DePaul had lost 25 straight Big East conference games. Marquette was coming off a dominating 30-point win over Providence Sunday. All signs led to a blow out Wednesday night, but the Blue Demons had other plans.
Mike Stovall hit a fade away jumper with 0.7 seconds remaining and the Blue Demons shocked the Golden Eagles 51-50 for just their eighth win of the season and first in conference.
Marquette, which entered the game first in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, went ice cold, shooting 17-of-41 from the floor while hitting just 4-of-12 3-pointers.
The loss comes at one of the worst times for Marquette. Saturday, the Golden Eagles head east to take on Syracuse, the No. 5 team in the country.
Preseason, many did not know what to expect of the Orange. With the departures of Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris, Jim Boeheim looked to experience in guard Andy Rautins and energy in newcomer Wesley Johnson.
The Golden Eagles have already had plenty of experience against the nation’s elite this year. Sophomore guard Darius Johnson-Odom said the team has learned a lot from early Big East action.
“Each game that we lost we learned something,” Johnson-Odom said. “I think us not taking the pressure off (Providence) in the second half really helped us. I think we can carry this over into our next games, and it should help us a lot to become better as a team and learning what we need to do to win these games.”
Although DePaul and Syracuse are on completely different ends of the basketball spectrum currently, Williams and company approach every game the same.
“We don’t practice daily or play in a game daily and worry about what the score is,” Williams said. “It’s more about our execution on both ends.”
Following Marquette’s 30-point victory over Providence Sunday, Williams was pleased with his team’s advantage in paint touches.
“We had 42 paint touches and they had 24,” he said. “That’s always a barometer for our team. Any time we have a high number of paint touches it typically turns into our field goal percentage being better, which turns into made baskets off assists.”
What Marquette must do to win: make stops.
The Golden Eagles are a team that thrives on defensive effort. If they can hang with Syracuse and make some key stops, Marquette has a chance to upset the Orange.
“When we get stops it gets everybody going,” Johnson-Odom said. “Coach always talks about three stops and winning the first four minutes.”
What Syracuse must do to win: guard the perimeter.
If the Golden Eagles get going from deep early, they have a serious chance to hand the Orange a second loss. Syracuse played a similar opponent in Notre Dame earlier in the week and forced the Fighting Irish to 8-for-30 shooting from 3-point range. If the Orange provide the same kind of defensive pressure, it will be a long 40 minutes for Marquette.
Senior guard Maurice Acker knows the importance of every Big East game and that a win gets you one game closer to postseason play.
“Any game you win in the Big East by 30 is huge because night in and night out there are teams that are real good,” Acker said following the Providence game. “You’re not playing weak teams in the Big East.”
