Marquette had a chance to beat Villanova at their home gym last night. That thought will stick with me until the next Marquette game on Sunday afternoon. Golden Eagles had a chance here, and they blew it by going cold down the stretch. Marquette did not make a bucket in the final four minutes of the game. Conversely, Villanova went on a 12-1 and closed out Marquette, 57-61. Golden Eagles suffer their first loss in conference play to a team not named St. John’s. The team will watch the tape and realize how close they were from knock off Nova on the road.

Player of the Game: Jermaine Samuels – When we look back at this game, Jermaine Samuels being the difference maker for Villanova is mind-blowing. Samuels is a sophomore, and he played sparingly throughout the year only scoring four points per game. Jay Wright turned things over to different guys after a three-game losing streak, and it worked perfectly for him. Have to give Wright a ton of credit for switching up his team a bit to make it more difficult for Marquette.

Silver Star: Markus Howard – There are a ton of what it’s in this game, but the greatest one might be ‘What if one of those charge calls went into a block?’ Howard was starting to catch fire from deep and around the court. You could see it, the smoke started to billow off his shoes, but instead, the refs made three straight charges leading Howard to sit on the bench for a good part of the second half. He had a nice night regardless with 21 points and four assists.

Thing I Liked: Didn’t pack it in – In the first 10 minutes of this basketball game, Marquette looked like they could be DOA. Villanova caught fire, and they were rolling on offense. Marquette battled back. Even with the offensive rebounds and turnover issues, Golden Eagles found a way to make this a ballgame at halftime then they flipped the score on them in the second half. Sadly, Villanova’s final run ended up being the difference maker, but kudos to Marquette for battling back.

Thing I didn’t like: Hero Ball Markus happened because of the fouls – Here’s the thing about Howard’s final three minutes. They weren’t good at all. He went straight hero ball and tried to bail his team out of the game. It was the worst recipe ever. At the nine minute mark, he found fire and started to heat up then with four fouls, he sat on the bench. Howard thought that he could come back in and light it up. Steve Wojciechowski should have used Joseph Chartouney to lead the offense and have Howard play off the ball to start. Get him a rhythm bucket, whether it’s a three or not, and see if the fire is still has some embers.

Next up: Marquette heads home to play Creighton on Sunday afternoon. The Jays are likely going to look for revenge after Marquette pulled a game completely out of their asses in Omaha. The thing about Creighton is they’re an average hoops team. They can score a ton of buckets but cannot defend to save their soul. I expect a track meet again in Milwaukee.