Sports fans need faith. They do not survive without faith. If there is no faith, it is an eternal attitude that everything will go wrong. I lost my faith in Marquette basketball with four minutes left to go in the game against Georgetown. I finally gave up. Butler game made me have one foot out the door, but I needed one more bad outing to convince myself all hope was officially lost with this Golden Eagles team. Marquette somehow found their way back to force overtime despite a couple bad officiating calls and won the game in overtime with unlikely contributors John Dawson and Steve Taylor Jr. delivering big games off the bench leaving Buzz Williams with an inevitable decision to make on Saturday. Marquette trailed 60-53 with three minutes left to go in the game. This spot felt familiar as Marquette had many games where they fought to the wire, but in the end, they came up just short. It really started to feel like this team was living inside one big Linkin Park music video. Jake Thomas rattled home a 3-pointer which concluded his scoring and his weird day as Thomas had a good game with two mind-boggling three point attempts. It is the same sort of love/hate relationship with him as it was with Junior Cadougan. Thomas cut the lead to four, and things began to get interesting from there.
The teams would trade buckets down the stretch including a big Jamil Wilson dunk, a shot-clock violation that was not called on Georgetown rather reversed in the Hoyas favor and a foul call on Thomas where he clearly forced Markel Starks to travel or at least get a jump ball. Starks had a great night with 28 points, but he missed the most important shot of the night clanking the first free throw with Georgetown up only two opening the door for Marquette. Starks would convert the second free throw giving the Hoyas a three point advantage giving the Golden Eagles one final possession to win the game.
This is sort of an issue because Marquette does not really have that go-to scorer. Jamil brought the ball up and honestly think Jake Thomas might have been the option because Starks recovers quickly leading to Todd Mayo being wide-open for a three. Mayo went cold-blooded on everybody nailing the jumper and sending the game to overtime, the second straight extra period for the Golden Eagles. But in this one, Golden Eagles battled back to force it and rode the wave to victory versus the inverse last Saturday. While it is not saying much, this is the first signature win for Marquette in the 2013-2014.
The two players opening up the most eyes were John Dawson and Steve Taylor Jr. Dawson, the freshman point guard from New Mexico did not really come in with much hype out of high school. He played nothing like a freshman on Monday night delivering 12 points including a big three in overtime to push Marquette to a seven point lead in the extra period. Dawson also committed his fourth foul with 13 minutes left in the game, and he played the duration meaning even with a tight officiating crew, Dawson ensured he did not pick up his fifth. This is a guy who can lead a team and deserves to be starting over Derrick Wilson. It appears the writing on the wall with Wilson only getting 12 minutes versus Dawson's 31, but you never know with Buzz.
It has not been the greatest year for Taylor Jr. He dealt with a knee injury, and lost his starting spot after the first two games because of it. He came up big in his first real minutes since November having 14 points and eight rebounds. Taylor Jr. made aggressive moves to the basket. He did not play afraid. Too many times Marquette plays scared, and Taylor Jr did not play that way. He took it right to a big front line of Georgetown and did with success. If he can give Marquette a solid 20 to 25 minutes with this production, this becomes a different team.
Marquette battled back to win this game. Even at 8:00 pm tonight, if you were to tell me this team would pull off this win in that fashion, I would call bullshit. This was a great win for them and something they can build on. Marquette welcomes number four Villanova to town Saturday afternoon as the Wildcats are coming off a 28-point home loss. They will be ready to make statement. But you know what? For the first time in a long while, the faith I have Marquette will be ready to handle it is strong.
Charlie.
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