NCAA Basketball Recap From 1/11/10- The Irish Cursed- Marquette Rolls

GAME OF THE NIGHT- Marquette 79 Notre Dame 57

We had a bit of a role reversal in this one. Marquette was the squad who was golden from downtown.  Usually, it’s the Irish who flourish from deep.

Notre Dame had open looks from beyond the three-point line all night, but the shots simply didn’t fall.  The Irish shot an abysmal 3-of-18 (18.8 percent) from downtown as Marquette destroyed Notre Dame 79-57 Monday Night.

Jimmy Butler and Dwight Buycks both did a fantastic job of defending the shooting tandem of Tim Abromaitis and Ben Hansbrough.  Buycks and Butler did a terrific job of not letting Abromaitis and Hansbrough catch and shoot.  Abromaitis had 10 on 4-of-8 shooting, just 1-of-3 from downtown.  Hansbrough scored a measly nine on 3-of-9 shooting.

In defeat, the Irish have solidified themselves of having a point guard of the future.  Notre Dame started Reggie Smith at the beginning of the year, but Eric Atkins has earned the starting gig.  He has great vision; he’s currently 10^th in the country in assist to turnover ratio.  Atkins needs to hit the weight room, though, if he wants to matchup with the rest of the physical point guards of the Big East.

Player of the Game- Dwight Buycks 

Buycks wasn’t too shabby on the offensive end either.  The senior scored a career-high 21 points.  He was a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc.

Unsung Hero- Chris Otule

He was a presence in the post all-night.  He consistently got positioning on the block offensively and was swatting shots defensively.

GAME RATING- ½*

Upset of the Night- SWAC- Alabama A&M 5-8 (2-2) at Arkansas Pine-Bluff 1-14 (1-2)

Arkansas Pine-Bluff was a tournament team as a 16 seed last season.  It took them 15 tries to finally pick up their first win of the season.  The great news for the Golden Lions is that they are just two back of first place Jackson State.   

Top Three Performers

1. 1. Dwight Buycks (Marq) 21 pts 4 reb in 79-57 win over Notre Dame 
2. Jae Crowder (Marq) 18 pts 7 reb 4/6 3
3. Jimmy Butler (Marq) 15 pts 6 reb 4 asst

Other Scores

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/scoreboard/div1/20110110