March Madness Update: Marquette Makes a Statement in Defeat of Miami

In the first two rounds the Marquette Golden Eagles were in close, hard fought games that really could have gone a different way had a play or two not worked out in their favor. Maybe it was luck that got them past the first two rounds. Did they really deserve to be in the Sweet 16?

Against Miami Thursday night they made that fans and opponents knew that they were indeed a team to be reckoned with going forward.



Miami never had a chance. An early 10-1 run put the Golden Eagles up 14-5 and they never looked back from there. The Hurricanes aided the cause with abysmal shooting in the first half hitting only 6 of 28 shots in the first half en route to a 29-16 deficit.

The second half was better, but too little too late for it to make a difference as the Golden Eagles cruised to victory 71-61.

"There are only two things you have to do in basketball -- one, put the ball in the basket, two, stop the other team from putting the ball in the basket. We weren't able to do either," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said.

Marquette will go on to face Syracuse in the Elite Eight. The Orange had little trouble dispatching the Hoosiers 61-50.