Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski was unequivocal about one thing after the Golden Eagles’ emphatic 84-64 victory over Seton Hall on Tuesday.
“I do think it was our best defensive performance of the year,” he said of the upset over the Pirates, who are ranked No. 15 in the USA Today coaches poll and 13th by The Associated Press.
MU (12-5, 3-2 Big East) harassed Seton Hall (14-3, 3-1) into 12 turnovers and limited the Pirates to eight offensive rebounds after they averaged 13.4 over their first 16 games.
The Golden Eagles also held Seton Hall stars Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez and Angel Delgado to 29 points. They were averaging a combined 48.3 points per game.
“Their big three of Rodriguez, Delgado and Carrington are as good a trio as there is in the conference,” Wojciechowski said. “I thought our guys showed great fight, great physicality.”
The defensive game plan centered on stopping double-double machine Delgado. The senior center still had 12 points and 10 rebounds but only one of his boards came on the offensive end. He averages over four offensive rebounds per game.
MU junior center Matt Heldt did a solid job defending Delgado with occasional double-teams from sophomore wing Sam Hauser. Freshman center Theo John also put his 6-foot-9, 245-pound frame to good use against the 6-11 Delgado.
“I thought (Heldt) was really physical, I thought he was really locked-in on the defensive end,” Wojciechowski said. “I thought Theo gave us a huge burst, a huge lift off the bench. I thought those kids were really very physical against Delgado. He’s such a hard matchup and he’s given us all kinds of nightmares in the past. But those kids really battled like crazy and that’s all you could really ask.”
Carrington came into the matchup averaging 22.4 points during Seton Hall’s five-game winning streak. He finished with six against MU on 2-of-8 shooting.
Rodriguez had 11 points in the first half but was held scoreless in the final 20 minutes.
“It was a team effort. When you’re playing guys who are really good, whether it is Delgado, Rodriguez or Carrington, it doesn’t fall on the shoulders of one guy,” Wojciechowski said. “I thought our kids did a really good job on (Carrington). I would make special mention of Greg Elliott. I thought his defense was very good.”
Elliott, the freshman guard, and John came up big defensively in the game-changing, 16-0 run that gave the Golden Eagles a 17-point lead with 12 minutes 48 seconds remaining.
After senior guard Andrew Rowsey hit three free throws to give MU a 45-41 lead, Wojciechowski deployed Elliott at the top of a full-court press. The freshman's wingspan forced Carrington into a bad pass that Rowsey stole and then took in for a mid-range jumper.
On Seton Hall's ensuing possession, Elliott steered Carrington into a double-team and the Pirates point guard fell out of bounds for a turnover. John then converted a layup for MU.
“It’s really just knowing we have really tough guards in the Big East, knowing that I can help with my length on the defensive end and help make it easier for our offense," Elliott said.
John later teamed up with Hauser to trap Delgado and Elliott then picked off the center's bad pass, leading to a fast break and two free throws by Rowsey.
John later added his own defensive highlight when he rotated over to block a layup attempt by Myles Powell against the backboard. Elliott sank two free throws on the other end.
That four-minute span effectively sealed the upset. The Golden Eagles look to carry over that defensive effort against Butler (12-6, 2-3) on Friday in Indianapolis.
“It’s not like we just started talking about (defense). But (Tuesday) they executed it and that was really good to see,” Wojciechowski said.