Coming off a 28-point loss at home to Iowa in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski needed to switch things up.
Wojciechowski stripped the Golden Eagles of team apparel. The Jordan practice gear was swapped for Michael Jordan's casual line of clothes, Hanes white T-shirts. The plain white tees were covered up with hoodies and sweatshirts during Marquette's practice on Sunday, as the second-year head coach elected to have the team's walk-through a mile up Atlantic Ave. outside at McLaughlin Park. The Golden Eagles returned to the Brooklyn playground on Tuesday night, celebrating their 78-73 win over Arizona State in the Legends Classic championship game.
"First and foremost it humbled us," Duane Wilson said after Monday night's game against LSU, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "On the playground you didn't have uniforms then, you just played in a T-shirt and you played in shorts. It's just going back to where guys are from, just starting over."
Marquette entered the season as the trendy pick to be the Big East sleeper. However, the Golden Eagles needed a wake-up call after the first three games. Marquette began the season with a loss at home to Belmont, the Ohio Valley Conference preseason favorite, an overtime scare from IUPUI and then the blowout loss to the Hawkeyes.
Heading into Brooklyn, Wojciechowski shook up the starting lineup, replacing Duane Wilson and Jujuan Johnson with Traci Carter and Sandy Cohen III. Wilson and Johnson responded with 16 points apiece off the bench on Monday night, as Marquette held off Ben Simmons and No. 22 LSU, 81-80.
The Golden Eagles had another close call on Tuesday night, needing overtime to knock off the Sun Devils. Henry Ellenson and Luke Fischer combined for 36 points and 19 rebounds and as a team, turned the ball over a season-low 11 times.
Marquette left Brooklyn 3-2 and back-to-back wins may have earned the team its Jumpan gear back.
