St. John’s is the new kryptonite of Marquette basketball. Over the last two years, Marquette lost three of four versus the Johnnies who are a tough matchup for Marquette. The hope was the Golden Eagles see red in this game after a blowout loss in Queens, yet, St. John’s flustered them all night defensively. SLoppy play plagued this game early on, and finally, Marquette unlocked the right combination of players. BUt it was too late. Marquette loses its first ever game at the Fiserv Forum in dramatic fashion as Shamorie Ponds hit a game-winning layup to beat Marquette.

Player of the Game: Justin Simon – While he did not score in the second half, Simon was a terror against Marquette. He struggled in the last few games for St. John’s, but you could not tell in the first half. Simon had 19 points with six rebounds. He also played stellar defense on Markus Howard giving him fits all game long. Simon is the type of player that makes you worried about Howard come tournament time. Marquette cannot play a team like the Johnnies where they’re filled with size. The former Arizona player affected so many shots on the perimeter and forced some bad passes. Great game from him.

Silver Star: Sam Hauser – Even though he did not have a great shooting night, Sam Hauser did hit some big shots down the stretch to give Marquette a chance in this game. Hauser finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds. He did a really good job dealing with the size and physical nature of St. John’s. You have to love Hauser picked up the slack for teammate Howard all game long. I wish he would have received the final shot.

Thing I liked: Joseph Chartouny played his best game – There are a few things to take away positively from this game, but my biggest one is Joseph Chartouny playing his best game of the season. Chartouny did a great job facilitating the basketball and finding open men for most of the second half. He also did an admirable job on the defensive end. If Marquette can get this version of Chartnouy on a regular basis, they’re a very dangerous team.

Thing I didn’t like: Slow start finally bit Marquette – One of the small issues with this Marquette team is they cannot seem to get out to big leads early on with their offense. They had an eleven point lead against Butler last week at halftime, but that lead had much to do with their defense, not their offense. Not sure what Steve Wojciechowski needs to do to spark their offense in the early goings of games.

Next up: Big-time showdown with Villanova on Saturday afternoon. It’s the hottest ticket in town. Marquette and Nova will play to a sell-out crowd at the Forum on Saturday afternoon. Wildcats play Creighton tonight before they head to a raucous Milwaukee crowd. This should be a fun game, and one, the Golden Eagles can win. It’s going to be a fight from start to finish.

Charlie.