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EVERYDAY MESSAGE RESONATES FOR MARQUETTE

Latest evidence is in Golden Eagles overtime win over Seton Hall on Sunday afternoon

by RAY MERNAGH

A simple message can have amazing results. Especially when that message never changes or wavers –circumstances be damned.

“The message is always the same to our guys,” said Buzz Williams, in response to my query of whether he changes his approach depending on situations, in this particular case I was asking about overtimes.

“Whether it’s at halftime, the day before a game or the first day of individual workouts, it’s the same,” said Williams.

On February 18th, Marquette lost 58-51 to Pitt in Milwaukee. The loss ended a five-game winning streak by the Golden Eagles. It made them 7-6 in the Big East and facing a three-game road trip to Cincinnati (a desperate team hoping to stay alive), St. John’s (a team starting to win some games) and Seton Hall (see Cincinnati).

Back to that message.

“This is not for everyone, we need everyone but we don’t need anyone,” said Williams. “We are going to be everyday tough, not just game tough, not fake tough, not rivalry tough, we are going to be everyday tough.”

Yesterday the trip culminated with an 84-83 overtime win at Seton Hall, making it three straight overtime wins on the late-season roady (by a combined score of 226-220).

Marquette is now 19-9 overall and 10-6 in the Big East. The box score tells a story of toughness, of Marquette staying on point and not wavering.

Lazar Hayward — 23 and 8 with 3 blocks in 43 minutes — responded.

Darius Johnson-Odom –16, 5 and 4 in 41 minutes — responded.

David Cubillan — 16, 4, 3 and 2 steals in 44 minutes — definitely responded, prompting Williams to say “I’ve never seen a senior relish the end of his career the way he is,” after the game.

Mo Acker — 12 and 4 with 2 three-pointers in 40 minutes — responded.

Jimmy Butler — 7-10 from the line and 13 points in 41 minutes — responded.

Joe Fulce — 2-2 from the field in 8 minutes — responded.

Little used Junior Cadougan and Erik Willams responded with 8 combined minutes off the bench, giving the abbreviated lineup (they were without Dwight Buycks) some much-needed breaths.

Buzz Williams directs Marquette to a 10-6 record in the Big East preaching 'everyday tough' as their persona (AP Photo).

Those numbers are a direct result of the players “living” the message that’s been pounded into their psyche’s.

It’s not about blaming officials, pointing fingers or throwing hardworking kids under the bus. It’s about looking in the mirror and being truthful. About asking “what’s my part, what can I do to make it better for the group?”

That’s the biggest difference between 10-6, 7-9, or 4-12.

It’s the reason Marquette is one of two programs with 10 conference wins in the last five years (Pitt’s done it for nine years) and likely headed to the NCAA tournament…although that last part is definitely not a part of the message.

Williams isn’t a big Bracketology guy, comparing it in recent weeks to both Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. He knows results are what count, not projections. His team knows that too.

“We’re just gonna grind this son of a gun out, add them up at the end and see where we’re at,” said Williams.

No excuses, just reality — and they’ll probably like where they’re at when they add ‘em up.

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Speaking of tough, how about Edgar Sosa’s drive and finish to beat UConn on the road yesterday. Louisville was beaten to a pulp on the boards 50-22 (Gavin Edwards and Stanley Robinson combined for 26 boards) but found a way thanks to Sosa. The Rice High School product finished with 6 points, 6 assists, 1 turnover and 2 steals in 22 minutes, and showed extreme brass in making that play with eight seconds left on the clock. It was only Sosa’s second bucket of the game but arguably the biggest of his career. Turnovers (22) again killed UConn as they have for much of the year while Louisville made up some points behind the arc (10-24). Sets up a great game tomorrow night at the Bradley Center between Marquette and the ‘Ville. “We kept throwing the ball to the wrong team and that’s what cost us the basketball game,” said Jim Calhoun afterwards.

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