Marquette vs Cincinnati Basketball Recap

Marquette 79, Cincinnati 76 (OT)

With just one week to go in the month of February, the battlegrounds of college basketball are becoming increasingly populated by bubble elimination games, those soapy swordfights in which two teams on NCAA Tournament life support fight for a few days of extra oxygen. When two conference foes in relatively equal positions lock horns on the hardwood at this time of year, losing isn't an option.

In that case, the Cincinnati Bearcats - already in deep trouble as a potential at-large team in the Big Dance - have just run out of air.

In a contest that was as charged with desperation as the situation demanded, the Marquette Golden Eagles - given five minutes of extra time because of clutch 3-point shooting - outlasted Cincinnati to move upward on the bubble ladder. The Bearcats might not be officially dead, but a team that has to close its regular season with games against West Virginia, Villanova and Georgetown must win at least two of those contests just to stay alive in the running for a tourney ticket. Coach Mick Cronin's crew must swipe all three encounters in order to feel reasonably good about its Selection Sunday chances.

That sounds like a death sentence to most reasonable college basketball fans. It didn't have to be that way for UC, but the Cats got clawed because they couldn't shut down Marquette's long bombers in the final minute of regulation.

Coach Buzz Williams had to love what he saw from his Golden Eagles on Sunday at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati. Marquette has dropped five games by five points or fewer this season, but as this game showed, the men from Milwaukee didn't get discouraged when they became immersed in the fires and passions of yet another white-knuckle finish. With Cincinnati leading 64-61, MU's David Cubillan hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 64 with 1:49 left. Over the next 80 seconds, Cincinnati moved back in front by three on a bucket by Larry Davis and a foul shot by Ibrahima Thomas. However, Thomas could only split a pair of free throws when the Bearcat forward stepped to the charity stripe with 43 seconds remaining in regulation, and his miss opened the door for more Marquette magic, in a reversal of a previously paralyzing trend for the Golden Eagles.

With 28 ticks left on the clock, Marquette's go-to guy, senior forward Lazar Hayward, banged in a triple to knot the score again at 67-all. Cincy's inability to lock down on the perimeter gave the visitors another chance to improve their own bubble situation while plunging the Bearcats into deeper bubble trouble.

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The Golden Eagles pounced in the extra period.

Hayward hit a tie-breaking three at the 2:13 mark of overtime to give MU a 73-70 edge, and with the Eagles still leading by two with 39 seconds left, the Bearcats made their last and biggest mistake of the afternoon. With only five seconds on the shot clock, UC's Rashad Bishop fouled Marquette's Jimmy Butler. The Bearcats wanted to play defense and get a stop so they could tie or win on their ensuing offensive possession, but when Bishop got check-mated by Butler, Marquette was able to steer this showdown into its endgame phase, where normal basketball rules don't apply and the ability to make foul shots is enough to win.

Sure enough, Butler and teammate Maurice Acker locked down this game at the foul line by hitting four of four free throws in the final 39 seconds. With the addition of a Butler dunk on a press break, Marquette found enough points to keep the Bearcats at bay and deprive Cincinnati of any extra breathing room over the next two weeks. Marquette's lungs are functioning just fine, though, after a big-time bubble breakthrough.

It's late-February basketball, ladies and gentlemen. Your seats need to be in their fully locked and upright position.

Your oxygen mask needs to be ready to deploy, too.

by Matt Zemek
BigEast-fans.com Staff Writer

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