Milwaukee, WI—The Howard University men's basketball team will be looking to rebound from Friday's loss at the University of Michigan when it takes on Marquette tonight at 8:30 pm in the second round of the 2KClassic for Wounded Warriors.
Playing the first of a few games over the next four to five weeks without the services of it team- leading scorer, James "J-Byrd" Daniel, III and his 27 points per game, the Bison (0-1) put up a spirited fight against the Wolverines from the Big Ten. Daniel, who led the country in scoring last year, injured his ankle in the pre-season and will miss the next four-five weeks.
Howard, employing its vaunted match-up zone defense, stymied Michigan into a poor shooting start and not allowed them to score until almost 5 minutes into the game. The Wolverines had problems getting into their sets and getting off good shots, prompting their coach John Bielein to note: "It took us a while to figure it out. We do not see it that often and it gave us problems."
Meanwhile, James "JT" Miller, Damon Collins and Solomon "Solo" Mangham, provided the scoring to keep it close. The Bison trailed by 5 at 43-38 with a little over 12 minutes remaining, but an injury to Miller, some poor free throw shooting and turnovers, allowed the Wolverines to pull away in what was a close game.
Miller, a 6-4 red-shirt junior guard, finished with 10 points but played only 18 minutes after he had to receive stitches and he never returned. That and 15 missed free throws and 17 turnovers that gave Michigan 20 points are areas that Howard head Coach Kevin Nickelberry will address in tonight's matchup.
"We are going to play around with the lineup a little to get more scoring production," said Nickelberry. "We are try a couple of players in different positions and go big or small to find a way to get more scoring. But even with that, we still cannot turn the ball over and we have to do a better job at the free throw line." It must be noted that the Bison shot 70 percent as a team from the charity stripe last year.
In the Golden Eagles, Howard faces a physical team that rallied from a 40-39 halftime deficit in its home opener against Vanderbilt, to run to an easy 95-71 win. Marquette shot a sizzling 10 of 19 from three-point range in the second half and placed four players in double figures.
Howard could have found a missing weapon in freshman guard Charles "CJ" Williams, who scored 8 points in 13 minutes off the bench.
Game Notes: /documents/2016/11/14//Corrected_MBBALL_Notes_2.pdf?id=470
NEXT UP: Howard will continue play in the Classic when it travels to Indianapolis to take on IUPUI on Friday at 2 pm.
