MUTV: Marquette 67 West Virginia 61

WINNING .. SO MUCH BETTER THAN LOSING.

I've gone through my share of Bradley Center losses and let me tell you: Winning is so much better than losing.

Staring down a three-game losing streak and a sub-.500 Big East record, the Marquette Warriors were tougher down the stretch than the Syracuse Orange, taking home a resounding, surprising, exhilarating monkey-off-their-back 76-70 victory on National Marquette Day.

The sold out Bradley Center crowd watched Jae Crowder lead MU with 25 points and seven boards .. but it was the pair of Jimmy Butler three-pointers in the games's final five minutes and a key Chris Otule block in the games closing moments that secured the clutch victory.

With Marquette clinging a 60-59 advantage with just about four minutes to play, Butler nailed a CLUTCH three-pointer as the shot clock expired to push the MU lead 63-59 with 4:05 remaining.

At the 2:29 mark, Syracuse tied it up and the clear thought going through Warrior Nation was .. "here we go again."

Not. So. Fast.

JFB and DJO connected on back-to-back 3 pointers to push the MU lead to 72-66. With MU holding a 73-68 lead in the game's final 40 seconds Otule delivered a clean block on a Scoop Jardine layup to preserve the lead. All told the Warriors were ferocious down the stretch, delivering a 10-4 run in the game's final two minutes to secure the 76-70 win. As DJO dribbled out the final seconds, the Bradley Center was rocking a well earned victory on National Marquette Day.

Marquette shot an impressive 52% from the floor this afternoon and made a laudable 24-33 from the free throw line while the Orange attempted just 14 freebies connecting on just eight.

While Crowder led with 25, Jimmy F. Butler finished with 19 points and Darius Johnson-Odom added 17 on just seven shot attempts (7-7 from the free throw line). Dwight Buycks turned in a solid floor game with six points, eight assists and five boards.

With the victory MU improves to 14-8 overall and 5-4 in the Big East.

Clutch. Seriously clutch.

• Box Score
• AP recap + podcasts of Buzz, Boeheim, DJO and JFB.
• Rosiak on the clutch MU win.
• MU's win has the Cuse teeting on absolute collapse.

MUTV Sports delivers a recap

Happy New Year, MU Undefeated in Big East -- Down goes Huggins

Marquette started the Big East season off well with a gritty 79-74 win over WVU in the 10am New Year's Day Hangover Bowl, sponsored by Bob Huggins' Miracle Tonic.

The least-showered Bradley Center crowd in history was on their feet as early as I can remember, shaking off NYE residue at the 17:27 mark when Jae Crowder got his first bucket giving the Warriors a 9-0 lead.  The crowd enjoyed an early 11 point lead, only to have WVU claw back into the lead in the 2nd half.  MU executed well down the stretch, coming from behind, scoring the final 6 points to win by 5.

Bloody-Mary drinking fans watched as Jae Crowder went a crazy 12 for 14, 29 points, 8 rebs, 5 assists and 4 steals.

DJO also put up great numbers with 21 points .. and not to be missed was Jimmy Butler, who was silent offensively for the first 25 minutes, but ended up with 10 and 7, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals.

MU's rotation was a tight 8 players, with Blue, Junior, and Fulce chipping in 9 points off the bench.

The Warriors had no answer for WVU's Darryl Bryant who had a career best 25, and were often frustrated by Huggins' 2-3 zone, of which Buzz admitted he didn't expect.

Also of note, this is the first Warrior victory in a conference game reffed by Jim Burr since 1942.

Marquette travels to Rutgers on January 5th.

Box Score
Photo Gallery
Rosiak

Happy New Year!

Marquette nearly loses to UW-Milwaukee for the first time.....SINCE TIME BEGAN

For all the talent MU has, for all the coaching acumen Buzz Williams offers, you would be hard pressed to find much of it tonight after MU went up 18 points in the second half and then decided to lay an egg until the final seconds of the game. Marquette escaped with a 75-72 win thanks to making 7 of 8 clutch free throws by Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder and DJO in the final seconds. The win means Marquette is 38-0 all time against Milwaukee State Normal School \ Wisconsin State Teachers College \ Wisconsin State College of Milwaukee \ UWM \ UW-Milwaukee. The final margin was easily the closest of the 38 games....no other game was decided in single digits.

