# 2008–09 Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team represented Marquette University in the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Buzz Williams, who served his first season as head coach, and second with Marquette. The team played its home games at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Key contributors included seniors Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews, and juniors Lazar Hayward, Maurice Acker and Jimmy Butler.

## Roster

| | # | Position | Height | Weight | Year | Home Town |
| Dominic James | 1 | Guard | 5–11 | 175 | Senior | Richmond, Indiana |
| Maurice Acker | 2 | Guard | 5–8 | 165 | Junior | Hazel Crest, Illinois |
| Patrick Hazel | 4 | Forward | 6–7 | 220 | Sophomore | Queens, New York |
| David Cubillan | 10 | Guard | 6–0 | 175 | Junior | Maricaibo, Venezuela |
| Dwight Burke | 12 | Forward | 6–8 | 250 | Junior | Brooklyn, New York |
| Joseph Fulce | 21 | Forward | 6–7 | 205 | Sophomore | Plano, Texas |
| Jerel McNeal | 22 | Guard | 6–3 | 200 | Senior | Chicago, Illinois |
| Wesley Matthews | 23 | Guard/Forward | 6–5 | 215 | Senior | Madison, Wisconsin |
| Lazar Hayward | 32 | Forward | 6–6 | 225 | Junior | Buffalo, New York |
| Jimmy Butler | 33 | Guard | 6–6 | 215 | Sophomore | Tomball, Texas |
| Chris Otule | 42 | Center | 6–10 | 245 | Freshman | Richmond, Texas |
| Robert Frozena | 45 | Guard | 6–1 | 180 | Sophomore | Sherwood, Wisconsin |
| Liam McMorrow | 55 | Center | 7–0 | 260 | Sophomore | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |

## 2008–2009 Statistics

Updated as of February 19, 2009.
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Jerel McNeal | 26 | 26 | 33.9 | .480 | .438 | .727 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 19.9 |
| Wesley Matthews | 26 | 26 | 32.5 | .529 | .391 | .816 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 18.6 |
| Lazar Hayward | 26 | 26 | 30.8 | .468 | .346 | .821 | 8.5 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 15.9 |
| Dominic James | 26 | 26 | 32.7 | .430 | .283 | .459 | 3.7 | 5.4 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 11.9 |
| Jimmy Butler | 26 | 1 | 17.0 | .500 | .000 | .732 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 4.5 |
| Dwight Burke | 26 | 25 | 19.4 | .657 | .000 | .500 | 3.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 2.8 |
| Patrick Hazel | 21 | 0 | 12.0 | .704 | .000 | .588 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| Maurice Acker | 25 | 0 | 11.7 | .246 | .216 | .714 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Joseph Fulce | 8 | 0 | 6.0 | .500 | .000 | .750 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.9 |
| Chris Otule | 7 | 0 | 7.9 | .364 | .000 | .400 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| David Cubillan | 23 | 0 | 9.2 | .267 | .300 | .556 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| Robert Frozena | 10 | 0 | 1.8 | .250 | .000 | .500 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | - |

