Darryl Morsell Is Suddenly an Offensive Weapon for Marquette Basketball

Darryl Morsell Is Suddenly an Offensive Weapon for Marquette Basketball

As a Maryland fan, I’ve watched a good amount of Darryl Morsell. The Baltimore native spent four years with the Terps, winning a Big Ten regular season title in 2019-2020 and taking home the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award last season. Morsell was never a super impactful offensive player, but he became the heart and soul of Maryland Basketball with his defense and grit. When he transferred to Marquette this offseason, I was certainly disappointed and a little surprised. Why would the local kid who just won a DPOY go elsewhere? At least I had the consolation that College Park wouldn’t be losing very much offensive production. Unfortunately, it turns out that might not have been true.

Darryl Morsell Is a Scorer Now?

Comparing Morsell’s offensive numbers at Maryland with what he’s done in just three games at Marquette is extremely interesting. Take a look:

School	Points Per Game	FG%	3PT%	True Shooting %	Effective FG%	Player Efficiency Rating
Maryland	8.7	.450	.267	.512	.477	12.9
Marquette	22.7	.595	.563	.724	.716	26.2

Excuse me, but where did that come from? Has he always been able to do this? I just have so many questions. Obviously yes, this is a very small sample size, but Morsell is shooting over five three-point attempts per game and converting at an elite rate. Way higher of a rate than he posted at UMD, that’s for sure. His career-high with the Terps was 19 points in a game, and he has eclipsed that number in all three games with the Golden Eagles.

Is This Why Morsell Left Maryland?

This may answer the lingering question of why Darryl Morsell would just up and leave Maryland for a rebuilding Big East program. It’s entirely possible Shaka Smart offered the promise of a good defensive system along with the opportunity to get the offensive touches Morsell didn’t get at Maryland. Was Mark Turgeon misusing him for four years at Maryland? Or did Morsell just put in a ton of work in the offseason to become an elite shot-maker? I’m really not sure, but clearly the change of scenery did him some good.

Behind Darryl Morsell’s offensive explosion, Marquette Basketball is 3-0 to start the year and look much better than analysts expected at the start of the season. Time will tell if these trends carry over into Big East play.

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