Game 2: March 11, 1994
Big East Quarterfinal
UConn 97 St. John’s 77
Can someone explain how you were supposed to defend Donyell Marshall? He hit more shots with a hand in his face than I thought possible in a single game. Also he had plenty of #dunks. Marshall had 26 by halftime and UConn led throughout. St. John’s made a nice run in the second half to cut it to 6, but Donyell wasn’t having any of that. He responded with four quick points then a 360 dunk to tilt things back UConn’s way. It is my highly educated opinion that old Big East quarterfinal day was the best sports day of the year. Don’t dispute me.
UConn Starting Lineup:
- Kevin Ollie
- Doron Sheffer
- Donny Marshall
- Donyell Marshall
- Eric Hayward
Three game observations:
- Jim Calhoun must not have had his “2 fouls and out” rule in place yet. Eric Hayward picked up three in the first half.
- This team was so good on both ends that it was borderline NSFW. And they loved to run. Even after a made basket, it was always full speed back the other way. I miss teams like that.
- Donyell gets all the credit for his stupid good game, but Kevin Ollie had 10 assists and Doron Sheffer had eight. I didn’t keep track, but I’m guessing most of those went to the big man.
Three other observations:
- WTNH had TV duty for this one and they called it “The Big Showdown at the Big East.” Name is a little long, but it gets my fired up.
- Bill Raftery referred to Donny and Donyell Marshall as the Law Firm of Marshall and Marshall. Can someone tell me if this was an actual thing or just a Raftery thing? I would have gone with Marshall Law.
- This was near the end of the old blue court days at MSG. They went back to that in 2013 for the Big East Tournament.
Russ’s descent to insanity status:
The only thing wrong so far is that I won’t be watching 8 more games of Donyell.
Random artifact from my room:
Bae.
Gratuitous old UConn thing:
UConn: Great pick!
Time of Marathon (so far): 2:55:31
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