BOX SCORE
It was the sort of word you hear on the basketball court a dozen times, a hundred times a game.
This time, it drew a technical. This time, it most likely cost Villanova what could have been a signature win over a nationally ranked team.
I didnt say anything disrespectful to the ref, Villanova guard Maalik Wayns said. I just reacted to the call.
Villanova, looking for its first win in 10 tries against ranked teams, led Marquette by four with 6:15 left at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon.
And when a loose ball bounced off a Marquette player and out of bounds under the Marquette basket, it looked like the Wildcats would have a four-point lead with the ball.
Instead, ref Pat Driscoll ruled Marquette ball.
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Thats when Wayns barked out an expletive. Maybe not the best idea, but it wasnt directed at anybody. In a full gym, the refs wouldnt have even heard it. Usually, even when they do hear it, they dont call a T.
Except this time.
The ball clearly went off a Marquette player, Wayns said. I was surprised he called it. That was a four-point swing. Definitely a momentum changer. It would have been a stop for us and the ball up four. Instead, they got four points out of it. Same guy called a technical on me at St. Johns, so....
Marquettes Darius Johnson-Odom hit both foul shots on the technical, and 10 seconds later Jae Crowder scored on a drive through the lane.
Just like that, a four-point lead was gone, and Villanova never quite recovered. Marquette outscored the Wildcats 17-9 from the point of the Wayns technical and hung on for an 82-78 Big East win.
We had the lead, we kind of had momentum, and it was late in the game, Villanova coach Jay Wright said. When it happens that late in the game, it kills you.
Villanova, which led by as many as 18 points in the first half, fell to 10-12 overall and 3-7 in the Big East. No. 18 Marquette, with its sixth straight win, improved to 18-4 and 7-2.
The Wildcats, now 1-4 in games decided by five or fewer points, have lost 10 straight games to nationally ranked teams dating back to a win over West Virginia almost a year ago.
Its not frustrating, said freshman JayVaughn Pinkston, who scored a team-high 17 points to go with five boards for Villanova. We see we can compete with teams like that, its just little things that are preventing us from winning. Weve just got to get the little things down and well be a good team.
Nova is in danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 1998. The Wildcats have gone to the postseason 13 straight years, including the NCAA tourney the last seven years and all 10 years under Wright.
But assuming a first-round conference tourney exit in New York, Nova would have to go 6-2 the rest of the conference season to extend its postseason streak. If the Wildcats go 5-3, they would need to win a game at the Garden to become NIT eligible.
Saturdays game was typical of this seasonsome brilliant stretches of basketball followed by some ugly stretches. Villanova led 30-12 in the first half but was outscored 70-48 the rest of the game and 46-32 in the second half.
Marquettes a more experienced team than us, and most of the year thats whats killed us, said Dominic Cheek, who had 16 points and five rebounds. We just have to keep getting better. Keep working hard, keep practicing, keep watching film. Its frustrating, but as long as we know were getting better and the coaches know were getting better, thats all that counts.
Marquette killed the Wildcats in the second half on the offensive glass (11 of their 17 offensive rebounds). The Golden Eagles got better shots and made them.
I thought we did a good job in the first half creating some offense off our defense, Wright said. In the second half, we couldnt get stops, and thats really the best way for us to get offense. Their guards controlled the game in the second half, and we couldnt get easy shots and got locked into a half-court game, and they were just better at it than us.
Darius Johnson-Odom scored 26 points for Marquette, and Crowder added 20 points and 11 boards.
James Bell scored 13 for Villanova, and Maurice Suttonwho had 13 points and 23 rebounds all year before Saturdayhad a career game with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Mouphtaou Yarou and Markus Kennedy sat with foul trouble.
Wayns, the Big East scoring leader, was just 3 for 10 from the field for 12 points.
We didnt come out in the second half with the same intensity we had in the first half, Pinkston said. Marquette did what they had to do. Its just experience. We just have to keep working.
Nova has a week off before returning to action at Pitt a week from Sunday. Theyre now 0-5 this year against ranked teamsand none of those losses has been by more than 10 points.
Were close, Wayns said. We just need to stay positive. We had two great chances this weekend to get big-time wins, we just came up a little short. But well get em.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com