This was the first game ever between the two schools in which Marquette was the visitor. Television broadcasters expected about 8,000 in attendance and declared about a 50-50 split with MU and UW-M fans at US Cellular Arena (formerly known as the MECCA).

UW-M jumped to the early lead in the game at 4-0 before Marquette's defensive pressure and a stellar first half by DJO surged the Warriors into the lead for good. DJO scored 22 first half points on 5 for 5 behind the arc. He had been struggling all year to find his long range stroke, but consistently hit from outside in the first half. UW-M was able to hang around on the 3 point shooting of Tony Meir and the inside play of Anthony Hill. MU led at the break 47 to 35.

In the second half, MU continued to surge building a 18 point lead at 53-35 in the opening few minutes. It seemed at this point MU decided the game was in hand and went into cruise control. They got sloppy with the ball, made poor decision after poor decision and let the Panthers back into the game. UW-M went on two runs to combine for a 20-7 edge at 60-55 with 6:34 remaining in the game. MU answered with a a mini six point run to make it 66-55 in just over one minute of play before MU shut it down over the next 5 minutes.

UW-M cut the lead to 68-66 after an 11-2 run with 26.9 seconds remaining. Butler sunk two free throws to push the lead back to four, but MU allowed an easy UW-M put back basket at 70-68 with 12.2 seconds left. Butler was again fouled and calmly sunk two free throws again. With five seconds left, Williams was fouled going to the hoop but did not score. He made only one free throw. DJO was fouled on the other end and pushed MU's lead to 74-69 before McCallum drained a three pointer to cut the lead to two points with 1.5 seconds left. UW-M still had life. A dangerous inbound pass from Junior Cadougan was nearly stolen but Jae Crowder was able to corral it. Crowder was fouled...he missed the first free throw but nailed the second. UW-M had a wide open half court shot that was too high and too long. Marquette escaped in a game they played well for a half but terrible for the other....sound familiar....Bucknell, South Dakota, etc.

DJO led all scorers with 29 points. Jimmy Butler was the only other Warrior in double digits with 13. UW-M had four players in double digit scoring and were led by Ja'Rob McCallum's 19. MU was out rebounded 31 to 21. Buzz's squad again gave up over 40% shooting by an opponent from the three point area.

MU needs to shore up their defense and point guard play if it is to have a successful season this year. Tonight, Marquette escaped in a game they clearly had more talent but decided the game was over before it was.


Journal Sentinel article

Box Score

ROAD WARRIORS! Marquette wins 5th straight on road, last three in OT

With Dwight Buycks at home in Milwaukee sick, and Erik Williams and Junior Cadougan combining for only three minutes, Marquette basically had to go 45 minutes with only six players against 10 for Seton Hall. No problem – even with Jeremy Hazell scoring 11 points in overtime, MU won their 5th straight road game including third in overtime in the last eight days. With the win, Marquette joins Syracuse as the only team to win 5 straight Big East road games this year. The only five teams to win more than two straight road games this year are:

1. Syracuse 8 (chance for 9 against Louisville)
2. Marquette 5
3. Villanova 4
4. Pittsburgh 3
5. Louisville 3 (will try to make it 4 at Marquette Tuesday)

While Buzz won’t want to hear this - the win goes a long way to ensuring an NCAA bid. The win clinched a first round bye in the Big East tournament, which eliminates any chance of an embarrassing loss to DePaul in the opening round. Now the worst case is for MU is to close with losses to red hot Louisville and Notre Dame teams and a team coming off a first round win in the Big East. Winning even one of those three would certainly guaranty a bid, as no Big East team has ever been denied a bid after a 20-win season, and even with two more losses MU would finish the season 9-3. (Last 12 games is not an official stat anymore, but the Selection Committee looks at the final stretch of however many games they believe are relevant).

MU also cracked the RPI top 50 with the win today, improving to 49th, while the winner of the MU-Louisville (33rd RPI) game Tuesday will have their 20th win and take over sole possession of 5th place in the Big East. A double bye is unlikely, as MU would have to win both and West Virginia lose at home to Georgetown and at Nova to end their season. (OK, Pitt could lose at home to both Rutgers and Providence, but really…)

At halftime of the CBSSports telecast of Lville’s two-point win at UConn, commentators speculated that the Big East could get nine invites with the recent losses by bubble teams.

