McNeal had six steals and 18 deflections, causing the majority of Oakland's 16 turnovers. He controlled the game on defense, and the Marquette men's basketball team won 80-62 behind McNeal's blistering presence.,”On a night when Dwyane Wade cheered from the Bradley Center's seats, sophomore Jerel McNeal reminded Marquette's most loved alumnus of his own college glory days.
McNeal had six steals and 18 deflections, causing the majority of Oakland's 16 turnovers. He controlled the game on defense, and the Marquette men's basketball team won 80-62 behind McNeal's blistering presence.
"That's just the way I play," said McNeal, who had 16 points and five rebounds. "When a guy crosses over in front of me, I can't help myself. It's almost a weakness at times. Whenever a guy crosses in my face I just naturally get a hand up."
No kidding.
Marquette (11-2) dominated fast-break scoring 27-0. If McNeal was not the guy causing the loose balls on defense, then he was the one picking them up and leading the squad to easy fast-break buckets. After Marquette's slow start, he charged the team, helping it to a 16-1 run toward the end of the first half. The run began when the Golden Eagles trailed 30-22 with 8:03 remaining.
When McNeal buried a jumper at the 2:41 mark, Marquette led 36-31.
Halftime did nothing to break the Golden Eagles' momentum. And guess who kept it alive?
Five minutes into the second half, McNeal saved a loose ball from going out of bounds as he tiptoed behind the line and batted it to sophomore Dominic James. Then, James zipped a pass diagonally across midcourt to freshman David Cubillan, who hit a three-pointer.
The play extended Marquette's lead to 49-43. Fewer than two minutes later, Marquette led 57-43, completing the 13-0 run. That would be the knockout punch.
"The ball was moving very crisply," head coach Tom Crean said.
Effective ball distribution led to high percentage shots, and the Golden Eagles shot 59.3 percent from the field. James had 20 points and nine assists, both game highs. Marquette did not rely on outside shooting (4-of-7), while Oakland relied too heavily on threes (8-of-25). Half of the Golden Grizzlies' field goals were three-pointers, as the team finished 16-of-51 from the field.
"The intensity on defense made us a very dangerous team," James said.
That pressure took awhile to come alive. Sophomore guard Erik Kangas, who finished with a team-high 16 points, took advantage early to help the Golden Grizzlies to a hot shooting start. The team buried four of its first eight three-point jumpers. But then McNeal surged, and the Golden Eagles rode on the shoulders of their stopper the rest of the way.
Marquette's defensive intensity skyrocketed, leading to easy buckets.
In fact, the Golden Eagles shot a higher percentage from the field than they did from the free-throw line. Marquette's 18-of-31 shooting from the charity stripe brought the season-clip to 60.7 percent, an alarming deficiency.
"We'll get better with that," Crean said. "The last thing I was going to do the last few days was focus on free-throw shooting. I'd be way more concerned if we weren't getting to the line."
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