Villanova Falls To #14 Ranked Marquette, 81-77

Filed under Game Recap on January 1st, 2012

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In Milwaukee on January 1st the Wildcats lost to the Golden Eagles in conference action, 81-77.

The Wildcats were the underdog in this game and they played better than expected. The RPI ranked Marquette as a better team, #19 to #77. On the road, the Wildcats aren't very good, and with this loss that record drops to 1-5. A year ago, Villanova beat Marquette 75-70. Over the last four years, the Wildcats are now 5-4 against the Golden Eagles including 1-2 at Bradley Center.

Marquette had solid performances in three-point shooting and assists.

Marquette shot 40% from three-point range and used that to blow by Villanova, who managed 17%. Marquette spread the ball around with ease, and its 17 assists gave it an advantage compared to 11 from Villanova.

Mouphtaou Yarou was the leading scorer for the Wildcats with 14 points in 24 minutes. Markus Kennedy added a game-leading 12 rebounds.

Nova Players Mins Pts Reb Ast Stl Blk TO A Markus Kennedy 25 8 12 2 1 4 4 B+ Mouphtaou Yarou 24 14 6 0 0 0 0 B+ Maalik Wayns 35 12 3 4 3 0 2 B Darrun Hilliard 31 12 4 1 2 0 2 B- J. Pinkston 25 13 4 1 0 0 4 C Dominic Cheek 20 6 2 0 1 1 1 C Achraf Yacoubou 22 8 1 0 0 0 1 C Ty Johnson 13 2 1 3 1 0 2 - James Bell 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

MARQ Players Mins Pts Reb Ast Stl Blk TO A D. Johnson-Odom 37 24 6 3 1 0 2 A Davante Gardner 23 13 10 0 3 1 2 B Jae Crowder 25 9 5 2 1 3 1 B Vander Blue 23 7 7 4 0 1 3 B Jamil Wilson 31 11 3 1 3 1 2 B Junior Cadougan 28 6 1 6 2 0 1 C+ Todd Mayo 26 11 3 0 0 0 2 - Derrick Wilson 6 0 0 1 0 0 0

The Wildcats fall to 7-7. They remain in 10th place in the Big East with a conference record of 0-2. They're now 0-5 against the RPI Top 50 (Marquette #19).

The next team up is South Florida at home on January 5th.

• Villanova has lost 100% of the time this season (0-3) after recording 3 or fewer three pointers.
• Villanova beat the spread by 6.0 points. That makes the 2nd time this season the Wildcats have beat the spread.
• The Wildcats set a season high for blocks.
• The Wildcats have lost 100% of the time this season (0-5) after shooting a three point percentage of 17.6% or worse.
• This was the 1st foul out of the season for Ty Johnson

• This was the 1st foul out of the season for Davante Gardner.
• Davante Gardner recorded the 1st double digit rebound game of his career.
• The Golden Eagles won this one, but have lost 0 times this season in games decided by 5 or fewer points.
• Darius Johnson-Odom has 4 straight double-digit point games.
• The top two scorers (Darius Johnson-Odom and Davante Gardner) accounted for 45.6% of the points.

Check out the complete Games Notes

Tags: Mouphtaou Yarou, Markus Kennedy