Marquette wants more 'championship habits' against Texas after loss to state rival

There was a different edge in the voices of Shaka Smart and Kam Jones after the Marquette basketball team's 75-64 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday in Madison.

The Golden Eagles had been rolling to start the season, but hit a speed bump at the Kohl Center. Frustration was palpable with the Badgers imposing their will on the game, dominating on the glass and not allowing the Golden Eagles any easy shots around the basket. Smart mentioned that there were tears in the locker room.

"It’s time to be a big boy and step forward," Smart said. "And that goes for every one of us."

MU (6-2), which fell to No. 8 in this week's Associated Press top 25, will need to move on quickly with a battle against 12th-ranked Texas (6-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Fiserv Forum.

"I want to see no doubt," Jones said. "I want to see us attack from the jump. Regardless of what happens. Nobody is going to do anything by trying not to do the bad thing."

Kam Jones wants teammates to be confident in shots

Jones thought that mentality was missing against the Badgers, with his team playing unusually hesitant.

The 6-foot-5 guard was MU's only consistent offensive performer against UW with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

Jones was 3 for 7 on three-pointers, but teammates Tyler Kolek, Stevie Mitchell, Sean Jones and David Joplin combined to shoot 2 for 18.

Missing open looks has been an issue this season for MU, with opponents daring Sean Jones and Mitchell (5 for 40 on three-pointers) to fire away from deep.

Kam Jones never lacks for confidence in his scoring abilities, and he was asked how to help teammates navigate through slumps. Jones doesn't want them to be deterred by the misses.

"It’s not like there’s another way, you’re going to make it or miss it," Jones said. "We all work on that every day. So just trust in that and believe in yourself."

Shaka Smart wants "championship habits"

Smart noticed a change in his team's mentality when the Golden Eagles stormed out of halftime on a 9-0 run. MU eventually shaved the deficit down to one point, but couldn't get over the hump.

"Just played harder," Smart said. "Played with more violence. Played with more aggressiveness. Played with approach goals instead of avoidance goals. I thought we did a phenomenal job of that.

"Now the ball went it a few times for us so that helps. The disappointing thing about this game when we watch the tape will be, there’s the formula there at the beginning of that half. We just didn’t replicate that enough during the game."

MU was dominated on the boards. The Badgers missed 31 shots, but got 15 offensive rebounds for 18-second chance points. With just under eight minutes remaining, the Golden Eagles' defense forced four misses but couldn't secure the rebound. Steven Crowl's putback gave UW a 62-55 lead.

“It’s about what we do when they get the O-board," Jones said. "When they get an O-rebound, we have to find a way to make them miss and then go grab that. And if they get that, then however many times they get an O-board, we just have to do what we do again and again."

The Golden Eagles have aspirations of reaching the Final Four. Smart hopes lessons will be learned from an early season loss.

"We clearly have a long way to go building our championship habits on the defensive end," he said. "Guarding the basketball, blocking out and rebounding, being quicker to the ball, defeating screens, contesting outside shots. Clearly.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette Golden Eagles play Texas Longhorns in Big 12-Big East Battle