For the third straight game MU pulled out the overtime win despite the road rims being cruel on the 3-pointer. MU entered the road swing first in the country on 3-point percentage, but had fallen to 5th. Today MU hit the first 6 treys of the game, but went 3 of 19 the rest of the way.

Cubillan to the rescue when treys stop falling

The answer was an unusually aggressive David Cubillan, who drove through the defense three times in a row for contested inside baskets, and then with 14:49 left in the game did it for a fourth time and turned it into a 3-point play when fouled. It was also Cube who broke MUs stretch of 10 straight missed threes when he hit two in a row with 7:41 and 5:22 to go in the game. He then started the overtime with another 3-pointer just 25 seconds into overtime to lead to give MU a lead they would never give up. Speaking of which, just how good is Lazar Hayward at winning jump balls? He won both the opening tip-off and the overtime tipoff again to set up Cubes OT trey.

MU again overcame getting dominated inside, making another big man look like an All-American as Jeff Robinson went 11 of 15 inside to score 25 points as Seton Hall won the boards 35-22.

Lazar’s steal at 1:31 saves game as MU wins turnover battle

However, in a battle between the two best teams in the conference at the turnover battle (MU +4.3, SH +3.7), MU again won the turnover battle behind 7 steals. None was bigger than when Jordan Theodore led a 3-on-1 break with the score tied 65-65, and with 1:33 left in the game Lazar made one of his patented steals. The big man with the quickest hands around flicked the ball out of Theodore's hands and off the guard's thigh, then took the ball away for a steal to save the day. (an almost identical play to his strip of Greg Monroe to preserve the Georgetown game).

Lazar also rejected three shots – I’m not sure the last time an MU player did that.

Even with Buycks out, 6 players contribute scores

But once again the story was balanced scoring. Joe Fulce hit both of his shots, and the five other players scored at least 13 points.

Cube, Hayward, Butler, Fulce and DJO all hit at least half of their two-pointers, and Acker went 2 of 4 on 3-pointers to stay right at 50% on treys.

Again, MU was money at the line, hitting 10 of 12 in overtime to maintain the lead against Hazell’s barrage despite not having a field goal after Jimmy “Money” Butler’s shot with 3:24 to go. He led the free throw effort with a 7 of 10 game, and his drives to the hoop now make him 6th in the country in free throws taken.

Hayward (23 points), DJO (16) and Cube (16) combined to go 13 for 21 on two-pointers, normally a weakness for MU. The biggest was from Lazar, who went between two trees to put in a tough inside shot with 33 seconds left in regulation.





Box Score

MUTV : USF Video Recap

Brad Galli of MUTV puts in another great effort for Warrior fans.

If you're skipping over these videos, you're really missing out. These aren't your father's college news clips.

In about two years, you'll be watching Galli anchor SportsCenter thinking, "I remember watching this kid on YouTube."

MU Thumps USF .. Streak at 5

With its 5th win in a row, Marquette claimed sole possession of 6th place in the Big East today, beating the USF Bulls 63-52 in front of an 18,000+ crowd at the Bradley Center.

Mo Acker went 6 for 9, scoring 14 with 6 assists. Lazar had a double double with 18 points and 14 boards. Jimmy Butler chipped in 15.

USF's Dominic Jones, averaging 22ppg, was held to 16, after "guaranteeing" four Bull wins in a row.

Official Box Score

Slideshow:


Post-game Presser:



Lazar:

Win pulls MU within 1 game of 4th place, double-bye (Pomeroy predicts 4th place finish for first time)

MU dazzled a national TV audience (ESPN2) for 24 minutes against DePaul, as JC transfers DJO and Dwight Buycks combined to shoot 10 of 15 from the floor and 12 of 15 from the line for a very efficient 21 and 14 points respectively as MU dominated and raced to a 53-27 lead with 14 minutes to go.

