Marquette crushed #21 West Virginia this morning 81 to 63. It was Tom Crean's club's second victory this week over a ranked team. The victory brings MU to 15-4 on the season and 2-2 in the Big East. What a difference 4 days makes. The players and coaches have certainly rebounded from a tough 0-2 conference start and avoided a potential 0-4 start by defeating two ranked teams in 2 days. MU plays at Louisville on Monday night so there is no room to be satisfied just yet.
MU built on their great rebounding display against UCONN and added something to the mix...GREAT SHOOTING. MU shot over 50% from the floor including 57% from beyond the arc. MU methodically broke down the difficult 1-3-1 zone the Mountaineers are famous for. The Golden Eagles had been criticized for their inability to defeat a zone but certainly proved worthy today with their attacking performance and timely 3 point shooting.
Dominic James led all scorers with 21 points. David Cubillan threw in 14 points on 4-4 bombs. Matthews and McNeal also scored in double digits.
Todd Rosiak's recap
Michael Hunt Commentary on Tom Crean and MU
AP Article
Boxscore
Charleston Gazette Recap
Richmond Palladium Item recap
Appleton Post Crescent - MU Headed in Right Direction
Probably the best all-around game played all year. Excellent play at both ends. A complete game put together, and not acting like a young team that lets other teams back into games but showing some killer instinct. The rebounding was excellent on both ends. Surprisingly, those who predicted a lot of people would be pleased after a 2-2 Big East start after Sunday are right. Only major thing that stood out was still not shooting free throws well. The accouncers said that Memphis had this problem and brought Larry Brown in for a day or two and it helped them out. Tom Crean has brought speakers in for the team in the past such as Bill Russell and George Foreman, so maybe it's something he'll consider. Rick Majerus does NOT hide his bias during the games, it's actually pretty comical, but I would not have wanted to listen to him as a West Virginia fan. The turnovers were also high, but I wouldn't say that was a major flaw but rather a consequence of the up tempo play, and if that's what it took to give WV fits with their ball control it's necessary.
ReplyDeleteBest game from James in a long time. I would say the best game all year because he put two halves together. His shots were falling, not so much because of better shot selection but from being in the rhythm of the game and bringing a lot of energy. Five steals and great defensive energy too.
Cubillan's best game so far. He brought a lot of energy and wasn't afraid to handle the ball in traffic. Excellent three-point stroke and defensive pressure.
Dwight Burke continued his great play from last game with 5 in the first half. It was disappointing to not see him much in the second half, but Fitzgerald was shutting down Alexander defensively and with a big lead there was no reason to not stick with him. Even with Hayward struggling I think Burke provides too much off the bench and is needed too much with Barro out so he probably shouldn't start even if he deserves to at this point.
McNeal's energy really lifts the team. He always tried to make the difficult pass and he managed 7 assists but 7 more turnovers. Hopefully he can learn to not make the pass that isn't there, but 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists are amazing numbers.
Tough week next week going to Louisville in two days and Pitt in a week. You'd at least have to believe these games are winnable now. It would be very satisfying to win one and somewhat disappointing to not win either.