With an intense defense and constant ball movement on offense, Marquette had BYU running in circles. "We really got after it," said Vander Blue, "we really wanted to put the pressure on them early, on both ends of the floor." The Golden Eagles were up as many as 19 on two different occasions, but the Cougars were not willing to go away. With some inspired play, a few three pointers and a 11-5 run, it looked as if the momentum was going to be theirs heading in to the locker room, but a rebound by Darius Johnson Odom with 8 seconds left, led to a Junior Cadougan layup as time expired.
Buzz Williams seemed to be going with a condensed rotation down the stretch for the regular season, but today emptied the entire bench in the first half, not because of circumstance, but to get the players some much needed experience, getting the NCAA hype out of the way. With the substitutions, it seemed as if the team played its best with Cadougan on the floor. "My job is to be the floor general, to be the coach on the floor. It doesn't matter if I score or get an assist, I need to get everyone involved, not just Jae and DJ, but Todd Mayo, Vander Blue, Jamil Wilson, Davante Gardner, that's my job." Cadougan did an incredible job of protecting the ball in the first half, recording only one turnover, Marquette had 4 as a team.
In the second half the Cougars would not go away, cutting the lead to single digits on more than one occasion. "We expected that," said Jae Crowder, "They are a good team, we saw what they did the other night, we knew this team would go on a few runs, we just needed to play our game and stay focused."
Buzz Williams knew they would not give up and told his team as much at halftime. "I said look, their coach was supposed to die of cancer. This team will not stop fighting, they will not give up. It is not in their nature to go away."
With superb performances by Darius Johnson Odom and Jae Crowder, the Golden Eagles dominated the last five minutes of the game. Crowder proved he is worthy of All-American consideration, putting up 25 points to go along with 16 rebounds, while Johnson Odom recorded 20 points on the night. Johnson Odom felt they needed to redeem themselves after a lackluster performance in the Big East Tournament. "I felt like we needed to get it going right away and not let up, especially after what happened in New York."
When asked about the senior leadership of Crowder and Johnson Odom, Buzz Williams explained the tradition. "When I started here we had Wes, Rel, Nic and Dwight Burke. When I got the job, those guys really bought in to what I wanted to do, and they really were the team leaders. It started with them, and what has transpired over time has been amazing."
Up next the Golden Eagles will play Murray State, who dominated Colorado State 58-41 in the first game. Marquette had every assistant coach on hand to watch the Racers in anticipation of Saturday's game. "This will be a home game for them. They will have the Western Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky and every other fan cheering for them on Saturday. This will be a road game for us." Williams also pointed out to Junior Cadougan after the game that his teams were now 1-6 with The Sporting News' Mike DeCourcy in attendance.
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