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On Thursday, it wasn't pretty. Two teams with a true commitment to defending -- and two of the best coaches at preparing their teams, Crean and Kentucky's Billy Gillispie -- didn't exactly make for masterpiece theater. McNeal was terrific all afternoon, with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and Lazar Hayward stepped up with 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. But Matthews and James were big when they needed to be.
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James, who was 1-for-7 from the field until his two baskets down the stretch, had no turnovers in 29 minutes on the point and was 8-for-10 from the line. Matthews was 2-for-10 from the field, and 9-for-10 from the line.
"Poise," James said of his calmness on the key 3-pointer. "I might have rushed it a little bit in the past. But the game has slowed down for me so much. In times, like that, it was just another play. My focus was there, my preparation was there on the shot. That's why I finished."
Afterward, Gilleipie suggested that Marquette was a team that could reach the Final Four. First, though, is a tall order in Stanford. The Cardinal, with the 7-foot Lopez twins along with three other regulars who are 6-7 or taller, will make for an intriguing matchup against center-less Marquette. The Golden Eagles might be looking up, but they're not looking away.
"When the guards are penetrating, it means the bigs have to step up, and that leads to dump-offs and you have dunks," Matthews said. "We're an in-your-face, high-energy team. People understand their roles. I think that's what separates this team from the teams in the past. We understand our roles, we fulfill them and we enjoy them. We knew this was going to be the toughest one -- the toughest game is always the first.
That's the first time we won, so we know what we're going to have to do to get things done."
Even if it has taken awhile.
