PROVIDENCE, R.I. – There’s always a lot said about how much it helps when a team has winning experience, especially if that team goes up against one that lacks such experience. While it doesn’t always manifest itself in such a matchup, when it does it’s almost undeniably clear.
Saturday night saw such a matchup, that of Marquette with its big three visiting Providence and its group of upperclassmen that have come close and shown glimpses of being big winners but haven’t done it yet. The final score, with Marquette winning 91-82, gives no sense of how this played out, and a look at the box score won’t make it so clear, either.
“There’s nothing that you can deduct from the stat sheet that, if you didn’t know the final score, you would say that Marquette won,” said Golden Eagle head coach Buzz williams. “I think that’s the thing that’s immeasurable in life, but specifically with our team, is the heart of these guys and the character of these guys. I think it’s happened several times thus far, and we may lose the next 13 games, but I think that our character was revealed tonight, and I’m thankful to be a part of it.”
The Golden Eagles’ big three are seniors Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews. They have been inseparable on the court since arriving in Milwaukee, and that’s true more than one might think. On 13 occasions in their careers, one of them has missed a game due to injury. In those games, the Golden Eagles are 7-6, compared to 78-27 with all three in the lineup. So take one out of the equation, and things just aren’t quite the same.
On Saturday night, the Golden Eagles were not the better team for a lot of the game. In the first half, Providence showed what they are capable of when they don’t settle for early three-pointers, as they consistent got inside via driving or entry passes and saw good results. They scored 32 of 45 points in the paint en route to a five-point halftime lead, and keeping the turnovers down to five certainly helped.
The Friars got the lead to 13 points on a couple of occasions, but the Golden Eagles slowly chipped away as the best Providence could do after that was trade baskets a few times. Once James got a fast break dunk off one of 13 second-half Providence turnovers to tie the game at 76 with 5:23 left, the Golden Eagles had the edge. They had the momentum at that point, but more importantly, have been there and done that. The Friars may have tied the game once more, but the psychological impact of losing a lead they held for much of the game to a team with winning experience was huge.
“Their demeanor changed a little when the game got tied,” said McNeal, who had 25 points. “It’s a testament to our team to just stay in there, keep fighting, keep battling through it all.”
After the game was tied at 79, Marquette scored the next 11 points to seal the win. They made every right play, while the Friars committed more costly turnovers and once again could not come through with a signature win. The big three scored the Golden Eagles’ final 12 points, after Lazar Hayward helped set up the finish with a number of key shots en route to 25 points, 16 in the second half.
“He’s one of the hardest guards on our team, no doubt about it, because he can play inside and out and he’s so versatile with the things he can do,” McNeal said of Hayward, who was 5-7 from long range. “He really helped us tonight, he came up with a number of big shots that got us back in the game and swung the momentum back into our favor.”
Williams, who has a great touch with self-deprecating humor, won’t say he felt the team was in position to win once they finally tied the score, but felt the team got better defensively and that made the difference. Even though Providence shot over 56 percent for the game, including better than 57 percent in the second half, the turnovers were too much. The Friars’ 13 turnovers led to 17 Marquette points in the second half.
Even though Williams won’t admit it, you had to think his team had the edge once they tied the game. They are the better team, the one with winning experience, and in a matchup like this, if that team ever completes a rally, the pressure all goes back on the underdog. When that showed up on Saturday night, it was unmistakable in the final minutes.
