[Cracked Sidewalks] MU Loses @ Notre Dame

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

MU Loses @ Notre Dame

Marquette loses another on the road.

Marquette trailed Notre Dame for most of the game, down 10 with 2:34 to play, heading for a double-digit loss.   Playing inspired offense and defense down those last 2 minutes, MU nearly tied the game on a last second shot, but fell short.  Final score, 86-83 bad guys.

Dominic James led the Warriors with 23 points, scoring 10 in the final 2 minutes of play, with ND playing soft.  Lazar Hayward had 21 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.  One sore spot was Jerel McNeal's play, who went 3-15 and missed a layup/dunk attempt while completely unguarded.    The Ooze also had a tough day, going 1-9, although he did snag 12 rebounds.

While Marquette still might have lost, the officiating was lopsided, to say the least.  The refs awarded Notre Dame 31 free throws to MU's 8, and blew some obvious calls, most notably, a kicked ball that a ref called an over-and-back violation, giving ND the ball.

No one should be surprised Marquette couldn't pull off a victory at Notre Dame today.  ND has a 33 game home winning streak (which began after a MU victory 2 years ago).  MU was a 5 point dog.  MU was 1-3 on the road in the Big East.  Notre Dame, while picked to finish 9th in the Big East, is easily one of the top 4 teams in the Big East, and are #21 in the country.  It was a game we were supposed to lose, and if there's a bright side, played hard in the 2nd half and weren't blown out like our other road losses.

With the loss, Marquette is solidly in the middle of the Big East, at 6-5 and is on the road to Seton Hall on Tuesday.

For the record, I am now 11 for 11 in picking BE games for CS's pre-season predictions.   Let's hope that's right down the stretch, winning 6 of the last 8 games.   Hope, hope, hope.

• AP Wrap / Official Box / Play by Play

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/02/mu-loses-notre-dame.html