Great Basketball Win Over #10 Marquette

That midget has some ups. I love watching that kid play, but not against us!


The men's basketball team got a high quality win today at the Coliseum, which we had been lacking up to this point. Beating the #10 AP/ #11 Coaches ranked Marquette Golden Warriors by 15 points could be huge when it comes down to NCAA tournament selection. This is one of those victories that helps our RPI, adds to the quality win component, and gives us some needed confidence coming into the heart of league play.
The Mountaineers defeated the 11-1 Warriors 79-64, pulling away late in the 2nd half to make it comfortable. I loved Joe Alexander, Alex Ruoff, and Darris Nichols today. Flowers, Butler, and Mazzulla also had very solid to excellent games. Jamie Smalligan played like garbage. We're going to need to improve in that area (read: Smalligan), or we might struggle quite a lot against bigger squads. The Mountaineers defense held Mighty Smurf Dominic James to only 10 points, and outrebounded MU by a 19-5 margin in the 2nd half.
The crowd sounded great, but attendance was just over 11K. We need to improve on that, and this win might help. Perhaps the game being on a Sunday hurt a little bit, I'm not sure. But since I wasn't there myself, I'm not going to complain too much. That being said, I know many people don't go to the basketball games out of pure laziness. Well, the first time you get there and it's rocking, you'll never miss another makeable homegame. That place is a great venue and great atmosphere, so let's take some pride in making it the toughest place to play in the Big East.