Marquette had a weird year, to say the least. They’ve beat some good teams in Wisconsin and Creighton. They do not have a bad loss, but they still seem to be average or below average with a ton of talent. Getting run off the court by Villanova before Christmas is one thing letting UConn completely dominated the final eight minutes of the game is another thing. UConn trailed by 18 points in the second half. 18! Marquette lost by eleven meaning there was a 29-point swing in one half. That’s truly pathetic from the Golden Eagles. They should be ashamed at such a piss poor effort. They were hit in the mouth and stayed on the ground.

What went wrong for Marquette: Almost everything in the second half – Trying to pinpoint what exactly happened to Marquette is hard to do. They were up, things were good. Then things were not. Tyler Polley could not miss. He had 23 second-half points with five threes. UConn became the tougher team. It should not be that simple, but there is nothing really in my eyes where it felt like the game could have changed for the better. Marquette simply melted down.

What also went wrong for Marquette: Where has the three-point shooting gone? – We all knew that Markus Howard leaving would mean not as effective of a three-point shooting team. But the Golden Eagles defied those odds early in the season. They weren’t as effective as the Howard teams, but still pretty good. The first two games of 2021 have been a fucking disaster from deep. They’ve made a total of 10 threes out of 40 attempts for a 25 percent average.

Player of the Game: Tyler Polley – Incredible game from him. KenPom put Isaiah Whaley as his MVP, but I’ll have to disagree with that one. Polley took this game over for the Huskies. He was the reason that things got out of hand.

Honorable Mention: Dawson Garcia – If you want a small positive in this one, Dawson Garcia had another nice game. He finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds. Garcia is coming on strong in the last couple of games.

Next up: Because of COVID-19 issues, Marquette will not be playing Villanova on Friday night. We’re all grateful for that. Golden Eagles will stay home and play Providence next Tuesday night. It’s one that they should bank in if they want to be dancing this March. But if you know anything about Marquette-Providence, you know it gets weird.

Charlie.