Marcus Howard rudely wakened the Xavier Musketeers from dreams of an upset of the 12th ranked Marquette Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles turned the dream into a nightmare with a 87-82 win.
An inspired Xavier team stormed out from halftime and took an 11-point lead but Marquette behind Marcus Howard with his 31 points stormed right back. They went on a 6-0 run to make the deficit manageable. Sam Hauser, who scored 20, buried a long 3-point shot to snatch the lead at 71-69 with 3:46 left in the game.
Tyrique Jones with 21 points and 10 rebounds kept the Musketeers in the game before Sam Hauser and his brother Joey Hauser, 21 points combined on nine 3-pointers in 16 attempts. Xavier couldn't find an answer.
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"I just think we were more focused," Scruggs said. "A big part of it is hollding each other accountable."
Xavier (11-10, 3-5) cut its turnovers in half but Marquette (18-3, 7-1) shot 56 percent from three-point range (14-25). Xavier shot the ball well, 29-for-58 (50%), including 8-for-18 from three-point range (44.4).
"Give a lot of credit to Marquette, but today I feel we played really well," said Quentin Goodin (10 points), who has missed time with an injured knee. I felt we played soem of our best ball. They hit some wild shots. The basketball gods gave them what we call some lucky baskets, but I felt we played good."
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Some will blame Xavier's defense for the prolific scoring from Marquette but Xavier coach Travis Steele isn't one of them.
"They made a ton of shots," Steele said. "We just wanted to make them earn their shots, which I thought for the most part we did. But they're terrific players."
And Xavier's offense was really good.
"I thought it as one of our better games offensively, for sure," Steele said. "I think the stats will agree with that. I thought for most part, we got the ball where we wanted whether be it drives or post-ups .I thought overall our offense was really good. Obviously Marquette made some tough shots."
Howard was too much down the stretch. The Big East scoring leader had 12 points when Xavier was up by 11 at the 14:11 mark. Howard scored 19 points the rest of the way to lead his squad.
It is Marquettes best 21-game start since 2008-2009 when is was 18-2 after 20 games.
"We've been used to being in games like that where we take teams best punches," Howard said. "Our response has been really good in those. If we can take that on the road, I think we're a tough team to beat. Today, our team showed resilience and I'm proud of my team."
Matt Welage stopped an 0-for-6 shooting drought with a 3-point shot in the last two minutes and Goodin made one of two free throws to bring Xavier to a 39-39 tie at halftime.
Xavier lost for the third straight time. Marquette is on a seven-game Big East winning streak.
Marquette took a 51-24 lead in the all-time series that is 50 years old. Marquette dominated the Musketeers when Al McQuire and Hank Raymonds coached the Warriors as they were known then. Xavier, however, has posted a 9-5 record over the Golden Eagles, since the Big East was formed.
"In my three years this is the best start we've had, I think it has to do with guys having experience, myself, Sam (Hauser), Matt (Heldt)," Howard said. "Our core leadership group has experience playing. I feel like with our experience, we can lead the younger guys. That is where our success has been."
Xavier will play at Georgetown, a team that had them down by 17 at one point. On the road, the Hoyas pose another threat.
"I told them I was proud of their effort," said Steele to his team. "I thought our guys had good energy in practice both days. I thought we got better in the last couple days, and that's got to continue. There's a lot of season left, a lot of potential quality wins left."
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