It was a quiet moment of peace for Holloway the 2011 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year on a night when he was dealing with a chaotic defense that held him to his worst shooting performance of the season.
Hounded by 6-foot-7 Marquette senior Jimmy Butler, the 6-foot Holloway missed his first six shots and finished with five points on 1-8 shooting with five assists and five turnovers.
"I don't know [what they were doing defensively on me]," Holloway said. "I really couldn't figure that out. I guess I was just missing shots today."
With Holloway silent, the Musketeers' offense sputtered, as XU shot just 41.2 percent and hit two of 13 three-point shots.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles shot 53.3 percent, led by 19 points from Darius Johnson-Odom and 15 from Butler on 5-8 shooting.
Xavier head coach Chris Mack said the Musketeers struggled to handle Marquette's pressure perimeter defense without Holloway's backcourt mate Mark Lyons, who was limited to 25 minutes due to two fouls in the first four minutes and three fouls total in the first half.
With Lyons playing just five first-half minutes, Xavier committed nine turnovers and shot 30.8 percent mainly because of short misses, Mack noted while falling into a 13-point hole.
"I think we put ourselves behind the eight-ball," Mack said. "We tried not to make excuses and adjust in the second half, but it is tough to overcome a 13-point deficit."
As Xavier cut the Marquette deficit to eight points in the final 10 minutes, the Musketeers were led by senior power forward Andrew Taylor, who had a career-high 16 points in his final collegiate game.
The 6-foot-8 forward scored the majority of his points on drop-off assists from Holloway or one of the other frontcourt players, as he attributed his success to the way Marquette was defending Xavier.
"They really focused on pressing out guards," Taylor said. "And late in the game that really opened things up for Kenny [Frease] and me."
Still, even with Taylor, Dante Jackson and Frease combining for 38 points, it was not the normal routine for a Xavier team that had relied on Holloway for 28 percent of its points.
"When they put two guys on you and force you to give the basketball up, it's not wise to start taking ill-advised shots," Mack said. "They made our other players sort of step up and maybe in roles they weren't comfortable with the entire year."
POINTS IN TRANSITION: Entering the game, Xavier stressed the imperative to dominate the glass and stop the Golden Eagle transition game.
In the final box score, Xavier led 30-26 in rebounds and only trailed 6-5 in fastbreak points.
