Top-Ranked Villanova Goes Down After Furious Marquette Rally

The #1 and #2 teams in college basketball both went on the road tonight and they both lost. Second-ranked Kansas headed to Morgantown and lost by 16 to West Virginia, while top-ranked Villanova blew a big lead to Marquette and lost after they couldn’t score on the final possession. An errant dunk or two aside, the Kansas game wasn’t all that interesting, a sharp contrast from Villanova’s loss, which ended on a 19-4 Marquette run.

Marquette trailed the entire game, falling behind 11 quickly, then recovering, then falling behind again by 17. The Wildcats held a comfortable lead with under seven minutes to go, but Marquette, who put up 50 in the second half, rallied back and ended the game on that huge run. Backup guard Katin Reihardt led the Golden Eagles with 19 points, including a huge three to tie it up and two free throws to clinch the game.

The shooting guard/ Overwatch  transferred from USC this summer, but got pulled from the starting lineup shortly into the season (some fans even called for his minutes to dry up completely). He had his moment of redemption tonight.

Marquette took nothing but threes and shots in the key in the second half, one long two aside.

Marquette fans, naturally, swarmed the court.

Tonight’s victory was the second win that Marquette notched against a top-ten opponent within a week, after the knocked off then-#7 Creighton on Saturday.