The two showed all the excitement of two players who have stepped in to instantly fill the shoes of the Three Amigos, but also reminded everyone they were first year players as they combined for 8 turnovers in 46 minutes. Hopefully most people changed channels at that point, because the final 14 minutes was pretty dreadful, with MU continually struggling against a DePaul press. Outside of DJO and Buycks, the team shot only 9 of 35 from the floor, and outside of great runs at the beginning of both halfs, DePaul won 24 minutes of the game by a 58-24 margin.

It was enough to revenge the loss at DePaul, and with Dominique Jones dominating Georgetown for another 22 second half points (he is now averaging 35 points a game during USF’s first ever 4-game winning streak in the Big East), both MU and USF are in great positions for a final run.

Just 10 days before meeting at the Bradley Center, USF and Marquette not only pulled to .500 in the Big East, but amazingly both have pulled to within one game of 4th place in the conference – the final spot for a double-bye in the Big East Tournament.

On January 13, USF was 0-4 and Marquette was 1-3 in Big East play. However, if you look at their 5-5 marks, and the remaining schedule, both teams have a legitimate shot at the coveted double-bye and 4th place finish. Georgetown’s loss tonight pushes them to 6-4 in fourth place with a tough schedule left with Nova, Syracuse, at Louisville and at West Virginia still on the schedule. In short, it is likely that the winner of next Saturday’s USF at MU game will control their own destiny to 4th place – particularly with Marquette holding the tie-breaker if they can catch Georgetown for the 4th spot.

RealTime RPI (http://realtimerpi.com/bin/rtr/rtrank?type=rpi&gender=1&tid=156) predicts Georgetown will weather the tough schedule to still finish 14-4 in the Big East and easily in 4th place, while Pomeroy (www.kenpom.com) predicts the Hoyas will finish 11-7 and MARQUETTE will do the same and win the tie-breaker due to the head-to-head over Gtown to claim 4th place.

Looking at the six teams within one game of 4th place, with their games remaining and * to indicate a home game, + to indicate a game in which both RealTime and Pomeroy pick a win, and ++ indicating both picking a double digit win (? = RealTime and Pomeroy disagree on the winner, and – indicates predicted loss) you can see the advantage MU has in having all four tough games behind them and potentially owning EVERY potential tie-breaker for the 4th place spot if they play well down the stretch:

Georgetown 6-4 currently – Nova*+, Prov+, Rutgers+, Syracuse*?, Lville?, ND++, WV-, Cincy*++. (Pomeroy predicts 11-7 and 5th place behind MU, RealTime predicts 14-4)

Pittsburgh 6-4 – SH*+, WV*?, MU-, Nova*?,ND?,SJU+, Prov*++, Rut*++. (Pomeroy predicts 11-7, RealTime 12-6).

Louisville 5-4 - Rut*++, SJU+, Syr--, ND*++, DePaul+, Gtown*?, UConn-, MU?, Syr*-. (Pomeroy and RealTime both predict 10-8).

Cincinnati 5-4 – ND-, Syr*-, UConn-, USF-, MU*?, DePaul*++, WVU--,Nova*-, Gtown--. (Pomeroy 8-10, RealTime 7-11).

Marquette 5-5 – Prov+, USF*+, Pitt*+, Cincy ?, SJU+, SH?, Lville* ?, ND*+. (Pomeroy predicts 11-7 and 4th place on tiebreaker, RealTime predicts 10-8 and 6th place based on predicted loss to Lousville).

South Florida 5-5 – ND ?, MU-, Cincy*+, SJU*+, Nova--, Prov*+, DePaul+,UConn*+. Predicted 9-9 in both, but win at MU next Saturday would push MU down to 7th place).

MU could certainly fall further, but can you believe that in early February we are talking about MU finishing somewhere between 4th and 7th place in the Big East? ESPN says there are five NCAA locks in the Big East, the conference with the top RPI in the country.

If MU wins at Providence Saturday, and South Florida wins at Notre Dame, both would be 6-5 going into what could suddenly be a showdown of teams that were in the bottom quarter not long ago. Even if Providence and ND win, they both face a gauntlet at the end that will make it very unlikely they finish .500 in the Big East and challenge the teams listed above.

MU has the four stars for the stretch run – does it have the bench or height?
The question is still whether or not MU has the depth or height to get through the final Big East run and tournament and end up in the NCAA.

