Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Louisville
No. 11 Men's Basketball Downs Louisville, 75-63
2/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 16, 2002
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
MILWAUKEE - While the record crowd delighted in the frenetic early pace, Cordell Henry and Dwyane Wade began to worry.
"It was wild, unbelievable," Wade said of the first 15 minutes of No. 11 Marquette's 75-63 victory over Louisville on Saturday. "But as the game went on our defense got better."
The teams traded baskets in a thrilling first half before 18,753 fans, the most ever to see a college basketball game in Wisconsin, breaking the 2-week-old record of 18,698 set Feb. 2, when the Golden Eagles ended Cincinnati's 20-game winning streak.
The Bradley Center crowd loved the seesaw scoring and the Eagles quickly turned it into another blowout.
"It's not fun going back and forth," said Henry, who scored 23 points. "That's not what we wanted to do. That's not our style."
After falling behind 32-27, the Golden Eagles (22-3, 11-1 Conference USA) did just what they planned: they shut down Reece Gaines, the Cardinals' top scorer, who was held to five points on 1-of-10 shooting.
They did it with a rotation of defenders led by Wade, who also had 11 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, two blocked shots and two steals.
"It was great team defense," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "Reece Gaines is an outstanding player and I think they all knew it would take great effort to compete against him today, and they did that."
Gaines didn't score at all after halftime and fouled out with 3:25 left, then looked on, with shoulders slumped, as the Eagles closed out the rout.
"They kept switching on him and they did a good job denying him," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "They dedicated their game to stopping Gaines, not giving him anything."
The Golden Eagles, celebrating their highest ranking since March 13, 1979, also got 15 points from Oluoma Nnamaka and 11 from Odartey Blankson as they won their 11th straight.
Marquette jumped out to a 56-39 lead on the strength of a 29-7 run, but the Cardinals (14-10, 5-7) stormed back just as they did last month in overcoming a 19-0 deficit to Marquette.
They did it with a fullcourt press and sharp outside shooting. Bryant Northern, who led Louisville with 17 points, had two 3-pointers in a 10-0 run that made it 56-49 with 14 minutes remaining.
Yet, without Gaines on top of his game, the Cardinals couldn't get any closer.
The Golden Eagles took a 45-36 halftime lead despite missing their first eight free throws. The Cardinals stayed close early on by sending Marquette's worst shooters to the line and with solid outside shooting.
Reserve Simeon Naydenov scored nine straight points on 3-pointers while his teammates went cold over the last eight minutes of the first half. His second one gave Louisville a 32-27 lead that didn't last long. Henry hit a 3 from the top of the key following a scramble in the lane and Wade stole the inbounds and scored to tie it at 32.
After Wade's one-handed rebound dunk gave Marquette its first lead since the early minutes, Naydenov's third 3-pointer restored Louisville's lead at 35-34 with 3:20 left in the half.
But the Eagles closed the half on an 11-1 run with Henry scoring six points, four from the line, and Wade hitting a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
"We lost this game in the last five minutes of the first half," Pitino said. "Prior to that, we were playing pretty good basketball."
The Cardinals shot 33 percent in the second half and 42 percent for the game, the 14th straight opponent to shoot less than 50 percent against Marquette.
"I think Marquette is terrific," Pitino said. "I think they're one of the tougher teams in the country. They're a team that will be outstanding at tournament time."
Pitino fell to 0-3 against Marquette, which beat the Cardinals 75-71 at Freedom Hall last month and eliminated his Kentucky team from the 1994 NCAA tournament.
Marquette forward Scott Merritt reinjured his left shoulder late in the game and didn't return. He first got hurt Feb. 6 against East Carolina but returned for the next game.
