Marquette Defeats Villanova in Heated Game on the Road

By Jackson - the Marquette Basketball Tickets Fan | Posted Wednesday, February 1

It looked like Marquette's winning streak would end at five this week, as they found themselves trailing Villanova late in Saturday's game. A controversial technical foul called on the Wildcats Maalik Wayns, gave the Golden Eagles all the momentum they needed to comeback and win their sixth straight. Villanova came out swinging on their home court this weekend. Scoring on consecutive threes out of the gate (followed up by a fourth by James Bell,) had the Wildcats up by as many as eighteen points before the second half. Bell and teammate Dominic Cheek both managed to break double digits prior to the intermission. It looked as if “Nova” would be taking one back, after Marquette won a close one in Milwaukee on New Year's Day. Marquette’s Darius Johnson Odom had other plans on his mind, as he and teammate Jae Crowder broke the game open with ten unanswered points to open the second half.

That 10-0 run put the score at 55-55, but the Wildcats didn't let it stay even for very long. With just over six minutes left to play Villanova would take a four point lead. It looked like the momentum was shifting in favor of the Wildcats, just before Maalik Wayns shot himself in the foot by shouting profanities in front of the referees. Wayns blew up when he felt that an out of bounds call should have gone their way. Wayns was called for a technical foul, and that started an 8-0 run for Marquette.

Both coaches were also given technicals in the match. Wildcats coach, Jay Wright, pushed the officiating crew to its limit before being rewarded with a technical for excessive prodding. His counterpart on the other sideline, Buzz Williams, was as well guilty of badgering the refs after he loudly disagreed with a shooting foul called on his team.