I Bleed Blue and White

Game just ended: 5:37 pm eastern time.  Villanova Wildcats defeat Marquette Golden Eagles 74-72.  Some notes on the game are below.

-Marquette started out the game on fire, but to be honest, Villanova’s defense was flat out atrocious.  The Golden Eagles led by 10 midway through the first half, and the Bradley Center was energized.

-The Cats slowly climbed back to in the game, mostly due to the play of freshman Malik Wayns, who was great at getting to the rim. 

-Halftime score:  Villanova 35 Marquette 34

-The second half was the epitome of Big East basketball.  The lead for each team never seemed to be above 4 or 5 points, and fouls were aplenty.

-With that said, we can jump right to the last minute of play.  Lazar Hayward, on a very questionable foul call on Taylor King, made 1 of 2 free throws to put Marquette up 1 with 27 seconds left.  Jay Wright gave the ball to Scottie Reynolds, and he made a “Sportscenter Top 10” play, splitting defenders by dribbling through his legs from behind, drawing contact and making a fade-away ten footer in the process to put the Cats up 1 with 18 seconds left.  Reynolds missed the ensuing free throw, and Maurice Acker made a great pass inside to Jimmy Butler for what looked to be a game-winning layup.  Butler double pumped, though, as Reggie Redding and another Cat changed his shot.  There was a little contact, and I thought Marquette might have gotten the call being the game was in Milwaukee, but no foul was called.  Reggie Redding corraled the rebound, got hacked, and sank 1 of 2 free throws to put Villanova up a deuce with 3 seconds left.  Marquette had one last chance, but Dwight Buycks missed a 3 pointer after the buzzer had sounded. 

-For Villanova, two players stood out.  Scottie Reynolds was clutch yet again, scoring 23 points on 8-12 from the field.  Malik Wayns also played very well, pouring in 16 points, including 6-7 from the line.  Personally, I thought Isaiah Armwood had a nice game, although his numbers were very pedestrian.  Reggie Redding had 11 points and 8 rebounds, but that was not his best game. 

-Only 7 Marquette players logged minutes, and 4 of them played 36 or more minutes.  Jimmy Butler led the way with 19 points and 7 rebounds, while Lazar Hayward was an absolute stud, scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 boards. 

-Listen to Marquette head coach Buzz Williams’ postgame press conference

If Villanova didn’t win this game, it would have been because of their defense.  Especially in the first half, the Cats did not match up at all.  Marquette was taking shots with a Villanova defender nowhere in sight.  This is the main reason the Golden Eagles were shooting lights out in the beginning.  It’s not even like Villanova wasn’t getting back on defense, because for the most part, they were, but it seemed like they had no idea who to guard.  They started to figure it out a little in the second half, but at times, there were still wide open shots, in which Villanova got lucky Marquette missed some of these.  Obviously, the defense continues to be an issue, but since Villanova won, I will show some praise.  Any win on the road in the Big East is huge, and I can’t believe there are 17 more regular season conference games, where most will be just as intense as this one.  Marquette was picked to finish 12th in the Big East, but they are definitely a much better team than that, and this is a good resume win come March.  It also shows the team what it’s going to be like night in and night out.  To see some new faces (Wayns and Armwood) step up in a hostile environment is great to see as well.  Marquette could easily be 2-0 in the Big East right now, so it will be interesting to see how they respond after 2 devastating losses.  The one problem they have is lack of depth, but if they can find 1 or 2 more guys to contribute, they will be a very dangerous team.  With that said, lots of things to clean up for Villanova, but an awesome game and win to start the Big East schedule.