## Schedule and Results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference games ||||||
| November 14, 2008* 7:00 pm | No. 17 | Houston Baptist | W 95–64 | 1–0 | Bradley Center (13,668) Milwaukee, WI |
| November 17, 2008* 7:00 pm | No. 17 | Chicago State | W 106–87 | 2–0 | Bradley Center (12,966) Milwaukee, WI |
| November 22, 2008* 7:00 pm | No. 17 | Milwaukee | W 100–80 | 3–0 | Bradley Center (15,168) Milwaukee, WI |
| November 25, 2008* 7:00 pm | No. 15 | Texas Southern | W 85–68 | 4–0 | Bradley Center (12,993) Milwaukee, WI |
| November 28, 2008* 7:00 pm | No. 15 | vs. Northern Iowa Chicago Invitational Challenge | W 73–43 | 5–0 | Sears Centre (3,087) Hoffman Estates, IL |
| November 29, 2008* 7:00 pm | No. 15 | vs. Dayton Chicago Invitational Challenge | L 75–89 | 5–1 | Sears Centre (4,780) Hoffman Estates, IL |
| December 2, 2008* 7:00 pm | | Central Michigan | W 81–67 | 6–1 | Bradley Center (13,158) Milwaukee, WI |
| December 5, 2008* 8:30 pm | | No. 21 Wisconsin | W 61–58 | 7–1 | Bradley Center (18,895) Milwaukee, WI |
| December 13, 2008* 7:30 pm | No. 24 | IPFW | W 69–50 | 8–1 | Bradley Center (13,470) Milwaukee, WI |
| December 16, 2008* 7:30 pm | No. 23 | at No. 19 Tennessee | L 68–80 | 8–2 | Sommet Center (9,498) Nashville, TN |
| December 19, 2008* 7:00 pm | No. 23 | Western Carolina | W 94–77 | 9–2 | Bradley Center (13,653) Milwaukee, WI |
| December 22, 2008* 8:00 pm | No. 25 | at North Carolina State | W 68–65 | 10–2 | RBC Center (16,819) Raleigh, NC |
| December 28, 2008* 6:00 pm | No. 25 | Presbyterian | W 84–45 | 11–2 | Bradley Center (13,879) Milwaukee, WI |
| Conference games ||||||
| January 1, 2009 11:00 am | No. 25 | No. 13 Villanova | W 79–72 | 12–2 (1–0) | Bradley Center (16,446) Milwaukee, WI |
| January 4, 2009 1:00 pm | No. 25 | Cincinnati | W 84–50 | 13–2 (2–0) | Bradley Center (16,667) Milwaukee, WI |
| January 7, 2009 8:00 pm | No. 15 | at Rutgers | W 81–76 | 14–2 (3–0) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (4,112) Piscataway, NJ |
| January 10, 2009 1:00 pm | No. 15 | No. 22 West Virginia | W 75–53 | 15–2 (4–0) | Bradley Center (17,085) Milwaukee, WI |
| January 17, 2009 8:00 pm | No. 14 | at Providence | W 91–82 | 16–2 (5–0) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (10,221) Providence, RI |
| January 24, 2009 1:00 pm | No. 10 | DePaul | W 79–70 | 17–2 (6–0) | Bradley Center (18,949) Milwaukee, WI |
| January 26, 2009 8:00 pm | No. 8 | at No. 22 Notre Dame | W 71–64 | 18–2 (7–0) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (11,418) Notre Dame, IN |
| January 31, 2009 1:00 pm | No. 8 | No. 22 Georgetown | W 94–82 | 19–2 (8–0) | Bradley Center (19,041) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 3, 2009 8:00 pm | No. 8 | at DePaul | W 76–61 | 20–2 (9–0) | Allstate Arena (11,230) Rosemont, IL |
| February 6, 2009 6:00 pm | No. 8 | at South Florida | L 57–58 | 20–3 (9–1) | USF Sun Dome (5,316) Tampa, FL |
| February 10, 2009 6:30 pm | No. 11 | at No. 13 Villanova | L 84–102 | 20–4 (9–2) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| February 14, 2009 8:00 pm | No. 11 | St. John's | W 73–59 | 21–4 (10–2) | Bradley Center (18,614) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 17, 2009 7:00 pm | No. 10 | Seton Hall | W 79–67 | 22–4 (11–2) | Bradley Center (18,709) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 21, 2009 1:00 pm | No. 10 | at Georgetown | W 78–72 | 23–4 (12–2) | Verizon Center (17,686) Washington, D.C. |
| February 25, 2009 6:00 pm | No. 8 | No. 2 Connecticut | L 82–93 | 23–5 (12–3) | Bradley Center (19,091) Milwaukee, WI |
| March 1, 2009 11:00 am | No. 8 | at No. 6 Louisville | L 58–62 | 23–6 (12–4) | Freedom Hall (20,079) Louisville, Kentucky |
| March 4, 2009 6:30 pm | No. 13 | at No. 3 Pittsburgh | L 75–90 | 23–7 (12–5) | Petersen Events Center (12,508) Pittsburgh, PA |
| March 7, 2009 1:00 pm, ESPN360 | No. 13 | No. 25 Syracuse | L 79–86 $^{OT}$ | 23–8 (12–6) | Bradley Center (19,144) Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2009 2:30 pm, ESPN | No. 21 | vs. St. John's Second Round | W 74–45 | 24–8 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| March 12, 2009 2:30 pm, ESPN | No. 21 | vs. No. 10 Villanova Quarterfinals | L 75–76 | 24–9 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 20, 2009 12:30 pm, CBS | No. 23 | vs. Utah State First Round | W 58–57 | 25–9 | Taco Bell Arena (N/A) Boise, ID |
| March 22, 2009 3:50 pm, CBS | No. 23 | vs. Missouri Second Round | L 79–83 | 25–10 | Taco Bell Arena (12,184) Boise, ID |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | 16 | 15 т | 15 | 25 | 24 | 24 | — | | 18 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 23 | Not released |
| Coaches | 17 | 17 | 15 | — | 24 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 11 т | 10 | 15 | 21 | 24 | 21 |