Cats fall to Marquette 83-73

The start was an absolute disaster for Villanova. Over the first two minutes, Villanova committed two turnovers, Marquette grabbed two offensive rebounds and the ‘Cats were down 7-0. The ‘Cats tried to respond, but two more turnovers over the next two minutes negated any progress by ‘Nova and the Marquette lead was pushed to 15-6. With the help of yet another turnover and another Marquette offensive rebound, the lead grew further, to 20-8, with 14:10 to play in the half.

Villanova committed five turnovers in the first 7:30 and Marquette opened the game 4-7 from 3, poor marks for the ‘Cats on the two biggest keys to the game.

Finally, the Villanova offense found some rhythm and the ‘Cats were able to rip off an 8-0 run to pull within three at 30-27. However, an incredibly questionable technical foul call on Brandon Slater served to completely flip the momentum, as the Golden Eagles went on an 11-0 run after the call to take their biggest lead of the game at 41-27. All told, the run after the technical would be 16-5 heading into the half, giving Marquette a 46-32 lead at the break.

Wright said the technical was because Slater cursed.

In addition to the poor 3-point defense and turnovers, rebounding was a huge issue in the first half. Marquette built an 18-9 advantage on the glass. The Golden Eagles entered the game pulling down just 22.8% of their offensive rebound opportunities but grabbed 46.1% in the first half. They had a 9-3 advantage in second-chance points.

“We got in a big hole early,” Jay Wright said. “On the road against a good team like that, you try to battle back, we battled, but you can’t play 5-7 minutes like that to start the game against a good team. And then those turnovers, we’re not getting set in our defense and they’re getting open 3s. The beginning of that game was the key.”

The ‘Cats tried to get back into it in the second half. They opened the half with a 10-2 push to get within six and were within five at the 14-minute mark. But in what would prove to be a theme of the night, Marquette had an answer every time ‘Nova made a push. This time it was another offensive rebound that led to a Tyler Kolek 3 to push the lead back to eight.

The ‘Cats kept clawing, getting within three at 56-53 with 9:56 to go. But once again Marquette answered, using an 8-0 run exclusively from Darryl Morsell to go back up 11. Morsell added a block on the defensive end during the stretch. Marquette extended the run to 14-4 to retake a 13-point lead. ‘Nova would get within eight a couple more times, but the poor first half proved too much to overcome and the ‘Cats would get no closer, ultimately falling by 10.

There was some improvement in the second half. The ‘Cats had just three turnovers and actually finished with a 22-15 edge in points off turnovers. They evened things on the glass, outrebounding Marquette 18-17 and allowing just a single offensive rebound (but it was the big one that led to a Kolek 3 that broke Villanova’s early second-half momentum). After shooting 46.7% from 3 in the first half, Marquette hit just 33.3% in the second.

However, the Golden Eagles shot 8-13 on 2-point attempts in the second half and Villanova was dreadful from 3, hitting just 4-17 attempts (23.5%). That, combined with the first-half hole, was too much to overcome despite some second-half improvements.

“They jumped on us early and we didn’t handle that pressure well,” Wright said. “And then you have an uphill battle against a really good team that defends and shoots 3s. You gotta just give them credit.”

It was a disappointing evening overall, especially because of the way the ‘Cats started the game after what happened in the Marquette game at home. They simply didn’t match Marquette’s intensity, physicality and focus at the start of the game, which is particularly frustrating against a team that should have had their attention.

Things won’t get any easier as the ‘Cats look to bounce back, as they host No. 17 UConn on Saturday.