Milwaukee-- On Saturday the Marquette Golden Eagles battled their way to a 75-66 victory over the Providence Friars. It was not a pretty victory; in fact, it was a fairly ugly game. However, that is the way of this Marquette team. They outwork, outplay and outhustle opponents on their way to victories. That motif of their season was on display again today as they outscored the Friars in the paint, in points off turnovers, second chance points, fast break points and forced 12 steals.

"[Marquette] outplayed us, they won the game. Your kids played hard, you've gotta give Marquette a lot of credit. They played to win, they played with a sense of urgency, and they played at home," said Providence coach Ed Cooley.

Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski too gave credit to Marquette's fight and hustle, saying: "I'm really proud and happy for our guys. I thought our guys played extremely hard, and made some grind it out, tough plays and that's a sign that we're growing." 

That sense of urgency was necessitated by the Golden Eagles stunning second half collapse on Wednesday against DePaul. After having held a 13-point lead in the second half, the Golden Eagles utterly capitulated and fell to loss. That was not the case today. Through a combination of senior leadership, hustle plays and doing the little things they held on for the win.

"[The difference was] our leadership. Derrick [Wilson], Matt [Carlino] and I took it upon ourselves to stay sharp, stay on our teammates, to talk and not have any let downs and remain focused," said Marquette senior forward Juan Anderson.

Wojciechowski too gave credit to the senior leadership, saying: "We challenged our older guys to set the tone and the fact of the matter is that outside of Derrick and Juan, no one else on our team has ever competed in the Big East Conference. So, they need to set the tone as these other guys are learning and growing and gaining experience the guys who do have experience need to show up set a great environment for these other guys who are gaining experience."

One player still gaining experience but who provided a spark of equal or greater importance to the game was Marquette's freshman guard Sandy Cohen. Cohen saw no playing time against DePaul, and that was something which Wojciechowski admitted was a mistake. However, today he provided a massive spark. Cohen entered the fray midway through the first half, and within two minutes of being on the court had knocked down two three-pointers.

He played superbly well in the first half, scoring all 12 of his points then and was singled out for praise after the game. "Sandy was terrific. Without those 12 points in the first half we wouldn't win the ball game and I told Sandy that I made a mistake in Chicago by not playing him, I should have played him. He's a good player and he's only going to get better," said Wojciechowski.

Those 12 points from Cohen came at a crucial time in the game. Providence began the game as the far better team and less than four minutes in they held a seven point lead. Before the first media timeout of the afternoon, Derrick Wilson had made a jumper to cut the Friars lead to 12-7. The only reason the game was so close at that point in time was that Providence seemed unable not to turn the ball over. However, it was immediately after that timeout that Cohen made his impact. He poured in three-pointers on back-to-back Marquette possessions, cutting the lead to 14-13. Seconds later, a Jajuan Johnson lay-up gave them a lead that they would never relinquish. 

Cohen would go on another six-point scoring spurt later in the first half. Just as Providence was going on a bit of a run through senior guard LaDontae Henton, Cohen matched him shot-for-shot to keep Marquette in the lead. At that point in time, it didn't seem crucial but Henton is no ordinary player. He would go on to finish with 28 points, and is one of the best players in the country.

"LeDontae was voted as second team all-conference and I guess that's what he is right now. If there's better players than LeDontae playing in not just the Big East but in college basketball, I would like to see them," said Cooley.

Henton was crucial for the Friars throughout the game, and at times single-handedly kept them in the game. Down the stretch, he made a big shot every time they needed one. However, the combination of Marquette making hustle plays and Providence giving the ball away would prove to be their undoing. 

In the second half, the Golden Eagles came out as the aggressors, and looked a different team than they had in the first half. Carlino had not appeared himself, going 0-4 shooting but responded right out of the gate in the second half with eight points, one assist, one rebound and one steal in the first four minutes of the second half.

It was then that Marquette began to pull away and the senior leadership truly asserted itself. Carlino made shots, Anderson made shots and Wilson kept the ball moving around. Anderson made quite possible his biggest shot of the afternoon with 12:46 seconds on the clock. Henton had scored six points since the start of the half and the Friars had kept it to a three-point game. Not for long.

Anderson stepped up and made a three and it was soon followed by a basket from Johnson and a dunk from freshman Luke Fischer. Anderson then went and made another lay-up in transition to open up a 12-point Golden Eagle lead. At that point, they would not look back.

The seniors continued to step up and keep Marquette comfortably in the lead until very late on when there would be one last scare, coming through Henton. With just 51 seconds on the clock, Providence's sophomore guard Kris Dunn came up big. Dunn struggled all game long, finishing with 11 points, eight assists and eight turnovers. However, he was clutch with under a minute to play when he sunk two costless throws to cut the lead to seven. He then helped force a turnover which led to a Henton three.

With the lead down to four points, Marquette needed some clutch play from its seniors. That clutch play came through Anderson, who knocked down two costless throws to widen the gap to six. From there, Providence would not score again and Marquette would go on to a very important victory. 

"To beat an outstanding Providence team, I think they're one of the top-25 teams in the country, they're very well coached, the kid Henton is a terrific player, the kid Dunn is a terrific player, this was a heck of a win for our basketball program," said Wojciechowski.

The result moves Marquette to 9-5 (1-1 conference) and Providence moves to 11-4 (1-1 conference). Marquette will now travel to Washington, DC for a match-up with Georgetown on January 6th while Providence will head to Indianapolis where they will do battle with Butler on the 6th.

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About the author
Liam McMahon
American sports journalist based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin who has been affiliated with VAVEL for more than a year. Co-editor of the soccer section at VAVEL USA and international football writer at VAVEL UK.