To review the rest of the performances Saturday night against DePaul:
Mo Acker and David Cubillan couldn’t hit tonight, but did continue to provide senior poise in protecting the ball (only 3 turnovers in a combined 70 minutes compared to 8 turnovers in 46 minutes for Buycks and DJO).

Frankly outside of the two incredible runs to open each half, DePaul frustrated MU (outside of DJO and Buycks the rest of the team went 9 of 35 from the floor), slapped on a press that stole the ball 10 times, and actually won the other 24 minutes of the game 58-34 by turning the game into a foul fest (54 total fouls between the two teams). However, with Lazar again doing everything well (18 points, 14 rebounds, 3 early steals, and a “Lebron-style” rejection off a breakaway) and Jimmy Butler looking again more assertive after the game-winner at UConn by continually challenging DePaul’s bigs and getting to the line (his 14-16 from the line led a 36-44 night, or 81.8%, for MU), it is clear MU has four bona fide stars for the stretch run.

Is the bench deep enough and can anyone over 6-foot-6 contribute enough to make the tourney? Joe Fulce and Erik Williams grabbed a combined 10 rebounds in just 20 minutes, and Williams looked very strong in also tracking down a loose ball. With Mboa and Otule out, these two 6-foot-7 players are both looking assertive enough to perhaps provide the boost and give MU the option of a 2-guard offense in stretches.
Junior Cadougan only got in four more minutes with DJO and Buycks hot, but he did drive to the hoop to draw a foul, and put a nice pass into Buycks for a layup.
And of course, DJO and Buycks are just adding to what we already thought we had with Lazar and Jimmy.

Lazar Hayward grabbed a few early steals, but missed his first few shots to be scoreless at the 10 minute mark. However, he then took over with an unbelievable sequence in which he ripped his own miss away from two taller DePaul defenders to stick it back in for his first score with 9:38 to play, then shortly thereafter tracked down a DePaul fast break to reject a layup off the backboard. He finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

I'm certainly not counting any of the final games "in the bank." USF looked like a lock a few weeks ago, and now who knows if we can stop Jones. ND on senior day actually looks like the most certain win. BUT, all the rest of the games are winnable. After being picked to finish 13th BEFORE Junior, Otule and Mbao went down with injuries and Maymon quit, can you believe two of the most accurate predictors of college basketball now predict us to finish either 4th or 7th in the Big East?

I really hope to be flying someplace to see MU in the NCAA, but even if not, this has not been the lost rebuilding year I was anticipating.

Prov Game Videos..

Post-game presser videos

Hat tip to downtown85 for finding these videos from the post-game presser.

Dear Cameraman .. any chance you could invest in some anti-shake technology?

Warriors upset #15 Michigan 76-65

Uh oh. Remember the dire predictions for Marquette's season? Time to recalculate.

Marquette is pretty good. After knocking off Xavier the day before, Marquette dismissed Michigan, who, oh by the way, was ranked #15 in the country.

It's early, but .. get excited Marquette fans. It's on like Donkey Kong. This season isn't going to be the whitewash, (I for one), estimated.

After snacking on 4 of the worst teams in D1, not much could be known. MU is now 2-0 versus quality opponents. When Cracked Sidewalks did their preseason predictions .. all of us predicted a loss to Xavier and most a loss to whoever we played next. Wrong.

Man, what a great Thanksgiving!

Rosiak's Recap
Rosiak's Other Recap
Official Box
Marquette recap

ESPN Video Highlights


Rob Lowe, our Vice President of Statisticology adds:

This was a fairly offensive game for Marquette, as they averaged almost 1.27 points per possession compared to Michigan's 1.04 ppp. Marquette did great at effective field goal percentage (58.5%) today, which was the key for the game. However, MU also won the offensive rebounding (39% vs 31%) and free throw rate (40% vs 33%) battles. And even though Michigan did better on turnover rate (their 14% vs our 16%), both teams protected the ball at a better than average rate. Just like in the Xavier game, MU won three of the Four Factors to earn the "W".

In the quick MUScoop preview, the two early matchups were the ability to force turnovers and get to the free throw line. Marquette did a good job of getting to the free throw line at a rate of almost 40%, but only harassed Michigan into a turnover rate of 14%.

Video from MU:

Grambling things we like to see...

