Big East Basketball: Villanova’s breakout, Creighton’s upset among latest storylines
By John Makuch
2. Marquette takes down Kansas, plays well against Purdue
The Marquette Golden Eagles showed exactly why they are one of the top teams in the entire nation after their impressive Feast Week performance. They had their work cut out for them in the Maui Invitational, but they picked up a win against the top-ranked team in the nation against Kansas.
It was the Oso Ighodaro show against those Jayhawks with the big man putting up 21 points and nine rebounds in a great showing. The Golden Eagles showed out for the Big East with an impressive 73-59 performance as they controlled the pace and dominated one of the top teams in the nation. In the game before they also caught a close win against UCLA, so they were 2-0 heading into the championship.
But then, it was a question of whether their great run would stop at the hands of one of the best players in the nation Zach Edey. Marquette had a chance to pull off the rare feat of beating the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in back-to-back weeks. However, the Golden Eagles came up just short 78-75.
This team has plenty to hold their heads high about though, they picked up two great wins and took a team that should be ranked No. 1 in the nation to the brink. The Golden Eagles showed they are not just a Big East threat, but this could be a team that competes for a National Championship with this Tyler Kolek-led team.