2 when recording 15 or more assists.
"I think at times guys try to do it on their own," Wojciechowski said when asked about games where the ball movement isn't as good as it was Tuesday night. "We have guys who can score and sometimes they don't trust the offense as much as they should and it's been shown that when we move the ball we're really good offensively. At times when the ball sticks — and it's not one guy — when it's sticking or teams turn up their level of intensity on defense, especially when we've struggled, we try to do it on our own and that's a very poor formula." ...
GAME STORY:Heldt stars in victory
BOX SCORE: Marquette 93, St. John's 71
Katin Reinhardt came off the bench and scored 16 points along with five assists. Multiple of his buckets came of post-ups of smaller players with the 6-foot-6 guard fading away and using his size to get his shots off, a weapon that none of his teammates have displayed this season. ...
As well as Marquette played on the way to a 22-point win, the Golden Eagles committed 16 turnovers, just one off their season high which came in the first matchup against St. John's. The 16 turnovers were the most in a game that Marquette has won this season. ...
Marquette's 12 three-pointers gave the Golden Eagles the program record for three-pointers made in a season with 275, eclipsing the previous high (274) set by the 2009-'10 team. This year's squad now also owns the program record for the most treys made in Big East play (150) with three regular-season conference games remaining.