Marquette concerned with wins, not streak

MILWAUKEE — Marquette coach Buzz Williams knows what comes with winning. He and most of his top players experienced the added attention a surprise run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament can generate last season.

With their seventh consecutive win on Tuesday night — a 66-59 home victory over Seton Hall — 19-4 Marquette again is gaining national acclaim.

"The more we win, the more (media) people show up," said Williams, the coach of the nation's 15th-ranked team. "The more we win, the more text messages I get and our players get, the more emails we get. You have to sync the circle even tighter. It's got to get even tighter because that's what happens when you have success. . . . You get caught up in all of it. You can't get caught up in any of it. You've got to realize what got you to that point. And I think our guys have been perfect in that."

Apparently Marquette's inner circle is big enough to include Miami Heat stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Wade — a Marquette alumnus — and James were in Milwaukee for an upcoming game against the Bucks and sat courtside cheering on the Golden Eagles. Williams received a text from Wade to expect their arrival, but the coach was too caught up in prepping for the game to reply.

Now standing all alone in second place in the always-difficult Big East, the Golden Eagles are one of the hottest teams in college basketball. But Marquette didn't begin its conference schedule with nearly the same success, losing two of its first three games.

On the court, not much has changed during the seven-game winning streak. Marquette has stayed relatively consistent in most statistical areas, with slight increases in 3-point and free-throw accuracy.

"I don't think anything has changed," Williams said. "I think that's why we won seven in a row. I think our guys handle today, and they're accountable for today and that's it. When you start trying to get caught up in the hype and thinking about two or three weeks from now, I think that's when you get kind of in a bind.

"The longer you go, the more discipline that it takes and the more toughness that it takes. Let's just do today. Just today. Work as hard as you can, then when we wake up tomorrow, let's try to do that day."

The schedule has certainly gotten easier in the past three weeks. Five of the Golden Eagles' last seven games have been at home, and none has been against a ranked opponent. After a home win against Villanova to start the Big East season, Marquette lost at No. 9 Georgetown and No. 1 Syracuse by a combined 10 points. Since that Jan. 7 loss to the Orange, the Golden Eagles have been perfect.

"We're just playing consistent," said forward Jae Crowder, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds against Seton Hall. "We're finding ways to get the job done late in the games. It's coming along. I think we'll be fine come late March. (We have to) keep playing great defense. Once we keep doing that, I think we'll keep going even hotter."

Crowder, a senior who came to Marquette last season as a junior college transfer, is the team's leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. He'll have to come up even bigger on the interior in the coming weeks as the Golden Eagles have lost 6-foot-8 sophomore Davante Gardner to a sprained knee.

"Jae is really, really, really, really good," Williams said.

Crowder wasn't fazed at all by having Wade and James sitting less than 15 feet from his team's bench.

"They're basketball players, I'm a basketball player," Crowder said. "I appreciate them coming out and cheering us on."

Sophomore Vander Blue had a different reaction to having two of the NBA's best players watching. Blue caught and slammed in an alley-oop dunk midway through the second half that had Wade and James exchanging high-fives and celebrating with Marquette fans in the first row.

"LeBron's my favorite player, and D-Wade is a great guy," Blue said. "I wasn't paying attention to them, but I heard that they were up and going crazy, and that obviously makes me feel good coming from two great players."

Presumably without Wade and James at their side, Marquette will go for its eighth straight win on Saturday at Notre Dame.

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