Road wins are X-tra special

[tower912]

1. Three straight games where the other team was more physical. 
2.  It was only a matter of time before Theo had a game like this.  Learn, move on.
3.  Matt  was so much better than Ed today. A credit to his character to stay ready.
4.  Turnovers were not a problem. 
5.  Defense was a problem today.  Interior and perimeter.   
6.  Loved the one kid in Marquette swag in the X student section.  Represent!
7.  X did a great job of running Markus off the line.  They must have read the ESPN article, too.
8.  Markus, Sam, and Joey.  So many correct plays and passes.  So many made free throws.
9.  Liked Gottlieb getting into the nitty gritty of Marquette's offensive sets and their screening.  Not just hero ball.
10.  Bailey getting run down the stretch instead of Sacar.  Interesting.
11. Another gutted out road win.  Take it and run.  Toughness and character revealed.

[wadesworld]

Loved Markus’s game today.

[cheese ball chaser]

Man this team is tough. Really battled back during one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen.

[TallTitan34]

12.  Refs

[WarriorFan]

We often used to lose the 8 vs 5 games.   So nice to win one!

Those refs need to go back to their jobs at Foot locker.

[muwarrior69]

13. Each successive game the officiating gets worse. Once you leave your feet or hold your arms straight up its a foul.

[DUNKS45]

This team really seems to have that intangible, toughness and a belief in themselves. Great to win in the road.

[Class71]

SOTG for Xavier were the refs.

[Jockey]

Man this team is tough. Really battled back during one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen.

+1000

This was great stuff guys:
   1. On the road.
   2. No Theo.
   3. Terrible officiating.
   4. X played as well as they could.

To me, this is the most impressive win of the year so far.

[skianth16]

I was so impressed with the way Theo carried himself today. He couldn't stay on the floor, but he was the biggest cheerleader on the bench. The camera panned to him a number of times, and he always seemed to be into the game and supporting his teammates. Little things like that are what I think makes this year's team special.

[RJax55]

Bailey's defense down the stretch against Scruggs was big.

[MUEng92]

If the MU kid in the student section is a current student, he needs to be on the FF Jumbotron next home game for a standing ovation worthy of the Jump Around guy

[1SE]

We often used to lose the 8 vs 5 games.   So nice to win one!

Those refs need to go back to their jobs at Foot locker.

I think kenpom should have a column that gives us extra for that. Maybe 1 of those fouls on Theo was legit?

[dajudge]

We often used to lose the 8 vs 5 games.   So nice to win one!

Those refs need to go back to their jobs at Foot locker.

Steele and Marshall feel the same
Gutsy win
Love those Hausers

[thebigjake]

Brendan Bailey can play some defense.  Did not expect that this year. He is gonna be a lock down guy for us.  A VERY pleasant surprise.

[dgies9156]

The officiating was terrible and almost designed to take Theo out of the game. Yet, we still one!

It's awful hard to do interior defense when the referees are calling fouls because your wake brushed the opposing team.

Kudos to Matt Heldt for the game he played. This team is gelling at the right time.

[Mike Deane's Seat Belt]

Wow another gut check win. 

Man iam i the only one that is gonna need to keep an AED on hand for these games.  Gettin hard on the old ticker.  Every game has been an absolute knuckle whitener. 

[nyg]

#10....

Bailey came in for Sacar with like 12 minutes to go in second half and MU was I believe down 7.  After that it was all MU and Sacar didn't see the floor again until Heldt fouled out.  His length on Scruggs and others was very effective, as in first half when Bailey also saw significant time for Sacar.  X did not score a single field goal in seven minutes and the next was in last 40 seconds.  Wojo saw something and it worked to perfection.

Jamal a DNP, someone gonna have to step up if Markus in foul trouble or needs a break  Playing a lot of minutes.

Down 11 and comeback like that, on the road, was a great win. 

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Disagree with 5.
Defense was pretty good.  Xavier hit tough shots at a high rate to start.  Our defense wore them down over time. Brendan Baileys defense was huge during the second half.

[DUNKS45]

Wojo makes another big move with BB down the stretch.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Outstanding win, especially when you take into account the refs taking Theo out of the game. One, maybe two, legit fouls out of his five.

Our big 3 are pretty great.  Joey coming into his own and Sam's never been better.

Developed a healthy dislike for a few of X's guys today so that's fun.

[Mr. Nielsen]

My only disappointment of the game was Ed. Marquette needed him bad today.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

MU's depth was a huge reason for this one.  They got a lot of scoring from Goodin, but MU made a run when they hit the mid point of both halves. They were tiring and we got quality play from our bench players.

[drewm88]

Gottlieb was excellent today. Biggest surprise.

Obviously, Ed struggled today, but I wonder how much of the PT going to Matt had to do with X's bigs being more traditional, down-low bigs vs. stretch.

[MUBurrow]

Such a great surprise that Bailey's defense is good enough already that he's able to get time vs Sacar because of his length. Their minutes going forward may be heavily dictated by matchups, which again, is a huge credit to BB's rapid development.

