The Report Card: Luke Fischer shines in Marquette debut
DATE: Tuesday, Dec. 16
A — Luke Fischer
Indiana fans were surely cringing watching Luke Fischer's debut for Marquette. The skilled big man the Hoosiers lack is the one who transferred last December because he couldn't get much playing time behind Noah Vonleh.
Fischer made a terrific first impression at Marquette, posting 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks to spark the Golden Eagles to a 78-71 victory over Arizona State on Tuesday night. The 6-foot-11 big man was most effective on the block, welcome news for a team that has relied almost exclusively on its perimeter weapons this season after losing Davante Gardner and Chris Otule to graduation last spring.
Marquette's victory improved it to 5-4 this season with only one loss against an unranked opponent. The Golden Eagles still have a long, long way to go to work themselves back into NCAA tournament contention, but they're certainly a much more dangerous team if Fischer can perform like he did Tuesday night with any consistency.
B — Wichita State
The lasting takeaway from Wichita State's 53-52 comeback victory over Alabama on Tuesday night is that the Shockers cannot ever be counted out. Not even when they trail by 11 with minutes to go in a game in which they struggled to generate clean looks against the Tide's switching man-to-man defense and hit only a small percentage of the ones they got.
The key to Wichita State's game-ending 13-1 surge was Gregg Marshall's decision to go to a full-court press to speed up the tempo and disrupt Alabama's offensive rhythm. The Tide missed four shots and committed four turnovers during the final 5:20, scoring their only point on a Levi Randolph free throw with 33 seconds to play.
Driving layups by Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker and a pair of floaters from Rashard Kelly fueled the Shockers' rally, paving the way for a dramatic finish. Wichita State still trailed by one when VanVleet attacked off the dribble, drew help defenders and fed Darius Carter with a pinpoint bounce pass for the go-ahead dunk with 12 seconds left.
C+ — Champion Baptist
Believe it or not, losing 114-50 to Southern on Tuesday night had to be somewhat of a moral victory for Champion Baptist. After all, the Arkansas-based lower-division program was on the wrong end of a record-setting 116-12 blowout against the Jaguars last year.
Last year, Champion Baptist trailed 44-0 before it scored its first point. This year, Southern only led 8-0 before Champion Baptist got on the scoreboard. Last year, Champion Baptist only scored 12 points in the full 40 minutes against Southern's full-court pressure. This year, Champion Baptist tallied its 13th point just over six minutes into the game.
Granted Champion Baptist is a long way from being competitive with the couple of Division I opponents it faces each season, but games like this aren't about winning for the small-budget member of the Association of Christian College Athletics. What Champion Baptist really wants is to avoid getting embarrassed and to receive a pay check of a few thousand dollars to pay for jerseys, charter buses and other necessities for its basketball program.
D- — Saint Mary's
Falling to Northern Arizona at home was a bad loss for Saint Mary's under any circumstances. The way it happened made it even worse.
Saint Mary's led by two with 18.8 seconds to go after Brad Waldow hit one of two free throws, but Northern Arizona's Kris Yanku scored to tie the game. Quinton Upshur then stole the ensuing inbound pass, and his layup with three seconds left gave Northern Arizona a 73-71 win.
The loss has to be especially galling for Saint Mary's because it had just beaten Creighton in Omaha to seemingly establish itself as a postseason threat in the WCC. The Gaels also have a difficult test ahead as they travel across the country to surging St. John's on Friday.
NOTES:
• The most dramatic shot of Jordan Price's career also is probably one of the most bittersweet. His running half-court heave at the buzzer sent La Salle's game against American to overtime Tuesday night, but the Explorers failed to take advantage and fell at home to the Eagles 68-66.
• VCU's 78-51 rout of Belmont was an impressive result. Yes, Belmont was without its leading scorer. Yes, this is a game the Rams should win. But holding the Bruins to 51 points and 8 of 29 3-point shooting was a big step forward for a VCU team that has been inept defensively this season when it hasn't been able to force turnovers.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
