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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Kentucky and all it entails -- the tradition, the basketball blue bloods, the mojo of a late-season surge -- was coming. Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley, the senior leaders, were summoning up one more run, closing an 11-point gap to three as the first-round of the South Region headed into the final five minutes.
It was the type of moment that might have swallowed Marquette in the past.
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| Wesley Matthews and pals finally earn a long-awaited March Madness victory. (AP) |
On the following trip, as time was running down on the possession, Jerel McNeal got the ball down on the block and calmly sank a turnaround jumper -- the shot clock expiring while the ball was in the air. Then, after Crawford sank the last of his career-high-tying 35 points -- a pump-fake 3-pointer -- to bring the Wildcats within two points, Wesley Matthews went to the line to begin a streak of six consecutive free throws he'd make in the final 31.4 seconds.
That James, McNeal and Matthews each had their fingerprints on sixth-seeded Marquette's 74-66 victory over 11th-seeded Kentucky was fitting. The three juniors guards have been the building blocks of a team that has won 68 games, won the Great Alaska Shootout and the CBE Classic, and has won at least 10 games in the Big East over the last three seasons.
They also hadn't won a postseason game.
Two years ago, as a No. 7 seed, the Golden Eagles lost to Alabama, yielding eight 3-pointers to Jean Felix. Last season, as a No. 8 seed, they lost to Michigan State, going nearly 10 minutes before scoring. All three were starters.
Asked what would have happened if Thursday's situation had presented itself either of the last seasons, McNeal didn't hesitate.
"We would have (fallen) apart," he said. "Guys would have stopped talking. Guys would have started hanging their heads a little bit, getting a little bit tight, which we didn't do at all. All these guys made big plays. We just kept pushing through.
"Man, (it's) an unbelievable feeling just to come out and just know that you've got guys on the court with you that (are) are going to make big plays and not give up and keep pushing through everything."
It's the type of moment McNeal, Matthews and James have been waiting for since they arrived. Matthews, who grew up in Madison, could have gone to Wisconsin, where his father was a star basketball player and his mother a track standout. But he chose Marquette because he couldn‘t see himself fitting in well in Wisconsin's more staid approach. "That's not my style of play," Matthews said. "Their style works, but up and down, pick and roll, ball screen, that's more me."
Matthews, Chicago's McNeal and James, who is from Richmond, Ind. -- an hour east of Indianapolis -- knew each other from the AAU circuit, and became quick friends during the recruiting process. Though Marquette didn't have the cachet of the Big Ten, it still had the buzz of the Dwyane Wade-led 2003 Final Four appearance and the reputation of Tom Crean as one of the college basketball's best teachers. As the past week brought more talk of their postseason shortcoming, the trio hasn't shied away from it. Matthews said earlier this week that it was fair to measure Marquette by what it does in the tournament because that's what expected of everyone on the team as well.
"We need a legacy," James said afterward. "We want to leave a legacy and for us to do that, we need to get quality wins in March and go deep in the tournament. That's why we're all here and I feel like this is a great start to something new. Some people put the pressure on us because we haven't won a game in March, but that's why I'm here. That's why all the guys are here."
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.
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.