The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Fired up but uninspired in South Bend

This likely was not Marquette's pre-game meal before its game at Notre Dame Saturday, but it sure looked like it.

An excess of fouls, diving for loose balls and extracurricular entanglements highlighted a feisty game in which the Golden Eagles lost their wits and a chance at a first-round bye to the Big East tournament.,”

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A cup of coffee, a piece of chocolate and a can of Red Bull.

This likely was not Marquette's pregame meal before its game at Notre Dame Saturday, but it sure looked like it.

An excess of fouls, diving for loose balls and extracurricular entanglements highlighted a feisty game in which the Golden Eagles lost their wits, dropped the game 85-73 and blew a chance at a first-round bye to the Big East tournament.

"It was gonna be that way. You just could feel there was a lot of juice going into this game," said Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey.

Marquette had all the juice in the opening stages when it swarmed the ball on defense and scored in a variety of ways. A Wesley Matthews alley-oop dunk in transition, a Jerel McNeal spot-up three-pointer against a zone defense and a Dominic James pull-up jumper helped Marquette open with a 15-4 lead by the 14:17 mark of the first half.

But a dead ball incident eight minutes into the game foreshadowed Marquette's unraveling.

McNeal's defensive pressure forced Notre Dame guard Russell Carter to drop the ball out of bounds near the Marquette bench. Carter then nudged McNeal out of the way with his forearm – innocuous, everyday contact – before walking down to the other end of the court.

Marquette head coach Tom Crean interpreted Carter's act as a malicious elbow. In a fit of rage, Crean erupted at the officials who did not see the nonincident and had to be restrained by his assistant coaches.

"I must have been the only guy in the arena that saw what I saw when I saw the shot with the elbow," Crean said after the game.

Probably everyone in the arena was surprised to see Crean not issued a technical foul for his outburst, but he set the stage for his team's over-aggressiveness and subsequent confrontations.

Although the Golden Eagles held a 13-point lead nine minutes into the game, McNeal, Matthews and Lazar Hayward were saddled with three fouls by halftime, and the Fighting Irish used offensive rebounds and free throws to get back into the game. Notre Dame closed the half on a 32-13 run to take a six-point halftime lead.

The Golden Eagles' foul trouble continued when McNeal and Hayward picked up their fourth fouls just two minutes into the second half.

"It's a physical game, but I guess we were a little too physical," Crean said.

The physical nature was highlighted by Luke Harangody's hard foul on a McNeal fast-break layup attempt late in the second half.

"As far as I could see it was a good play," McNeal said after the game. "He went for the ball."

In the aftermath, however, James and Notre Dame's Zach Hillesland exchanged words and received technical fouls.

Marquette's once energetic spirit had turned into petty frustration by the time Marquette junior Dan Fitzgerald was issued a technical foul with 23 seconds left after shoving Harangody out of bounds.

"It's an emotional game," said James, who added that he thought his team stayed poised despite the incendiary incidents.

Oh, and the likely pre-game reading material to go along with the team's meal: "State of Denial," by Bob Woodward.

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