Christmas Comes Early: Warriors Beat Badgers

In what may go down as one of the top 5 regular season wins in the Tom Crean era, Marquette soundly beat UW@Madison 81-76.

Dominic James was outstanding and poured in 20 points in 34 minutes, adding 6 assists and 2 steals. McNeal added14 points and had an amazing 5 steals.

Definitely worth noting is the play of our inside guys, Dwight Burke and Ooze, who went 7-10, 13 rebounds, and 21 points between them. You can't ask for much more.

Marquette shot a respectable 47% .. but more importantly, out-rebounded the taller Badgers 37-29.

Marquette led most of the game, and controlled the always rowdy Kohl Center crowd, withstanding every run UW put together. The can be proud of the composure they maintained at the end of the game, rebounding tough, both offensive and defensive.

When thinking about the biggest wins of Coach Crean's tenure, clearly beating Kentucky in 2003 remains at the top of the heap .. Beating #2 UConn in MU's first Big East game .. a few UL games stand out, beating Pitt twice last year .. but tonight's beat down of our most hated rival, on the road, is right up there.

This kind of win gives you the shivers, in that, most of us had it down as an "L" at the beginning of the season. Winning it, snapping a 28 game streak for UW, handing Bo Ryan only his 6th (s-i-x-t-h) loss at home in front of a crowd frothing at the mouth .. makes you excited for how far this team can go this year. Our shooting% is up, our FT% is up, our bigs are producing.

This is going to be a fun year, people.

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