Otule dunking:

EWill playing:


Frozena, clearly our most popular player, getting a layup:


Post game:

Dump truck of videos from MUTV..

MUTV has been busy, pumping out videos the last few days.

It's Saturday. Sit back and enjoy some MUBB goodness:

Vander Blue @ the game:



MUBB Weekly part 1:



Part 2:



Post-game:

Un De Feat Ed!

Marquette started the 2009-10 campaign with a 85-62 thumping of Centenary. Jimmy Butler was superlative with a double double, 27 & 13.

Quick hits:

Rosiak
Box Score

Post-Game Presser:

MU / MSOE Highlight reel

Looks like Marquette is going to pump out a lot of videos this year for fans. Outstanding.

Post-game presser MU vs. MSOE

Marquette wins .. whew!

Marquette nipped Utah State 58-57 to advance to the ........ Tremendous Thirty Two in this year's NCAA tournament.

Marquette had a comfortable 13 point lead after playing 17 minutes of the first half, and looked to be cruising to an easy victory, when our shots stopped falling and USU figured out how to score against our much quicker squad.

MU was outscored 39-32 in the 2nd half, and was down by 6 with 5 minutes to go, yet slowly chipped away, mostly with the help of USU fouling and putting MU on the line. -- Marquette hit 19-23 (83%) from the charity stripe, hitting 11 of 14 in the last 3 minutes to seal the game.

With a 4 point lead, USU was allowed to streak down the court and hit an open 3 to end the game, 58-57.

Lazar Hayward was the player of the game, shooting 9-14 with 26 points and 8 boards. Jerel and Wes shot a dismal 6-26 combined, and collected most of their points from the FT line.

This game is very reminiscent of the MU vs. Holy Cross game in 2003, when 3rd seeded MU barely survived 72-68 versus #14 seed Holy Cross. It took 29 points from Travis Diener, 6 in the last 35 seconds to eek out that win.

Who was Marquette's next opponent in 2003? Missouri, who Marquette will play this Sunday at 4:15pm.

• ESPN Box Score

• Play by Play

• JS Online Recap

Whew!

And what of the quick turnaround for the Sunday game against Missouri -- especially since MU had five days to prepare for Utah State? After the game we asked MU great Jim McIlvaine about the tight turnaround during the NCAA tournament and how that might impact players' preparation, their approach, and their own expectations heading into Sunday's tilt with the Tigers:

I don't think the approach changes at all for the players. Coach Williams has done a very good job of keeping things loose, but focused within the team and they have been very consistent throughout the year in terms of their game preparation. I don't know what expectations the team has for themselves or what the general consensus is outside of the team, but I have to think these kids, especially the seniors, wouldn't feel like any weight of expectation has been lifted with this win.

I don't want to sell them short, but I have to think the seniors would be disappointed if they weren't able to make it to the second weekend of the tournament. Of course, I'm hoping for a Final Four run and a national championship, but I'm now in a position to do that, because I'm no longer a player, who can only focus on the next opponent and the task at hand.

Jim, thanks. We'll be listening on Sunday.

Enjoy the victory!!

*edit - McIlvaine comments.

Marquette Breaks Losing Streak - Gets Ready for Rubber Match

Yes, indeed. In their first game of the Big East Tournament today, Marquette defeated St. Johns by the score of 74-45. Honestly, the game wasn't even that close. The final five on the floor for the last three minutes? Frozena, Otule, Fulce, Butler, and Cubillan... that's how far ahead Marquette was. After two tough weeks, it felt good to see a winning product on the floor.

Here are some recaps, and then let's move on to the next game:

• GoMarquette.com has the AP recap, as well as photo gallery
• Rosiak has his recap of the game
• Right now, the ESPN recap is also from the AP, but they also have some video highlights
  

Moving on, Marquette will face off against Villanova for the rubber game of the season. Each team won their home matchup, with MU winning 79-72 in Milwaukee and Villanova crushed Marquette 102-84 in a game that was more noteworthy for McNeal breaking the all-time scoring record. It was also the team's worst defensive effort of the year.

