Marquette Basketball: Golden Eagles Win OT Over Villanova in Big East Quarterfinal

Marquette entered the Big East Tournament without their star point guard Tyler Kolek and had to prepare for a hungry Villanova team in a must-win situation as they sat on the outside looking in for an NCAA Tournament bid. Kolek has missed the last four games for Marquette due to an oblique injury, and in that time span, Marquette has improved each game, making the adjustments needed to operate without him. Those adjustments would definitely come into play in what would turn out to be a wild Thursday night at the Garden. 

Villanova came into Thursday night’s quarterfinal fresh off of a close win over DePaul the night prior and in a must-win situation to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The sense of urgency for a Wildcats win was apparent early, with a gameplan to take away Marquette’s Oso Ighodaro and make others beat them. Playing shallow zones and rotating double-team help on Ighodaro, Villanova forced shots to the outside. Marquette came out firing, hitting three of their first four long-range shots, but would then go cold from the outside, missing their next seven outside shots as they struggled to find their offense away from their usual two-man game and high ball-screens off of Ighodaro. Villanova impressed with defensive intensity all half, including holding Ighodaro to only two shot attempts and zero points, leaning on that intensity to keep the score low and took a 29-28 lead into the break. 

The second half saw more back-and-forth and more lead changes, eleven in total. Villanova continued to focus on taking away Ighodaro, and after Kam Jones’ rather pedestrian 5-point first half, he started to be more aggressive towards the basket. Jones’ ability to get into the lane to scoop-and-score became a way to shrink the defense, and both Jones and his teammates reaped the benefits. With Villanova having to account for Jones’ invasion of the lane, opportunities arose for open outside shots. David Joplin hit three timely three’s in the second half, along with a dagger from Chase Ross, to put Marquette up by five with under four minutes left. Villanova would bounce back to get the lead back within two when Oso Ighodaro would hit his patented soft hook in the lane for his first made shot of the game, coming with only 3 minutes left in regulation. 

Villanova would chip away at the Marquette defense, getting timely shots from Eric Dixon and TJ Bamba to tie the game at 58 and set up a final possession for Marquette with just under three seconds left in regulation. It was classic Big East Tournament action as the clock neared midnight in New York City and Madison Square Garden in a frenzy. 

Out of the timeout, Marquette had to go the full length of the court in under three seconds. After a baseball pass across midcourt to Oso Ighodaro, a timeout was called immediately, setting up an inbound play in the frontcourt with 2.4 seconds remaining. Shaka Smart drew up a beautiful downscreen for Kam Jones, and off of the inbound to high-IQ passer Oso Ighodaro, he hit Kam Jones off the screen for a runner towards the basket. A high kiss off the glass fell in as Madison Square Garden erupted in reaction to a buzzer-beater win for Marquette. The replay showed otherwise. The ball has to completely leave the shooter’s fingertips, and after a lengthy review, it was determined that by the tiniest of margins, microseconds even, that the ball had not fully left Kam Jones’ fingertips, and the shot was waved off. More basketball at the Garden. 

The 5-minute overtime stint was mostly dominated by Marquette. Another huge outside shot from David Joplin after consecutive defensive stops ran the lead to six, deflating any hopes that Villanova had at winning the game and continuing their season into the big dance. Marquette would hold on for a thrilling 71-65 win, moving them into the Big East semifinal against Providence, and most likely sending Villanova to the NIT. 

Marquette found a way to win without Tyler Kolek and without the usual inside scoring from Oso Ighodaro. The Golden Eagles got a team effort with four different players in double figures and a team-high 18 points from Kam Jones. And although they didn’t get their usual inside scoring from Oso Ighodaro, his impact through rebounding, assists, and overall leadership was without question. Thursday night’s game further hardens Marquette for the rest of the Big East Tournament and what lies ahead once they go dancing next week. 

Marquette takes on Providence in the Big East semifinal in the nightcap Friday night at Madison Square Garden at 9pm ET on FS1.