Teams

Georgetown:
It was quite a scenario heading into the final road game of the year for the Hoyas. A victory would put the Hoyas one home victory away from back to back Big East regular season titles, but a loss would drop them into a 3-way tie for second place. Georgetown trailed by double figures midway through the half when they finally regained focus and got in a good rhythm on both ends of the court.

Marquette:
The Golden Eagles knew that a win over the Hoyas would give them a chance to earn a bye in the first round of the Big East Tournament. They came out as the aggressor at home and grabbed control of the game. In the end the players felt like they let the game slip away, which is probably true, but there were no glaring errors or terrible plays that cost them the game. That doesn’t make the loss any easier to handle.

Players

Georgetown:
The NCAA doesn’t give a “6th man of the year” award like the NBA, but if they did it would have to go to Patrick Ewing. There is nobody in the nation who provides the leadership, energy, ability, and determination that Ewing does off the bench (even though technically he started against Marquette). Ewing was critical during the Hoyas’ comeback. He scored, rebounded, assisted, and defended.

Marquette:
Wesley Matthews was killing the Hoyas in the first half. He had 15 points at halftime and finished with a game-high 22 points on 6-11 shooting from the field and 8-9 from the line. He was less effective in the second half and actually failed to make a field goal after halftime.

Coaches

The contrast between the two coaches was very clear. Tom Crean looked as frantic and energetic as ever on the sideline - at one point he even was waving his arms in the air trying to encourage the crowd to get louder. Meanwhile, John Thompson III stayed poised like always, even in the face of many unforced turnovers that would drive any coach crazy. In this game, the players followed the leads of their coaches. Marquette played with a lot of emotion and was able to make the most of their adrenaline for extended periods. The Hoyas kept focus and composure which enabled them to climb back into the game and prevail.

Referees

The best anybody can hope for from the officials is consistency, and the refs were consistent. They called a lot of fouls that led to a lot of free throws for both teams. When Jon Wallace was fouled shooting a three-pointer in the closing seconds he clearly got hit on the arm. It was the same foul that the officials had been calling throughout the game. There were too many fouls called in this game, but not too many against one team.

Fans

The teams at the top of the Big East have all done exceptionally well this season at home, and in large part it is due to the fans. Marquette had an excellent crowd fired up for their last home conference game of the year. The fans were very loud and were very aware of the importance of the game. The capacity crowd provided a post-season atmosphere as March Madness officially got underway. They were also incredibly quiet at the final buzzer.

Number of the Game

3: Jon Wallace made three free throws with less than three seconds left to tie the game and force overtime. A few weeks ago he won the game at the line against Villanova, but in that game the game was tied and all he needed to do was make one out of two. Of all the great players in Hoya History who have risen to the occasion at key moments, I can’t think of any player ever who would be more likely to convert those free throws than Jon Wallace.