Box Score | Xavier Quotes | Marquette Quotes
By SEAN BRENNAN
BIGEAST.com
Maybe this was the way it was supposed to end. Especially the way the season started for Marquette. Actually it was even before the season tipped off that the Golden Eagles found out just how much the BIG EAST thought of them coming into the season.
Need a refresher course? No problem. It was back in October, during BIG EAST Media Day at Madison Square Garden, when the league unveiled its preseason awards, picks and prognostications. None of them were - what’s the term? - oh, Marquette-friendly.
The league released its All-League First Team. No Marquette players made the cut. Then the Second Team was announced. Same deal. Preseason Player of the Year? That went to UConn’s Adama Sanogo. And the Coaches Preseason Poll was about as bad a miss as you could have as the Golden Eagles were selected to finish in ninth place, ahead of just DePaul and Georgetown.
Marquette simply said, ”Challenge accepted” and went about silencing the doubters all season long. The Golden Eagles would go on to post 15 league wins, a school record, and not only finish ahead of DePaul and Georgetown in the BIG EAST standings, but ahead of Xavier, Creighton, UConn, Providence, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Butler, too, to earn their first-ever BIG EAST regular-season title.
And remember those All-Conference snubs back in October? The postseason awards were far more Marquette-friendly. Tyler Kolek earned All-First Team honors, Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones were All-Second Team selections, David Joplin earned Sixth Man of the Year accolades, Shaka Smart became Coach of the Year and Kolek took home Player of the Year honors.
So maybe the BIG EAST Tournament was destined to finish this way, with a jubilant gaggle of Golden Eagles being bathed in a shower of confetti just moments after they completed their greatest season since joining the conference for the 2005-06 season. They danced, they hugged, they celebrated on the floor as they donned their championship hats and shirts on the same floor where they had just knocked off Xavier to claim their first-ever BIG EAST Tournament title. Above them the scoreboard read MARQUETTE 65, XAVIER 51.
As they say, it’s not how you start a season, it’s how you finish. And Marquette finished things the only way their magical season could end. With a win and a title. Oh sure, there is more to do, more to look forward to. Selection Sunday and the NCAA Tournament await the newly-minted champions, but that could wait a day. Saturday night in New York City was all about relishing what Marquette had accomplished, letting it wash over them, staying knee-deep in the hoopla.
“We made history,” said Kam Jones. “Can’t take that away from us ever.”
Marquette’s defense was the key to Saturday night. It was relentless, suffocating, dominant. Pick your description, they all fit what the Golden Eagles did to the mighty Xavier offense. Coming into the game the Musketeers were not only the conference leaders in scoring, but they were ranked ninth in the nation at 82.3 points a game. But they managed just 24 points the entire first half, and when they fell behind by 27 points (54-27) with 14:00 to play, Xavier was shooting just 29% from the floor and just 8 percent - yes, 1-of-13 - from three-point range. Xavier finished the night better than 30 points below its season average. You just don’t do that to an elite offensive team like the Musketeers. But that’s how smothering Marquette was on the defensive end all night. Not a single Xavier player broke double digits in scoring until Adam Kunkel drained a three-pointer to give him 11 points with just 4:25 left in the game. By then the Marquette lead was 61-43 and the countdown was on to a championship celebration.
“It’s just a lot of hard work, belief in each other that we can guard everybody,” said Jones, who was named to the All-Tournament team along with David Joplin. “We make a lot of mistakes but we make up for it with our effort and how we play together. I feel that goes a long way with how we guard and play defense. We wanted to win a championship and that’s what it takes to win a championship, to defend at a high level.”
Meanwhile Tyler Kolek was doing Tyler Kolek things, scoring 20 points, dishing three assists and even grabbing eight rebounds. It’s what Players of the Year do on the big stage in big games. Joplin finished with 12 points, including three three-balls, and Jones added 11 points with five rebounds and four assists.
Kolek enjoyed a special celebration on the court after the game with his parents, Kevin and Lynn, and his brother, Brandon, along with some close friends and his high school coach. They all got an up close look at Kolek’s Most Outstanding Player trophy, yet another award in a season full of them.
“All the moments they’ve been through with me have led up to this moment right here,” Kolek said. “To share that with my high school coach, my brother, my dad, my two best friends, it’s special. There is no better feeling.”
Kunkel did all he could to try and spark a late-game Xavier rally by drilling back-to-back, three-pointers with the second pulling Xavier within 61-46 with just over 4:00 to play. But the Musketeers never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Xavier is now 0-2 in BIG EAST Tournament title games, having lost previously to Villanova in 2015.
“I thought tonight there were times when their effort level, their quickness, their togetherness, their communication, it was like there were six players on defense against us,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We couldn’t get a good shot and that is to their credit. They have depth, they have spirit, they have communication. Tonight we would have had to be at our very, very best to beat them. It’s just to win this tournament you have to be able to do it again and again and then again. We weren’t able to do it here today.”
Amid the celebration of Marquette fans was a group all decked out in the very same tee shirt. It read “Shaka The World.” And the Golden Eagles did just that.”