BOISE, Idaho – With their heads shaved and a handful sporting headbands, several members of the men's basketball team resembled junior forward Lazar Hayward as they took the court against Utah State Friday.
If a few more Golden Eagles had played like Hayward, Marquette might not have had to survive a scare against the Aggies in its 58-57 win in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Golden Eagles trailed with as little as 2:05 remaining in the second half before rallying late to advance. Hayward led the team in scoring with 26 points, including 12 in a first half in which the Golden Eagles shot just 34.6 percent as a team. He also grabbed eight rebounds and helped contain Aggies' star Gary Wilkinson (15 points, four rebounds).
"Lazar is a big time player, I still don't think that he gets enough credit for what he does," guard Wesley Matthews. "It's fine for us, you want to play off of Lazar, we'll pass it to him all the time and he'll keep doing what he's doing."
Marquette (25-9) looked as if it might win this one in runaway fashion early in the first half, building leads of 23-11 and 26-13 with less than five minutes remaining. The Golden Eagles' early success was due mostly to Hayward, who scored the team's first 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting.
Utah State (30-5), known for its intricate offensive sets, couldn't seem to get anything going against a suffocating Marquette defense. The Aggies didn't reach double digits until there were less than six minutes remaining in the half. The Aggies entered the game shooting 49.8 percent from the field, but shot just 41.5 percent against Marquette.
"With this team, it's just a mindset," senior guard Jerel McNeal said. "For us to win games and be successful we have to be an unbelievable defensive team."
But the Aggies snuck back at the end of the opening period on a 3-pointer by Jared Quayle and a tip in by forward Tai Wesley to close the gap to 26-18.
Maurice Acker hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 29-18 at the start of the second half. Utah State then went on a 10-0 run to pull within one point at 29-28 with 16:09 remaining, mostly on the strength of six points from Wesley.
Meanwhile, Marquette struggled to score against the Aggies' 2-3 zone in the second half, shooting just 38.1 percent (and 36.2 percent for the game). Matthews and McNeal combined to go 6-of-26 from the field, scoring 11 and 14 points, respectively.
"I told our team at halftime (Utah State) would play the entire half down," coach Buzz Williams said. "We did not attack it with pace, not off the pass or off the bounce."
Utah State grabbed its first lead of the game at 46-43 with 4:41 remaining on a 3-pointer by Quayle, who finished the game with 18 points. Guard Tyler Newbold followed that up with a 3-pointer from the top of the key that put Utah State up 49-43.
That's when Marquette started getting to the free throw line. First, Quayle fouled out as the Golden Eagles went up 52-51. Then Wesley, who finished with 15 points, committed his fifth personal foul.
By the end, the Golden Eagles had pushed the lead to 58-54 – fittingly, on a free throw by Hayward – and even a desperation 3-pointer by guard Jaxon Myaer at the buzzer couldn't help Utah State.
Marquette will now play the winner of No. 3 Missouri and No. 14 Cornell on Sunday.