MU Blasts Texas Tech

UPDATED
Stifling defense and terrific ball movement keyed Marquette's 87-72 win over Texas Tech tonight in the CBE Classic.

Marquette (4-0) will play the Duke Blue Devils in the championship game on Tuesday night in Kansas City. Duke grounded Air Force tonight, 71-56. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 9pm CST.

Marquette never trailed tonight, building a 46-31 lead at the half. The key sequence in the game happened in the opening half when the Red Raiders pared MU's 11-point lead to just six with 5:30 to play. MU responded with a clutch 'three' from Dan Fitzgerald followed by back-to-back dunks from Wesley Matthews, the latter ended as a three-point-play the hard way, to extend the lead back to 14 points, 37-23.

Marquette's backcourt was spectacular in the victory. Matthews keyed the MU attack, pouring in 20 points and handing out six assists. Jerel McNeal played his best game of the young season with 19 points on nearly 50% shooting from the field, while handing out seven assists, grabbing seven boards and making three steals. McNeal's defensive intensity and ability to find the open man on offense were notable tonight.

Dominic James tossed in 16 points, and freshman David Cubillan turned in his third-consecutive impressive performance with 11 points and five rebounds. Ousmane Barro had seven points (all in the first half) and seven rebounds.

Marquette's aggressiveness paid off on both ends of the court. The Golden Eagles shot an impressive 55% from the field, while out-rebounding Texas Tech by 39-25.

MEDIA UPDATE

Here's one for Jerry Wainwright...Skip Myslenski of the Chicago Tribune made the trip to KC and filed this report- part game recap, part assesment of the MU squad.

The guys at MUScoop have a bunch of great photos here.

Here's a first-person recap of the game from a poster at MUScoop.

Box Score

AP Story

Journal-Sentinel story