West Virginia had run through a grueling regular season to likely clinch its bid to the Big Dance, and it looked like it last night.
Marquette came into the Big East Tournament teetering on the NCAA bubble, fighting for its postseason life — and it played like it, too.
Marquette was hungry. It was desperate. And in the end, victorious.
The Golden Eagles earned a 67-61 come-from-behind upset of defending champ West Virginia at the Garden. Considered the last of 11 league teams with a shot at the NCAA Tournament, Marquette padded their resume for the NCAA selection committee and advanced to tonight’s Big East quarterfinal against Louisville.
Marquette (20-13) erased a 10-point deficit early in the second half, with the game tied at 55. That’s when Darius Johnson-Odom (11 points) hit a wide-open 3-pointer from the left wing, then another from the same spot moments later for a 61-55 lead with 3:53 to play, a lead they never surrendered.
“I was looking for someone on the selection committee. I thought they’d be the best-dressed here. I saw guys from Wall Street, but didn’t see anybody from the committee,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said jokingly.
Marquette, who has an RPI of 64, faces Louisville tonight (9 p.m., ESPN). They blew an 18-point cushion with under six minutes left in a gut-wrenching Jan. 15 loss to the Cardinals, but this time the stakes are far greater.
“ESPN says this, Fox Sports says that,” Williams said. “I don’t think any of them know. The best thing is continue to win.”
West Virginia (20-11), a Final Four team last season, led 41-31 on a 3-pointer by Brooklyn’s Truck Bryant. But Marquette, with the league’s third-worst defense, held West Virginia to 6-of-27 second-half shooting and had two late steals to clinch its 20th win.
Of the 141 Big East teams that have reached 20 wins, all but five made the Big Dance.
“It’s been a yearlong problem,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “We just don’t make open shots. You shoot 22 percent in the second half, you’re not going to win in this league.”
West Virginia got a game high-tying 15 from Mt. Vernon’s Kevin Jones, but it wasn’t enough.
“It came down to who wanted it more and they showed who wanted it more,” Jones said.
