SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Everyone knows he's the smallest guy on the team, but in Monday night's huge 71-64 victory over Notre Dame, Maurice Acker was the one getting the biggest minutes off the bench.
While Acker was the sparkplug in Marquette's 89-79 victory over the Irish in last year's Big East Tournament quarterfinals, he did not tally a point in this year's battle. His intense defense was enough to earn him a high accolade in coach Buzz Williams' eyes.
"He didn't score a point, but I thought Maurice Acker was the MVP of our team in regards to his defensive effort," Williams said. "When you're fighting so uphill against a team as big as they are, the two smallest guys (Acker and Dominic James) helped us defensively."
The big men, well, man, of Notre Dame predictably hurt the Golden Eagles inside. Junior Luke Harangody, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, torched Marquette down low with 29 points and 17 rebounds. Harangody, however, was without his partner in crime, senior guard Kyle McAlarney, who was shut down by Acker's peskiness.
"We just had to come up and face the challenge and be able to put pressure on guards while limiting their post entries and open threes," Acker said. "That was our main goal. We took that and ran with it, got up into the guards and pressured them a lot."
Acker hounded the Irish sharpshooter all over the court in the second half, using help from James and Jerel McNeal (who had 27 points himself), and limited McAlarney to only nine points on 3-for-12 shooting and just 1-for-6 from downtown.
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey gave big credit to both Acker and the rest of the Marquette guards for their job containing his second leading scorer.
"(Acker) came in and harassed him and took him away," Brey said. "They were able to keep a fresh body on him. The one thing they can do is get out and really defend, and they certainly did that. They made it hard to get clean looks."
Acker has had a tough time getting a clean look at the floor this year. He's averaged just 2.7 minutes per game this year, remaining on the bench as newcomer Jimmy Butler and sophomore forward Patrick Hazel have been the first reserve options.
On Monday, the match-up just felt right, said Williams. "Last time we were on road, (at Providence) it was the same deal," he said. "We decided to go small and play Maurice on the ball and Dominic off ball.
"I didn't think we did a good enough job of preventing Harangody from getting deep catches, so I thought we might as well get our guards to try to do it."
Acker has shown that despite his small stature, he can be deserving of clutch minutes, as witnessed in last year's battle with the Irish in New York City. In Monday's game he did it again, utilizing his 22 minutes to grab three rebounds from among the Irish bigs, dish out an assist and grab a steal.
More important was his composure down the stretch in a hotly contested game. Acker did not turn the ball over once, helping Marquette get the key stops needed to seal a victory in an unforgiving Joyce Center environment.
Acker said getting back on the court really helped him get into a rhythm. "It felt great to get back in the mix," he said. "The main thing I'm focusing on now is being ready, because I never know when coach is going to call my name."