Marquette withstood a furious second half Rutgers rally to earn an 81-76 win tonight in Piscataway. The Golden Eagles raced out to a 51-32 advantage with 14:30 remaining in the game only to see the Scarlet Knights cut that lead to just two points with 36 seconds remaining. MU righted the ship on a pair of Rutgers turnovers and solid free throw shooting down the stretch to secure the win.
With the victory, Marquette moves to 14-2 on the season and 3-0 in the BIG EAST. Once again MU shot well, hitting 52% from the field. The Golden Eagles' defense set the pace early as a spate of Scarlet Knight turnovers fueled MU's 21 point advantage.
Wesley Matthews led the Warriors with 23 points on perfect 10-10 shooting. Jerel McNeal finished with 16 points, including 14 in the second half. Dominic James contributed 15 points and 6 assists. Lazar Hayward added 10 points. Jimmy Butler scored 9 points off the bench for Marquette, while Dwight Burke had a season-high 8.
At the end of the game, Buzz commented, "The last 12 minutes was a dog fight, and we got ate." "We've got to get to a point where 2 bench players can play with 3 starters." .. "We got out of character."
Official Box Score
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More to come.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Marquette Survives at Rutgers
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4 comments:
I agree with Buzz statement that due to fatigue or fouls we need two bench players to play with three starters and not see a drop in defense or offense efficiency. Butler appears to have taken that step with a nice nine point contribution on a jumper at the end of the half and some good drives. Coobey, Acker, Hazel, Otule and Fulce need to step up. Great job by Burke contributing with the interception of the pass down low and some nice moves by the basket. We needed him in the early minutes when everyone else seemed to be off target.
I am not concerned about the bench contributing offensively. The defense was the problem in the second half. They gave up 48 points!
Fatigue is an issue. I don't think Cubillan or Acker can contribute defensively unless they play zone when they are in. Unfortunantly that does not play to our team's strengths. Fulce, however, has the potential to play good defense and rebound. Buzz has to work him in.
I think everyone needs to be concerned with the lack of depth on the bench. How can you not be concerned about that, but be concerned about fatigue. Let's face it, the Big 3 are going to get tired especially against larger, more physical teams. We're going to need one or two players from the bench who can contribute. Maybe we did see signs of that night. Very good road win (all BE road wins are very good mind you) Lets take care of business on Sat vs. WVU to go a spectaular 4-0 in BE play. We have great momentum and I look forward to seeing how far it can take us - win vs. WVU and @ Providence??
Huggins seemed to have Crean's number. Maybe Buzz can break the evil hold. I have to believe when we put subs in the +/- in ratio regards to points obtained versus given up cannot decrease. If you start taking away offensive options, you start putting more pressure on your defense not to go minus since your offense is not generating as many points. Thats why putting in a sub and expecting no offensive output is pretty crippling. Maybe we can get away with it with one sub in, but no way with two subs and not expect any offensive points from them.
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