Heldt played 20 mins, and I don't remember saying his name once until his late game OReb.  That's a sign that those were great Heldt minutes.

[Norm]

Wojo raving about Heldt post-game.

[BCHoopster]

Matt is just bigger, older and smarter on the D end. Ed is a small center, really happy for Matt, he deserved some playing time, nice left hand lay-up and rebound. Need subs to play big, Bailey and Matt did, congrats

[Archies Bat]

It is nice to be able to mix and match Theo, Ed and Matt

[swimmer]

Wojo raving about Heldt post-game.

Yeah.  That was pretty moving.  Wojo’s voice started to crack a couple times.

[tower912]

Wojo raving about Heldt post-game.

As he should.  Ed has gotten dominated the last 3 games.  Matt came in and fought his butt off today.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Matt will be the first Wojo high school recruit to finish his eligibility at MU.

[skianth16]

Matt is just bigger, older and smarter on the D end. Ed is a small center, really happy for Matt, he deserved some playing time, nice left hand lay-up and rebound. Need subs to play big, Bailey and Matt did, congrats

Matt's effort and willingness to play a smaller role this year are both great. He earned his minutes today for sure. I'm not sure I'd give him the SOTG nod like some, but still a solid performance even if the box score doesn't show it.

[NotAnAlum]

Wow.  Great win.  I said in a thread earlier in the week that we were about to find out what it was like to be the make/break game of the other team's season.  X played out of their minds for the first 15 minutes.  Crowd was crazy.  But MU played composed, like a top 15 team is supposed to.  I felt at the half that we were ok being tied, with X playing so well.  But then X turned it on again.  But our guys kept their heads in the game and eventually our superior talent and shot making carried the day.  They proved something to me today.  On to Butler and I'm ready to "enjoy the ride".

[blikemike2]

Great win.

1. Theo got at least 4 ticky tack fouls. HORRIBLE.
2. Bailey is a lock down defender, please play him more. and go shoot 500 corner 3's BB 
3. What more can you say about Triple H

[forgetful]

Big takeaway for me. The officials were dreadful. Tons of really bad calls and missed calls. We kept our composure. Xavier, despite being the beneficiary of the vast majority of those bad calls/missed calls, lost composure multiple times. Coach got T'd up for one of those.

Honestly, they could have gotten called for multiple T's.

Composure in the face of adversity is a tough talent to teach. Our kids had it in spades.

[TVDirector]

9.  Liked Gottlieb getting into the nitty gritty of Marquette's offensive sets and their screening. 

Doug Gottleib = Glenn Quagmire
Giggety

[JakeBarnes]

Team took a lot of punches in the face today.  Got through it and was able to make plays.

Horrible officiating though. Even people who could give two sh*ts about Marquette at the bar I was at were complaining on our behalf.

[Marcus92]

Xavier threw everything they had at Marquette. We were down 11 in the second half and came back to earn another tough win on the road. MU now has its best overall and conference record since 2009 (the senior season of the Three Amigos). Going 3-1 on the road in the Big East is no small task. Huge games from Markus, Sam and Joey.

[1SE]

Props as well to Chartouney - that was a stone cold drive with Markus and thro on the bench.

His steal was huge - but then that pass to Markus was terrible. If he can stop the boneheaded TOs hell give us a solid 10 going forward.

Crowd was crazy but it will be like that the rest of the year. But I won’t complain about being everyone else’s super bowl!

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I thought this may have been one of Markus’ best team oriented games.  Took what was available- tried to find Sam and Joey in the offense.  It looked great. 

[CountryRoads]

Love the way our team is being coached and the moves wojo is making in game. A+

The team is calm and confident down the stretch and I had no doubt they would come through today. Smart and solid basketball.

[We R Final Four]

Huge win..this win takes a little pressure off now, for me at least.

Wojo was awesome today.
Bad/ineffective Sacar......Gotta ride BB.
Theo fouls...Bad Ed.....Gotta ride Matty.
Giving Joe some chances.

We seem to be getting to a point where we can absorb bad games by a player or two (by having bathe backups ready to roll) and keep our collective heads above water so the Big 3 can win the game.

[jsglow]

Final Four was right.  The strength of our team is our team.  Brendan and Matty epitomized that today.  We won because our big 3 did their job and our deeper bench guys did their jobs.

Even Joseph.  He certainly contributed on modest minutes.

[Daniel]

13. Each successive game the officiating gets worse. Once you a Marquette player leaves your hisfeet or holds your his  arms straight up its a foul.

[MU82]

Huge win..this win takes a little pressure off now, for me at least.

Wojo was awesome today.
Bad/ineffective Sacar......Gotta ride BB.
Theo fouls...Bad Ed.....Gotta ride Matty.
Giving Joe some chances.

We seem to be getting to a point where we can absorb bad games by a player or two (by having bathe backups ready to roll) and keep our collective heads above water so the Big 3 can win the game.

Superb observation, WRFF.

