Marquette wins quality game at Cincinnati, 75-60.
After another slow start that had Marquette down 9 after 16 minutes of play, a new player hit the court. While #41 Ousmane Barro has been on Marquette's roster all year, this Ousamane Barro was someone entirely different.
This Oooze was hitting shot after shot, going 9 for 10.
This Ooze was grabbing rebound after rebound, ending the game with 10.
This Ooze has been on the back of a milk carton, missing in action for a score of games.
An evil twin, perhaps? Maybe it was Ousmane "Barrow", as ESPN flashed on the screen several times.
Lazar Hayward also had a superlative game again, hitting 19 points for the second game in a row. In total, 4 MU players hit double figures, with Ooze, Lazar, Matthews and McNeal reaching. McNeal also dished off a whopping 7 assists.
Scott Christoperson sparked MU's run, as he entered the game and 5 seconds later, promptly hit this 3: (props to TallTitan)
This is the first road win in the Big East for #16 Marquette (16-4, 6-3), who, let's face it, needed this win badly, losing the past 3 away from the Bradley Center. The win gives MU a solid grip on 3rd place in the Big East, with a 6-3 record. Half the BE season is now complete. Marquette will head into Monday's showdown with Louisville with some good mo-jo.
AP Recap / Play by Play / Box Score
Ooze Montage - Scoring Barrage
JS Online Recap
Rosiak - Wrapping up Cincy
Cincy Newspaper Story
Cincy Columnist on Game
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Marquette Breaks Seal - Beats UC on Road by 15
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8 comments:
Welcome back Ooze!
Nice kudos to Christopherson. Huge!
The good: OOZE,OOZE,OOZE/LAZAR
The Bad:JAMES,JAMES,JAMES/FITZ
MU played well in the 2nd half and Crean finally used Barro like he did last year. Hayward was great as usual and Matthews made some nice passes. McNeal had a decent stretch of defense and didn't turn the ball over. Concerned about our small guards especially Dominic. Not playing with any confidence, horrible shot selection, and just bad body language. Wrist is not an excuse. Other side notes: Cincy played poorly, hasn't the talent of MU, and has overachieved w 5 Big East wins. The officiating was abysmal. The foul on McNeal diving for the ball as well as that push out of bounds late were remincient of the calls during the Duke game. Also, is it me or did Cincy set moving screens 90% of the time? MU can be very dangerous when they're hitting 3's but that has only happened during 2games this year Fitz clearly has no confidence which is too bad because he can be a real asset. Cuby is very hot/cold. Dominic just can't shoot right now, and McNeal and Wes aren't really 3pt shooters(Wes is decent from the corners). Lazar is our biggest threat from distance, and quite frankly has been our best player all year. My point is that we take too many 3's, especially on the road, and we have the athletes to take better shots particularly from the elbow. This falls on the coaching staff and also being able to feel the game. Had this been a game against the top teams in the conference it probably would have been over in the first half. I think we had 10pts at the 10 min mark. Also, on defense we can't allow our guards to be taken out by screens. This happened time and time again, but Cincy just missed open looks. With their quickness our guards can easily slip screens. Obviously Ooze was huge today. I don't see why he can't do this more often especially rebound. Three tough games coming up. If we play like we did in the 2nd half we can win all three. I hope Dominic and Jerel step it up we need them.
The Finisher proves his worth again! Lazar is awesome.
Kudos to Ooze. Welcome back!!
Can't believe Christopherson contributed to a meaningful game.
Great win. Bring on the Cardinal.
Wow Anonymous3:48, why don't you just get your own blog. It's a comments section not a mindless rant section. Why does there always have to be a flamer on here?
Great job again overcoming an early shooting slump - still need to iron out those wrinkles. Fun game to watch again.
VERY pleased to see the win. The real barometer will be on Monday night. GO MU!
SURPRISE GUEST TO WATCH MU GAME! Plane landed early in Atlanta from a business trip, and I suddenly realized I had time to get to the ESPN zone to see the game. I was bumbing today, unshaven in a MU pull over sweatshirt. Was enjoying watching us catch up when suddenly a guy stops by at the table, noticed the MU shirt, and asked if I was watching the Marquette game with anybody, because they were trying to seat him on the other side of the place where he couldn't see the one Marquette screen. Happy to have a fellow fan, I told him to have a seat at my table, still hardly taking my eyes off the game, at which point he said, "My son plays." I spun around taking a good look and said, "You're Wesley Matthews! You were in the NBA for a long time, how many years was it and how did we get Wes to come to MU while Doc Rivers son went to Georgetown!" I also got to tell him I'd just mentioned him in a blog I wrote on the Top 100 Marquette players of all time, since I listed Wes and wrote that if he followed his Dad into the NBA he'd shoot way up. He gave me his email address so I could email him the blog, so hopefully Wes Matthews will check out CrackedSidewalks in the future! What a great guy, and what a great game to watch with him with Wes and Ooze finally taking over a game on the glass.
Ooze was great, but let's make sure to credit the guys (McNeal, James, and Matthews) for finding him. Crean mentioned in the press conference that they've not been making the extra pass lately. What a difference that extra pass makes! Ooze got himself in position, the guys kept looking for him, he caught the passes, and was decisive with it.
It was great to watch the team get some confidence back and even better watching Cincy's confidence falter.
Still need McNeal to realize he's more effective operating from inside 15 feet.
Lazar's a freak. Homer pointed it out that "we were surprised Lazar missed that last three, because he's shooting 60 percent from beyond the arc in conference play."
Wow.
Oh, and we should put a reward out for anyone who can locate Fitz's shot.
Let's keep attacking and making that extra pass!
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