over and over again, the Golden Eagles made several plays in a row to be competitive…. but never enough to lead, much less win
I think the quickest and easiest way to recap this game is to point out the expansion and contraction of Butler’s lead over Marquette, seeing as the Golden Eagles only ever led 2-0 on Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
And so, after a 13-2 run in the first five minutes, Butler led 13-4.
Marquette tied the game at 17.
Butler went up six, Marquette got it down to just one.
Butler went up seven, Marquette got it down to five at halftime.
After buckets and free throws were traded to start the second quarter, Butler had a 9-2 burst to go up 11, but Marquette cut it to five.
Butler up 10, Marquette cut it to three, and then two, and then just one with 6:35 left and again with 6:04 left.
Butler nudged the margin up to seven, Marquette cut it back down to two with a fast break bucket from Adrien Stevens with 4:20 left.
7-0 Butler, Bulldogs up nine.
After Chase Ross breaks the run with just over 90 seconds left — and it doesn’t really matter because Marquette isn’t rallying from down seven left with that little time left — six straight free throws for the Bulldogs, less than 40 seconds left. Butler up 13, that’s a 13-2 run with just one field goal for Marquette in nearly four minutes of action.
From Ross cutting it to one with 6:04 left onwards: Marquette got three stops. Total. According to KenPom.com, this was the third worst defensive performance of the season so far for the Golden Eagles, slotting in right between the recent loss to DePaul at #4 and the recent win over Providence at #2.
That’s a bad trend, right?
Yes, they gave up a 13-2 run to end the game and end their chances at winning the game. But a modicum of resolute defense at any point in the previous 36 minutes would have gone a long way as well.
Butler shot 23-for-38 on two point attempts in this game. My calculator says that’s over 60%. That’s bad, right?
Nigel James and Chase Ross tied for the team lead in points, with both men getting 15. James shot 7-for-11, while Ross went 6-for-14 while missing all five of his three-point attempts. The pair combined for eight of Marquette’s 14 turnovers, too.
Highlights, such as they are, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and Fox Sports:
Up Next: It’s back home again for the Golden Eagles, who will be off this weekend but back in action at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday night. That’s when Creighton comes to town for an 8:30pm Central time tipoff on TNT and truTV. The Bluejays are 12-8 on the year and 6-3 in the Big East after alternating wins and losses for the last six games, including a 94-93 home win over Xavier on Wednesday that will go in the books as their last game before heading towards Milwaukee.
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Category: General Sports
