Fans of the Marquette men's basketball team have become well-versed in Shaka Smart's lexicon during his one-and-a-half seasons as head coach.
"Deflections" are mentioned in nearly every conversation and are rigorously tracked . Smart regularly exhorts his team to "play with violence" and "get lost in the fight."
This season, "EGBs" have become an important talking point for Smart. The concept of "energy generating (or giving) behavior" has its own definition shown on the giant video-board at Fiserv Forum before MU games.
But let Smart break down the meaning.
"We got a whole list of things that fall under EGBs, but it's also kind of an open-ended list," he said. "It's anything you do that gives energy.
"So slapping the floor, you see our guys do that sometimes, that's an EGB. Smacking a teammate on the back. A high five, what the guys call daps. Deflections are an EGB. Power claps. Encouraging your teammates is an EGB. Acknowledging something good that a teammate does. Calling a teammate out when they need to be better at something. These are all EGBs. Chest bumps. Pretty much any kind of physical contact. And so we keep track of those in practice every day."
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The verve that the Golden Eagles (10-4, 2-1 Big East) have played with this season is a big part of why the team has exceeded expectations , and they will look to rack up more EGBs in an important road game at Villanova (7-6, 1-1) on Saturday.
Smart leaned heavily on EGBs in the preparation for MU's 83-69 victory over Seton Hall on Tuesday .
Games around Christmas are worrisome for college basketball coaches. There's often travel issues with players scrambling home for a few days and, indeed, several Golden Eagles players had flights disrupted by last week's winter storm. A few days without practice means teams can easily fall out of rhythm.
So after MU players were off Dec. 21-23 and then returned to Milwaukee on Christmas Eve, Smart and his staff wanted to get players back in the EGB mindset at the Al McGuire Center.
"When the guys got back on Christmas Day, when they walked into the building, normally on the TVs in the Al we show deflections," Smart said. "So we show clips of deflections from the last game or the last practice. And so instead of that it was about 50 pictures and video of just running on a loop EGBs, guys giving energy.
"Because again, this is a tricky game where it's easy to mentally get caught up in the time of year, and the scheduling where you have to come back and practice, but I thought our guys did a good job of locking in."
The Golden Eagles certainly generated a lot of energy against the Pirates, getting over 40 deflections and notching 11 steals on defense while throwing down seven dunks on offense.
"Our theme for the game was EGBs and we challenged the guys to get 3,000 as a team," Smart said. "There's a couple guys on the bench keeping track of our EGBs on an iPad.
"And we hadn't had more than 1,500 prior to (game against Seton Hall). So we challenged our guys to step forward and we ended up with 3,046. And it was big for us just to put energy into each other and it helps you to be lost in the fight when you're constantly giving off energy."
MU players have bought into the concept.
The Golden Eagles force turnovers on 22.1% of their defensive possessions, a mark that is 49th in the country, and they are averaging 17.6 fast-break points per game.
"When our energy is high we, I think, play some of the best defense in the country," MU freshman guard Sean Jones said. "So we always preach deflections, which is going out there with high energy and that really had an impact on our defense (against Seton Hall)."
But perhaps the biggest impact of the EGBs is on offense. The Golden Eagles are ranked in the top 10 in offensive efficiency, per college basketball analytics site kenpom.com, a mark that is surprising after MU lost top scorers Justin Lewis and Darryl Morsell from last season's roster.
The Golden Eagles are well-balanced, with four players averaging double-figures in points and Tyler Kolek (9.4) just below that threshold.
MU is playing fast with its average offensive possession lasting 15.4 seconds. The Golden Eagles are also attacking the basket, shooting 60.7% on two-pointers, a top-five mark in the country.
Marquette has 73 dunk attempts, making up 14.3% of its 511 two-point shots. According to BartTorvik.com, Oso Ighodaro's 31 dunks are the fifth-most by a player this season.
The ball is also moving with energy. The Golden Eagles have 252 assists on their 431 field goals, and Kolek is leading that ball-sharing philosophy with 105 assists against 34 turnovers.
"I think for us, when he's moving the ball around like that it's so good and it's so contagious and so powerful for the other guys," Smart said. "Tyler's passing is an EGB, for sure."
Definitely deserving of a power clap.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette basketball coach Shaka Smart eyes EGB energy giving behavior
