One of the best games of day two of March Madness was one of the closest matchups on paper. No. 7 seed Marquette and No. 10 seed New Mexico went back and forth almost all day in Cleveland, with the Lobos eventually pulling away in the final minutes to get the 75-66 win.
Despite trailing for most of the game, Marquette still had plenty of chances to get the win in this game. After the game, Shaka Smart highlighted New Mexico star big man Nelly Junior Joseph as one of the primary reasons why New Mexico got the upper hand, via The Pit Press.
“I thought Nelly Junior Joseph was just so impactful from the opening segment of the game because he was the most physical presence down low,” Smart said after the Marquette loss. “He was an important domino from the start of the game.”
Junior Joseph finished the game with strong, yet unspectacular box score numbers. He scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds while knocking down all five of his free throw attempts.
Those are solid numbers, but they don’t completely do justice the impact that Junior Joseph had on the game. He was a physical presence on the inside and was much bigger than Marquette big man Ben Gold. Gold ended up fouling out after just 22 minutes, and Junior Joseph was a big reason why.
Marquette superstar Kam Jones also had an uncharacteristically bad day, and a large part of that was that he was uncomfortable finishing over the size that Junior Joseph provides in the lane.
New Mexico was also buoyed by a big day from Tru Washington, who finished with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. CJ Noland also hit three triples off the bench.
However, when the Lobos needed to get some big buckets down the stretch to knock off Marquette, they went to their star point guard Donovan Dent. Even on an off day for the Mountain West Player of the Year, Dent finished with 21 points and came up with multiple big buckets down the stretch.
With Dent and Junior Joseph playing at this level, New Mexico will be very dangerous for No. 2 seed Michigan State in the next round on Sunday.
The post Shaka Smart names New Mexico’s X-factor that hurt Marquette basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
