MU 74, Villanova 72: Golden Eagles stun AP No. 1 Wildcats
Marquette has played men's basketball for more than 100 years. There have been plenty of memorable games and historic moments in that time, but never before had Marquette knocked off the top-ranked team in the Associated Press top 25 during a regular-season game.
That changed Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
After trailing by as many as 17 points and staying behind by double digits for most of the second half, the Golden Eagles finished with a 19-4 run to claim a 74-72 victory over reigning-champion Villanova, the No. 1 team in the AP poll and No. 2 in the USA Today coaches poll. The victory was Marquette's second in 12 meetings with the AP No. 1 team, with the other coming against Kentucky in the Elite Eight of the 2003 NCAA Tournament.
“Oh my gosh, I don’t even know what to say," Marquette graduate transfer Katin Reinhardt said. "You dream of these types of moments. Growing up as a little kid you dream of these moments.”
Redshirt junior Duane Wilson got the comeback going with 5 minutes 14 seconds remaining by knocking down a three-pointer to cut Villanova's lead to 10. He then added five more points during the game-ending run and grabbed multiple rebounds after playing just five first-half minutes.
“It means a lot, being a hometown kid you always want to be in this situation," said Wilson, who had 11 points. "At the beginning of the season a lot of people was telling me I was going to have to take shorter minutes, but it’s about the team. It’s about we, not I, and I took that role. Today was my day.”
BOX SCORE: Marquette 74, Villanova 72
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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: Tweets following Marquette's win
Villanova pushed the lead back to five, but that was just a speed bump for Marquette as Reinhardt then took over.
He nailed a jumper and a three-pointer in a span of 39 seconds to tie the score at 70 and send the Bradley Center crowd of 14,210 into a frenzy. Wilson tacked on a pair of free throws to give the Golden Eagles their first lead of the night with 46.9 seconds left before Wildcats senior Josh Hart, a national player of the year candidate who had 16 points despite playing just four first-half minutes due to foul trouble, tied the game again with a putback.
Marquette (14-6, 5-3 Big East) called timeout with 30 seconds left and coach Steve Wojciechowski set up a play for Reinhardt, aiming to get Villanova's center switched onto him so he could drive. That's exactly what happened, and with 11.2 seconds left Reinhardt attacked the hoop and drew a foul on Wildcats senior forward Kris Jenkins.
A 91.7% free-throw shooter entering Tuesday, Reinhardt calmly went to the line, still annoyed with a rare missed free throw in the first half. He executed his usual routine and made both free throws to put Marquette up, 74-72, and cap a stellar second half in which he scored 18 of his 19 points.
After a clock error gave Villanova (19-2, 7-2 Big East) a free timeout and a chance to draw up a play with 10.4 seconds left, sophomore guard Jalen Brunson attacked the rim and put up a layup that missed the mark. Marquette freshman Sam Hauser secured the defensive rebound — something that the Golden Eagles had struggled to do throughout the night as Villanova grabbed 16 offensive boards — and held on as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“We wanted to fight," Reinhardt said. "It wasn’t the way we wanted it to go in the first half and in the second half we just kept fighting and found a way to win.”
After that, it was pandemonium. The student section streamed onto the court, covering it in a matter of seconds as Wojciechowski moved across the court trying to steer them clear of Villanova's players and coaches. Fans danced and hugged in the aisles, raising their phones to try to capture the moment as multiple Marquette players jumped up on the scorer's table to celebrate above the fray.
The court storming was a violation of Big East Conference rules, but with the precedent being a $5,000 fine assessed to Butler when it beat Villanova earlier this season. Officials in Marquette's athletic department likely will have no problem making a donation in exchange for the priceless first home victory over a top-ranked team and one of the best atmospheres the Bradley Center has seen for a Marquette game.
Marquette, which watched second-half leads evaporate in several games this season, turned the tables on Tuesday. The Golden Eagles shot a blistering 69.6% from the field after trailing by 15 at halftime following their lowest-scoring half of the season (24 points).
“The thing I was most proud of in the game was our toughness," Wojciechowski said. "There were a number of breaking points throughout the game where teams that I’ve had here, maybe even including this one, would have not kept fighting. But our guys kept fighting and at the end they found a way to win. ...
“Second halves have usually been our downfall defensively. Not tonight.”
Villanova, meanwhile, abandoned what had been working for it by settling for three-pointers instead of attacking the paint against Marquette's 1-3-1 zone, one of many looks the Golden Eagles showed on the night. In the first half, the Wildcats went 13 of 17 from inside the arc, scoring 22 of their 39 first-half points in the paint.
In the second half, the Wildcats put up 22 three-pointers, making just four on the way to going 6 of 34 (17.6%) from long range for the day. Jenkins, whose game-winning three-pointer in the national championship game in April will forever be replayed during future NCAA Tournaments, went 0 of 7 from the field, including 0 of 6 from three-point range. The Wildcats went 2 of 12 during the Golden Eagles' comeback, committing two turnovers and missing the front end of two one-and-ones.
“The 1-3-1 was really good for us, I thought our guys really believed in it," Wojciechowski said. "To be fair, we also caught Villanova on a poor shooting night, but those are the types of things that are going to happen if you’re going to beat a team like that.”
Senior center Luke Fischer, who did not play the final 5 1/2 minutes as Marquette went small, finished with 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Senior Jajuan Johnson, sophomore Haanif Cheatham and redshirt junior Andrew Rowsey each chipped in eight points. Standout freshman Markus Howard had a rare off night, fouling out in just seven minutes of action and missing the only shot he attempted.
"It's nice not to have to score 95 points to win a game," Wojciechowski said. "We won the game primarily because of our defense. We had unusual lineups out there, we were in foul trouble (but) our guys found a way to win and our defense was a huge part of the victory."
The victory marked Marquette's second straight against a top-10 team following a victory at No. 7 Creighton on Saturday. It was historic and will be talked about for years, but with his team less than halfway through the Big East season, Wojciechowski emphasized that it was just one step of many.
“We have to build on it," he said. "Like I told our guys in the locker room, this is not our destination. This may be one really special stop on our journey, but this can’t be our destination. … I want them to enjoy it, our fans should enjoy it more than our players, they’re certainly going to enjoy it more than the coach, but this cannot be a destination. This is just a stop on our journey.”
Matt Velazquez can be reached at mvelazquez@journalsentinel.com and twitter.com/Matt_Velazquez.