By Paul
Imig
FOXSportsWisconsin.com
January 22, 2011
Another week, another game that Marquette let slip away in the second half.
Just as the Golden Eagles did one week earlier, Marquette carried a lead into halftime on the road against a ranked, Big East opponent.
This time around, it was Notre Dame that came back after being down by double-digits in the second half to defeat the Golden Eagles, 80-75.
On Jan. 15, Marquette led Louisville by 18 points with less than six minutes remaining before a 24-5 run led to a loss for coach Buzz Williams and his team.
In South Bend on Saturday, a 39-19 run by Notre Dame turned a 12-point lead by the Golden Eagles into an eight-point deficit with less than a minute to play.
"Just win," Williams said when asked what the key is to start closing out games in the second half. "I wish there was more of a scientific approach to it."
Williams attributed much of Notre Dame's comeback to the 22 free throws the Fighting Irish attempted in the second half. That is five more than Marquette attempted for the entire game.
"I don't think that you can win when the clock is stopped for 22 free throw attempts, no matter what half," he said. "You can't do that. When 35 percent of your points are derived from the free throw line, you'll win a national championship. You can't win, you can't win.
"In 20 minutes, to shoot 22 free throws, that's an exorbitant number."
In additional to the free throw differential, the Golden Eagles connected on only 30 percent (9-of-30) of their field goal attempts in the second half after hitting 62 percent (16-of-26) in the first half.
"First off, we need to learn how to finish," senior forward Jimmy Butler said. "We have to come out in the second half the way we started the game. We need to play the entire 40 minutes and rely more on defense instead of offense. If we do that, everything else will start to turn around for us."
Butler scored nine of his 12 points in the first half while tying a season-low with two rebounds.
"We became very stagnant as a team and settled for a lot of jumpers," Butler added. "I think a lot of this has to do with myself because I wasn't attacking. I started passing the ball on the perimeter instead of getting into the gaps."
It was the second matchup in 12 days between the two conference schools, with both teams winning at home. Marquette defeated Notre Dame in Milwaukee by 22 on Jan. 10, although Williams said after that game that Carleton Scott being out for the Irish in the first meeting changed their team.
Scott was back for the rematch and had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Ben Hansbrough's offense was a big difference, as well. After scoring nine points in Milwaukee, Hansbrough had 28 the second time around.
"I think he's one of the best players in the country," Williams said. "He plays with a high motor. I think he's extremely competitive and moves without the ball as well as anyone in the country."
Marquette was led by Darius Johnson-Odom with 25 points. Jae Crowder added 15 and Joseph Fulce had 10.
The next three games for the Golden Eagles are all against teams ranked in the top-10 in the country, starting with No. 8 Connecticut at home on Tuesday. Marquette then closes out the January schedule by hosting No. 3 Syracuse before traveling to No. 7 Villanova.
