March Madness 2013: Davidson Throws Away Upset, Marquette Survives 59-58
By Josh Hill
March Madness exists solely to make hearts races with close games and thrilling upsets. But so far on the first Thursday of the tournament, we’ve had one buzzer beater finish and no true upsets. But Davidson had a little something to say about the day we’ve been having and provided basketball fans with the first upset of the day and one of the most thrilling games so far.
Davidson is really only popular thanks to the NCAA tournament and the days of Stephen Curry. But they’ve come roaring back to relevance after destroying the Marquette Eagles — the East region’s 3-seed. The win propels the Wildcats to the Round of 32 for the first time since their 2008 trip to the Elite Eight when they lost by two to Kansas. Last year the Wildcats lost by seven to the Louisville Cardinals, meaning when the Wildcats come at you, they come at you hard no matter who you are.
1 | 2 | F | |
3 Marquette | 23 | 34 | 59 |
14 Davidson | 25 | 33 | 58 |
| DAV – J. Cohen: 20 Pts, 1 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Blk | MARQ – C. Otule: 11 Pts, 11 Reb, 4 Blk |
Marquette never looked confident, and it’s very likely that they came into the game with big heads due to the seedings being so far apart. The Eagles were slow out of the gate, falling into a deep hole that they somehow dug their way out of at the 5:08 mark of the first half. That’s the first time Marquette — the 3-seed — took the lead over Davidson.
But despite being in a bitter back-and-forth with Davidson, Marquette never quit and stayed in the game to the very end. With just over a minute left to go in the game, Marquette drained a three to tie the game at 54-54, meaning we were in store for our second consecutive nail bitter of the day. But Davidson literally threw the game away, as with under 0:10 left in the game, Davidson just needed to hold the ball and draw the foul but ended up throwing the ball down the court and out of bounds. Marquette inbounded the next possession and took a 59-58 lead with 0:01 left in the game.
It was a heartbreaker for the Wildcats, but it likely served as a serious wakeup call for Marquette, who were just taken to the wire by a 14-seed. Butler is no pushover and conventional wisdom suggests that if the Eagles nearly got upset by a gutsy Davidson team, more of the same may be ahead in a matchup with an equally gutsy Butler team.