NEW YORK — Marquette men’s basketball had never made it past Friday night at the Big East Tournament.
Until tonight.
The top-seeded Golden Eagles (27-6, 17-3 Big East) held off the four-seeded UConn Huskies (25-8, 13-7) 72-70 at Madison Square Garden, pushing the needle closer to earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“We really emphasized to our guys that we had to win on the defensive end,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. “UConn is a terrific team on both ends of the floor. They had some advantages relative to us with their size, strength, girth, offensive rebounding.