Marquette Beats Washington Huskies in the Final Seconds

The Marquette Golden Eagles beat the Washington Huskies 79-77 in the final seconds of a close game.

The Huskies showed vast improvement between their last game, a loss to Nevada, and tonight’s loss to Marquette. The Golden Eagles were ranked 11th in the nation and just came off an impressive win against another ranked team in Wisconsin.

Washington who was struggling with fundamentals, teamwork, and leadership came into this game as the underdogs and many Husky fans assumed that Marquette would run all over the seemingly lost Washington team. Others assumed it would be close but would ultimately end in a Marquette 10 point or so win.

No one really assumed Washington would take a 11-2 lead and then battle the whole game back and forth with Marquette between leads, ties, and losses.

The team showed that they can:

• Rebound– They had 43 rebounds in the game, compared to the Marquette 31. Aziz N’Diaye had 12, Desmond Simmons had 9, and Tony Wroten Jr. had 7.
• Play Zone– There were a few breakdowns in their zone defense but for the most part they proved that they can effectively run a zone defense.
• Hang with the Top– Marquette is listed as one of the top teams in the Big East and in the nation. The talent on UW is there, they showed tonight they know how to use it.
• Block- CJ Wilcox and N’Diaye dominated in terms of blocks; Wilcox with 4 and N’Diaye with 2. The team had 7 total.
• Darnell Gant- Proved he can lead and contribute to this team. Many thought he was forever stuck as the “glue” for this team. While he will never be the go-to-guy, he showed he is more than just a role-player. He had 14 points.
• Desmond Simmons- Proved he is the X-Factor. When he was on the court, things were just going a lot better, he was picking up huge rebounds and crucial baskets. He ended the game with 9 rebounds and 8 points, converting 2-2 from the free throw line.

Those were the things I noticed from this game. They will be hungry for Duke and may be able to even compete with Duke if they continue to play this style of basketball.

Things that did not go well for the Huskies:

• Turnovers– 16, is way to high. They need to cut those down even more.
• Fouls- They committed 23 fouls during the game and Marquette had 19 points from the line.
• Foul Shots- They were only 5-10 from the line, but beyond that- they were only able to get to the line 10 times. They need to create more contact and finish at the line. It is a MUST come March.
• Finish Games- The shot clock was off and Terrence Ross made a field goal to give the Huskies a 1 point lead with 14 seconds left. This may have been early but the shot was there. Then they left a Marquette player open for 3 and now the Golden Eagles are up 2 with a little over 6 seconds left. Abdul Gaddy takes it up the court, is trapped at about 3 seconds left and somehow forces up a shot. Miss and UW loses the game. This needs to be improved. Call a time-out, create a play, and execute at least a tie for over-time.

What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments below.