Marquette Loses to Wisconsin 77-63

Marquette lost to in-state rivals, Wisconsin today at Madison. The final score was 77-63 in favor of Bucky. The game was a mirror image of the one in Milwaukee last year which saw Marquette win. This year Marquette kept it close in the first half before allowing Wisconsin to go on a run before halftime. The Golden Eagles were never able to rebound from that run, however they played hard. It's awfully tough to defeat a quality opponent like Wisconsin when you also have to defeat the refs. Both Jerel McNeal and Dan Fitzgerald fouled out, but the fouls on Jerel were mostly questionable. Ed Hightower and Tim Higgins were two of the refs who called the game and they are notoriously anti-Marquette. What a combination. The first half was officiated pretty fairly, but things got down right ugly in the second half. Fouls were only being called on one end of the floor.

Aside from the seemingly large margin of defeat, there are many bright spots for this young Marquette team. Dominic James is spectacular. He's becoming a great floor general and even accepted blame for the outcome of the game, claiming he did not communicate as well as he needed to. Freshmen Wes Matthews and Jerel McNeal played well, but McNeal fouled out midway through the second half. If McNeal had stayed in the game longer, who knows. Sophomore Ryan Amoroso continues to make a case for him starting. He must continue to rebound and play more solid defense.

Wisconsin also looks like a great young team. I wish Landry was playing for Marquette. Kam Taylor is one great player they have there, and Ray Nixon played his heart out. Marquette was able to shut down Tucker, and it must have been encouraging for Badger Nation to see the other guys step it up and fill in for him. I can't say enough about Taylor. Now that we have our annual grudge match over, I wish Wisconsin nothing but good luck and I hope they win the Big Ten. On Wisconsin, and RING OUT AHOYA!

By the way, Wisconsin has a lot of hot bball players. I don't think any of them were ugly, which is unusual.