Yet another very strong game for Wojo. He's about winning. He'll play whomever he needs to for that to happen. Several excellent plays out of time-outs. Some outstanding offensive sets. Glad he's our leader.

I agree with others who talked about this being a pretty impressive win considering all that occurred: We're down double-digits on the road, opposing fans are going wild, X is practically kicking the ball into the basket, we can't get a call (Markus especially was mauled repeatedly), Theo gets 3-4 ridiculous calls against him, we get nothing from Theo's backup, etc. ... and yet we still win the game.

This is a tough-minded, well-coached, pretty darn talented team.

That's 7 straight ... gonna go to Butler and win ... then back-to-back home victories over the Johnnies and Nova will give us 10 straight and put us in 1st place.

We are ... Marquette!

[dajudge]

Big takeaway for me. The officials were dreadful. Tons of really bad calls and missed calls. We kept our composure. Xavier, despite being the beneficiary of the vast majority of those bad calls/missed calls, lost composure multiple times. Coach got T'd up for one of those.
Amen
Terrible timing for his team on Steele’s T
Marshall should have been T’d on same play and earlier on a foul call on him

Honestly, they could have gotten called for multiple T's.

Composure in the face of adversity is a tough talent to teach. Our kids had it in spades.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Something I noticed today. Sam may be the better pure shooter of the Hauser bros. but Joey has way better range.

Some of those three pointers he stepped into were like 25 footers.

[manny31]

Anybody have a line on a replay of the game? I couldn’t watch it live.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

My only disappointment of the game was Ed. Marquette needed him bad today.

I'm wondering if the ankle was tweaked or if he's just not fully recovered yet. He was a lot more effective against big men earlier in the season.

[lawdog77]

Bulletin Board material if we see them in NYC? "I felt we played some of our best ball," point guard Quentin Goodin said. "They hit some wild shots. The basketball gods gave them what we call some lucky baskets, but I felt we played good."

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Wow.  Great win.  I said in a thread earlier in the week that we were about to find out what it was like to be the make/break game of the other team's season.  X played out of their minds for the first 15 minutes.  Crowd was crazy.  But MU played composed, like a top 15 team is supposed to.  I felt at the half that we were ok being tied, with X playing so well.  But then X turned it on again.  But our guys kept their heads in the game and eventually our superior talent and shot making carried the day.  They proved something to me today.  On to Butler and I'm ready to "enjoy the ride".

This is a great post.

[MU82]

Bulletin Board material if we see them in NYC? "I felt we played some of our best ball," point guard Quentin Goodin said. "They hit some wild shots. The basketball gods gave them what we call some lucky baskets, but I felt we played good."

If he thinks Markus, Sam and Joey were making "wild shots," apparently Mr. Goodin slept through the film sessions on Marquette.

As I watched the game, I was thinking X was the team making wild shots.

[Marcus92]

MU went 14-25 (56.0%) from 3-point range today, against a team that tried mightily to defend the perimeter. An incredibly impressive performance. The three-headed monster of Howard, Sam and Joey is tough to guard. Just imagine if Jamal or Brendan start to come around.

[CTWarrior]

12.  Refs

Refs were brutal.  Not sure if they helped us or hurt us.  I think only one (maybe two) of the fouls on Theo were real fouls, but we got calls we didn't deserve too.

By the way, I never cared much for Doug Gottleib, but I think that was the best broadcast pair on an MU game this season.  Made several salient points, showed what MU was doing to get the shooters free, and called out the refs.

[MU82]

MU went 14-25 (56.0%) from 3-point range today, against a team that tried mightily to defend the perimeter. An incredibly impressive performance. The three-headed monster of Howard, Sam and Joey is tough to guard. Just imagine if Jamal or Brendan start to come around.

I thought all but 3 or 4 of them were very good looks. Sam beat the buzzer on one, Markus had to take one very closely guarded, and maybe there was another tough 1 or 2, but most were shots that Markus, Sam and Joey have proven over and over and over again they can make at a very high percentage.

[Goose]

MU82
Agreed that X was the team making the wild shots. Not sure what Goodin is smoking, but once there wild shots stopped falling, it was ball game. Truthfully, I think we beat them 9 out of ten times.

[mu_hilltopper]

Bulletin Board material if we see them in NYC? "I felt we played some of our best ball," point guard Quentin Goodin said. "They hit some wild shots. The basketball gods gave them what we call some lucky baskets, but I felt we played good."

On the contrary .. firstly, MU hitting long 3s is the new normal. 

Secondly .. the first ~30+ minutes, Xavier was the lucky one.  Balls bounced their way, rebounds, 50/50 balls, fouls.  Honestly, due to that and the 11 point deficit, I thought MU was cooked.

The tide turned.

[THEbig0]

Well he might have been referencing the three that bounced off the top of the backboard and went in, that was pretty wild.  But that was the only one I saw.

[connie]

Lots of good on this thread.  Lots of tough play on the road.  Happy happy.

[MU82]

It was the second straight game we benefited from T's on the opposition, so that's pretty cool.