City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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While most of the Marquette roster hails from the Milwaukee region--10 of the 14 student-athletes are from either Illinois, Wisconsin or Minnesota--the Golden Eagles’ trip to Villanova was something of a homecoming for one member of the squad.

Freshman Traci Carter, a Philadelphia native and Life Center (N.J.) grad, has been starting at point guard for the last 14 games for head coach Steve Wojciechowski, helping his team to a 12-5 record (2-3 Big East) despite an 83-68 setback on Wednesday night.

“Very exciting to be home, with all my family and friends,” he said.

Against a Villanova squad that ran its Big East win streak to 20, Carter scored 10 points and dished out five assists in 26 minutes before he fouled out on a flagrant technical with under two minutes remaining.

He made his biggest mark in the first half, when he knocked down two 3-pointers to help his team overcome an early 15-point deficit to take a one-point lead into the break.

“I thought he had a terrific first half, I thought he showed some good poise, he made some very big plays; he showed some growth as a player,” Wojciechowski said. “And then in the second half, as the game is disjointed a bit for a number of different reasons, a veteran player’s able to stay on an even keel through all the things that a game can present and I thought he got rattled a little bit.

“Traci’s going to be a really good player, and he certainly showed signs of that today,” the second-year head coach, a former 15-year Duke assistant, added.

Though 17 games, Carter has is averaging 5.1 ppg, 4.8 apg and 3.0 rpg, showing off the lead guard skills that had plenty of high-major schools looking at him throughout his high school and AAU career, where he played for WeR1.

An athletic, 6-foot-tall guard, Carter wowed on the prep circuit with his ability to finish above the rim and break down opposing defenses, playing equally well on or off the ball though he always projected as a point guard with a natural scoring ability.

As the assist numbers can attest, that's where his focus has been since beginning his college career.

“I feel like I got a lot better, I feel like I'm a lot stronger,” he said. “Just being a point guard, making my teammates better.”

Carter is one of a few members of that WeR1 17U team from 2014 who's making an impact as a freshman in college. Otis Livingston is the second-leading scorer at George Mason, Derrick Jones is a steady part of the UNLV rotation and Ernest Aflakpui earned a state on Wednesday night for Temple at Memphis.

He said he still talks often to several members of the group.

“Just about college life, how their season’s going, things of that nature," he said.

Villanova head coach Jay Wright was plenty familiar with Carter’s time in high school, first during two years at Roman Catholic before he left the Catholic League for Life Center. The Wildcats had recruited Carter initially, but an unfortunate injury changed the guard’s recruiting outlook drastically.

A torn meniscus knocked Carter out for the entire AAU/recruiting period before his senior year, easily the worst possible time for such a thing to happen--those few months are crucial for any Division I prospect to garner offers and figure out who’s pursuing them most-- but by last March he had a few high-level suitors: Marquette was picked over Connecticut, Louisville and Xavier.

“Really impressed, really happy that he’s obviously recovered from that serious knee injury,” Wright said. “He’s recovered very well, he’s going to be a helluva guard in this league. He’s tough, he had a great game tonight.”