The males’s NCAA basketball match continues this weekend with Marquette seeking to proceed the college’s March Madness run. As a 2-seed, they’re among the many favorites to go far, nevertheless the Golden Eagles struggled within the first half of their opening sport towards 15-seed Western Kentucky earlier than turning issues round.
Apparently, some poker chips performed a component in propelling the staff to victory.
Trailing 43-36 at halftime, the Golden Eagles wanted some inspiration and head coach Shaka Smart introduced out some distinctive props to get his staff targeted and impressed for the second half.
“We created a poker chip for every one of the meaningful experiences that we have had over the course of this season, and we have them all together,” Smart stated. “For example, last Thursday we had to beat Villanova twice. We thought we had the game won in regulation, but we didn’t. We had to go win again. So, on the back of that chip, it said, ‘won the game twice.’”
“Those are valuable experiences, chips that our guys have in their pocket, that hopefully we can draw on to play well this week in Indy.”
Many coaches might say that they need their groups to be “all in” throughout the season, however Smart went the additional mile and had the chips so as to add to the poker-inspired motivational speech. Smart’s chip chatter apparently did the trick.
“Halftime comes and we’re down a little bit and he’s just trying to fire us up, bring us back out saying, ‘We put our chips in, we’re all in, let’s go after it,’” senior guard Tyler Kolek advised Marquette Wire. “So, we come in at halftime we’re down seven and we have that experience to go out there and be able to do what we have to do to take the game.”
The Golden Eagles rallied for an 87-69 win after which beat Colorado 81-77 on Sunday. The staff now performs North Carolina State on Friday and hopes the all-in method ultimately results in a nationwide championship. Marquette has received all of it twice, again in 1974 and 1977.
