Marquette University guard Jajuan Johnson drove quickly into the paint against the New Jersey Institute of Technology defense with a little over four minutes to go in the first half, elevated for another close shot attempt, but the ball was knocked loose by a flash of Highlanders guard Odera Nweke’s hand.

The ball ricocheted out of bounds, and the baseline referee indicated NJIT ball. The Highlanders maintained a 20-17 advantage, and the Golden Eagles remained mired in a two-minute long scoreless stretch.

Down the sideline, Steve Wojciechowski shot up out of his chair, and bellowed to the floor as he doubled over in exasperation.

Throughout much of the Golden Eagles’ 62-57 victory Monday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Marquette’s new head coach could be seen in a crouch, focused intently on the developing defensive set. And yes, there were multiple floor slaps.

But perhaps nothing has summed up the early stages of this young season like at the 9-minute, 40-second mark in the second half, after Juan Anderson scored on a strong left-hand drive to pull Marquette to within 42-41.

Clapping from the sideline as his team produced a defensive stop, collected a rebound, and coordinated the ball around in the half court to set up a go-ahead 3-pointer by freshman Duane Wilson, a Milwaukee native making his first career start.

As his team backed down the court on defense, their coach was on his hands and knees slamming the floor with his palms, a literal clarion call for a stop on the other end.

It was the first lead for his team since the 17:35 mark, and he could sense the tide was turning. One more stop, one more bucket, and perhaps NJIT would break.

Instead, undersized and undermanned team allowed an offensive rebound and put back an NJIT tied the game. He turned toward his bench, arms extended.

Such is life right now for Marquette.

"I’m aware of that all the time," Wojciechowski said with a rasp in his voice. "This is – the kids have worked hard. They’ve done a good job. We have a lot of room to improve. And, look, whether it’s how hard you have to work on a day to day basis in practice, how hard you have to concentrate in preparation and then going out on the court and actually doing it, we don’t have a team that has a lot of experience. So, these guys are doing it, most of the guys are doing it for the first time."

In the end, it was a much-needed "W," especially after a shocking loss to Nebraska-Omaha four days prior. The Golden Eagles never trailed by much, and could get into the lane at will all game long – the ball just wasn’t going in.

Marquette shot 34.5 percent in the half, missing 19 shots. It seemed like most came within five feet.

Despite trailing, 30-28, at the break, despite the uneasy, frustrated "here we go again" feel inthe arena, the Golden Eagles rallied in the second half. They forced the Highlanders into 24.2 percent shooting – down from a ridiculous 61.1 percent clip in the first half. They won, barely, the rebounding battle, 22-20, even though they surrendered 14 on the offensive end.

"We’re asking all of our players to be in positions that they’ve never had to be in before as players," Wojciechowski said. "We don’t have anyone on our team who has ever been, with probably the exception of Derrick Wilson, a huge contributor to winning at the college level.

I was proud of all of our guys tonight because a number of them made huge, winning plays.
"And for some of them, that’s one of the first times they’ve ever done it."

And then there was Wilson, the loquacious would-be hometown star.

His game has flair, and if a Twitter handle could ever capture a personality, @SwaggyDu1 definitely does it.

Yes, Anderson finished with a game high 20 points, and pulled down nine rebounds. Yes, Steve Taylor pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Yes, Johnson had a team high three steals.

But it was Wilson who set the tone late. He wanted to win the game. Much like the first half, he got to the rim when he wanted, with the right and left hands. If the ball didn’t go in, he got to the free throw line.

With his team leading, 56-55, with 92 seconds to play, Wilson converted a three-point play, and then sealed the win with two free throws with 22 seconds left, putting Marquette up, 61-57.

"I’ve been a freshman before and I’ve been at the line in tight games, it’s not easy to walk up there and make free throws, even if you’re a good player like Duane," Wojciechowski said.

"So him walking up there, making big plays at the end of the game, as a kid who has never competed as a college player before, is really terrific. I hope he has confidence, but I also hope he learned the lesson that you’re going to play like you practice."

Wilson would shoot 9 for 10 from the line, by far the best on the team, and score 14 of his 18 points in the second half.

"Just the coaching staff believing in me, just telling me to keep on playing hard," Wilson said of where he got the confidence from to take over. "Coach pulled me to the side and said keep on driving to the basket, if it’s not open kick it or shoot it. It just happened it was open."

Marquette is 2-2, and heads out for Orlando Classic for three games in three days, beginning Thanksgiving Day against Georgia Tech in a nationally televised contest at 7:30 p.m.

The head coach says he sees improvement, day to day in practice, and even from half to half in games. Monday may not have been pretty, but he takes note of those small steps within the game, and is confident they are leading to leaps sooner rather than later.

"Winning in college basketball is not easy, especially for a younger and more inexperienced group," Wojciechowski said. "We have to fight and work so hard to grind out wins. That’s who we are right now. Hopefully we’ll continue to get better."