Tuesday, January 03, 2006

MARQUETTE UPSETS #2 UCONN!!

In their first ever Big East game, Marquette hands UConn their first loss of the season. Steve Novak led all scorers with 41 points. He also posted 16 boards.

Novak's performance was not only a personal best in both points and rebounds, but it was the best performance ever by a player playing their first Big East game. Two other's had scored 30 in their inauguaral performance: Allen Iverson and Troy Murphy.

Novak's 11-11 from the free throw line made 64 straight, dating back to last January.

Rashad Anderson didn't surpass 20 points until less than 2 minuts left in the game. Rudy Gay, who is averaging 17 points on the season, fouled out of the game and finished with only 8 points.

Preseason Big East polls put UConn at #2in the league, behind Villanova. Marquette was ranked 12th - of 16 teams.

Ok, enough technicality. This was a great game, one I was supposed to attend. Of course, the Flu kept me home, but it was pretty damn great to watch on TV as well. Novak was absolutely unbelievable. UConn was beyond poor from the free throw line and seemed unable to handle Marquette's offense. Marquette's agression was surprising, but a welcome site. An extremely uptempo game, I didn't expect the Golden Eagles to hang in. But they took the lead early and never looked back - going up by as many as 23 at some points. Unbelievable. Looks like I may want to pay more than passing attention before March this year.

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