Marques Warrick’s ongoing transition
A lot has changed for Warrick Brands since joining the Missouri Tigers.
After starting every game he played in the last two years, and all but four of the previous two years, Warrick came off the bench for all 16 games for the Tigers this year.
He went from averaging over 30 minutes per game to around 17 minutes and went from averaging nearly 20 points per game last season to Northern Kentucky less than 10 this season.
And he went from starting the season as college basketball’s leading scorer to fourth place, 50 points behind college basketball’s new leader. Kansas‘ Hunter Dickinson.
It wasn’t easy.
“I’d be lying if I said it was an easy adjustment,” Warrick said. “That obviously wasn’t the case in the beginning, based on my past numbers. But you know, I just had a great support system. My family and my past coaches, like teaching me to approach everything like a pro, whether it’s a good situation or a bad situation, I’m going to keep my head up through everything, keep working, just control what I can control. .”
But as the Tigers and Warrick reach the middle of their final college basketball season, he has adapted to the new role he has taken on not just as a spark off the bench, but as someone who sometimes ignites the Tigers’ offense.
“The only thing I’m looking for is a change of pace. Either sometimes we get stagnant or I see some upside that we can create on both ends of the floor,” the Missouri coach said. Denis Gates said of what led him to send Warrick into games. “Or even the fatigue of our other guys. Being able to put it in the game is important.
Warrick struggled with the changes early, playing just 23 minutes in the Tigers’ first three games and scoring nine points overall. But a 16-point performance against Mississippi Valley State got the graduated guard back on track as he played 20 minutes or more in six of the Tigers’ last 12 games and more than 15 in four others.
And during the transition not only to playing for a major conference team, but also to playing in the SEC, Warrick shined in his role off the bench in the first two games. He scored 19 points in 17 minutes in the Tigers’ opener against Auburn and 12 others against LSUhelping Missouri earn its first conference win since March 2023. Its performance wasn’t great against Vanderbiltscoring just five points on 2-of-8 shooting, but he still averages 12 points per game in SEC play.
And along with all that, he’s also committing the fewest turnovers per minute of his career.
“Honestly, I can think of a lot of things,” Warrick said of what led to his more controlled offensive game. “Starting in June, honestly, and I’ve just been learning, you know, from different coaches now, how I’m supposed to play with physicality in my practices and make good decisions and stuff like that. And obviously not being the focal point like I was in Northern Kentucky and that really helped me a lot, it was a lot of relief for me.
But with Warrick no longer the focal point of his team’s offense, he also had by far his most assists per minute this season, while also shooting career highs of 50.5 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from 3.
“With the best defenders not guarding me every play, now I can really make good decisions with the ball,” Warrick said. “Take care of it…and so I just, you know, make a lot of good, honest decisions and my teammates help me with that.”
“At the beginning of the season, I was thinking too much about how I’m supposed to balance that in the new situation,” Warrick added of the difference between finding his own shots and finding his teammates’. “But coach Gates just told me from day one that I had the green light. So that helps me a lot, I can really shoot when I want, when I have the opportunity, which is a good shot. So it’s not a problem at all to be able to find my shot. But also just being here, playing with good teammates around me, everyone can play, everyone can make shots.
As Warrick and the Tigers continue through the end of the season, the graduate will continue to adjust to his new role, much different than what he did during the first four years of his college career.
But as Gates’ opening day nod shows, Warrick will continue to have the trust of his coach and those around him as he sparks the Tigers’ offense from the bench.
“I think Ques did a great job,” Gates said. “I just want him to stay aggressive, offensively and defensively, and he’s capable of doing that.”
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