MU beats the Friars as #3 is Retired

We'll never know if Marquette would have beaten Providence last month if Jerel McNeal had played in that game. This Saturday, with McNeal healthy, Marquette never trailed the Friars and posted a 69-62 victory. This was Marquette's 20th victory of the season, the quickest MU has ever reached a score of victories.

McNeal poured in 18 on 8-13 shooting and collected 12 rebounds for his double-double. James was a non-factor in this game, shooting a cold 2-11 for 6 points. While Wes Matthews was not stellar from the floor, going 1-6, he drew 5 fouls and went 10-10 at the charity stripe and with that performance, is only a handful behind James in FT attempts this year. Over the last 4 games, Wes has been MU's FT shooting machine making 38-of-41.

The Marquette bench was superb today, led by Dan Fitzgerald who sank a Moneylike 4-6 from behind the arc. Fitz, Cube, Burke and Lott combined for 61 minutes and collected 22 points and 12 rebounds, which you gotta figure are close to a season high for bench production.

Of course, the main attraction for the sold-out Bradley Center crowd was Dwyane Wade, as Marquette retired his #3 Jersey at half time. After a 3 minute highlight video, Wade's jersey was revealed. Marquette has changed the "retirement" banner from a blue/gold rather boring piece of felt to 9 gorgeous full color banners with action photos of each retiree. A very large upgrade.

You can see pictures of the banners and other game photos on my thread at MUScoop.com.

Box Score

GoMarquette.com Recap Game Notes

I took video during the Wade half-time ceremony. I apologize for the poor video quality, as without a tripod, holding steady for 15 minutes is murder.

The first video is the video montage of Wade's highlights at Marquette and Miami. The second is the half-time speech from Wade and Crean.



Here's part two. UPDATE: YouTube is being difficult tonight. If the video doesn't play, check back later.