Losers of two of their last three games and with four of their next five games against top 25 opponents, the No. 14/13 Marquette Golden Eagles needed a strong showing in their Big East opener against the Villanova Wildcats.
And Marquette (12-2, 1-0 Big East) responded with an 81-77 victory led by Darius Johnson-Odom’s 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting. The senior guard chipped in three assists and six rebounds.
“It just looked like they didn’t have it that night and Vanderbilt hit everything that night,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said of Marquette’s 74-57 loss on Thursday. “And once Vanderbilt got up, that’s a tough team to play behind on. It looked like an aberration to me. They came out hot (and) Marquette was just a step slow to start. They never quit but … I don’t think you’ll see another game like that from them.”
Buzz Williams left this game pleased with how his team came back from the worst home-loss during his four years as Marquette’s coach.
“I thought the guys’ response from the debacle last Thursday was outstanding,” Williams said. “I thought we played with great energy. I thought we had purpose in what we were doing, offensively and defensively. Pleased from top to bottom.”
Johnson-Odom made his presence felt early, posting 16 of Marquette’s first 25 points – a boost of confidence that was needed after posting a season-low 12 points against Vanderbilt – including a crowd-pleasing alley-oop to start the game from sophomore guard Vander Blue.
“That usually doesn’t happen for me,” Johnson-Odom said. “Van made a good play. I finished it off. And I think that’s what started our run and gave us more energy.”
Johnson-Odom said this win was the “best win, also the most important win.” because it got Marquette off on the right foot in conference play.
“When you can get a win against those guys (Villanova Wildcats) it’s more fun for everybody in the program,” Johnson-Odom said.
Towards the end of each half Villanova (7-7, 0-1 Big East) took over. With 3:14 left in regulation Marquette was up 73-61 before the Wildcats went on a 16-8 run to end the game. In the final 5:58 of the first half Villanova went on a 14-8 run to send the game into halftime.
Wright said his team played harder during those stretches than it did at any other point in the game.
“That’s just been our team. Consistency,” Wright said. “It’s just the consistency of playing every possession, which is something that this team, for us, has to learn. It’s usually something we take great pride in but this group, right now, we just don’t have that yet. I think we’ll get it.”
Struggling to find offense from outlets beyond Johnson-Odom and senior forward Jae Crowder, Marquette had three non-seniors in double-digits Sunday including sophomore forward Davante Gardner who posted the first double-double of his Marquette career (13 points, 10 rebounds).
“We all have the ability to play like that (and if we do) then we’ll be a very good team,” Johnson-Odom said.
With road battles with No. 12/12 Georgetown (Jan. 4) and No. 1/1 Syracuse (Jan. 7), the task gets more difficult from this one.
“These two games are going to be very difficult for us,” Johnson-Odom said. “Georgetown is way better than everybody expected. We just have to go in with the mindset of: we know they’re going to make runs. We’re going to be down at times. But we got to find a way to fight around it.”
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