Game time will be about 1:20 Milwaukee time on ESPN

At this point, you probably know all the names on Villanova's team. Feel free to refresh yourselves with their strengths and weaknesses from our last preview, or just check out their Pomeroy Scouting Report. (hint - Villanova is still good at just about everything). Oh yeah, they also have the BE Coach of the Year, and the league's Most Improved Player in Cunningham (cough).

Right now, we see a most likely scenario of only a 30% chance of victory and six point loss. What are the specific stats recommendations?

1. Prevent them from making shots (eFG% at 50% or less) - 50% is just under their average... but last game against us they hit an eFG% of 69%. We could just call this one "don't let them shoot 74% in the second half"
2. Force turnovers (Villanova TO% at 28% or higher) - This is highly unlikely, but every turnover that Villanova commits helps. Reggie Redding is actually sloppy with the ball (23%), and both Corey Fisher (19%) and Scottie Reynolds (19.2%) are about average. Good luck trying to turn over Cunningham (15.4%) or Corey Stokes (13.7%).
3. Protect the ball (TO% at 14% or lower) - This one isn't that crazy. For the season, MU was #9 in the country at taking care of the ball. Even without James, Marquette didn't have a turnover rate higher than 18% during the four game losing streak. Of course, today was a sloppy day, and I'm looking at you Jerel McNeal.
4. Crash the boards (OR% of 45% or higher) - This is about 17 offensive rebounds, or five more than average. It's also not that crazy, because Marquette was above that rate in their last two games.
   

That's really it for the keys. The next two recommendations (Villanova OR% below 19% and MU eFG% higher than 56%) are less sensitive than the first four. Still, if MU shoots the heck out of the ball it'll go a long way. In other news, water is wet, but think of the first four keys as way, way more important.

Media Updates

• I Bleed Blue and White previews today's action
• NovaNews with a blog preview
• VU hoops with another preview
• AP preview via Fox Sports
• Philly Daily News
• The Villanovan preview

Warriors Start Final Five with W @Georgetown

After the game, Buzz Williams said "We went 11-2 in the first 13 games of the Big East. Every week, 25% of the questions people ask me is 'yeah, but what are you going to do those last 5 games?'"

Williams' Warriors answered that question: Start off with a win. On the road. When no one thought they could sweep Georgetown.

Marquette started the brutal 5 game stretch today by beating the Hoyas 78-72 on the road. Senior leadership proved too much for the Hoyas, with Wes Matthews pouring in 23 and Jerel McNeal following closely with 22 and 7 assists.

Lazar had an amazing double-double, 11 rebounds, 17 points and Jimmy Butler snagged 6 crucial rebounds, plus 8 points. All of them could have been considered for MVP of the game, with their contributions.

The game was a see-saw battle through the first 32 minutes. The final 8, Marquette slowly outlasted Georgetown, playing tight defense, nurturing a 2 point lead into a 4 point lead, into a 6 point lead, outscoring GTown 17-10 over the final stretch, not counting an uncontested 3 as time expired and the game decided.

Georgetown sinks to 5-9 in the Big East, their NCAA chances slipping away, despite their schedule, which is the 3rd toughest in the country. One could see them winning the NIT with their talent, unless they go on a serious run in the BET.

Marquette is now 12-2 in Big East play, with 4 games to play. They will fly home tonight, if the Milwaukee airport stays open after 8" of snow and will take on #1 Connecticut on Wednesday at the sold out Bradley Center.

Short AP Recap
ESPN Box
AP Photos

MU Thumps SJU 73-59

Marquette ended their two game losing skid with a Valentine's Day win over SJU, 73-59. Marquette has now won 10+ games in each of its 4 seasons of Big East play, and goes into their final 6 games with a 10-2 record.

St. John's was able to keep up with the Warriors for the first 17 minutes, keeping the game a low scoring affair at 24-24, but Marquette went on a 17-2 run over the next 6 minutes, building a healthy 15 point lead that the Johnnies never seriously threatened.

Prior to the game, McNeal was honored by George Thompson for breaking Brute Force's decades old record for most points scored.

Jerel went on to score 20, with 7 rebounds and 5 steals. Lazar picked up the silver for 18, and 7, while DJ had a healthy 14 with 6 assists. Lazar was also honored pre-game, for his 1,000 point.

AP Recap
Rosiak Recap
Official Box Score

Slideshow: