For a moment, it looked like Marquette men’s basketball (5-9, 0-3 Big East) would turn the corner amid a despondent start to the season and notch its first conference win of the season against a much-improved Seton Hall squad (12-2, 2-1).
A 16-0 run in the second half, in which the visiting Pirates would not score for nearly six and a half minutes, appeared to flip the script from the Golden Eagles’ last time out at Creighton on Dec. 20. When sophomore guard Trey Parker drilled a corner 3-pointer to stop Seton Hall’s scoring freeze, Marquette had a seven-point advantage with 11:46 remaining.
Marquette was playing its by far best offensive game of the season — against a top-15 defense on KenPom — not committing a turnover in the first half and exploding on that double-digit run. Shaka Smart appeared to solve his rotation and lineup issues, getting the most production with Ben Gold in place of Caedin Hamilton. Senior guard Chase Ross had fully woken up after a poor 1-of-7 shooting clip to start.
While the Pirates initially cut into the deficit, the Golden Eagles maintained a 73-66 lead with just over three minutes to go and all signs pointed to Marquette winning its first high-major game. But those signs were an illusion, as the Golden Eagles found another new way to lose a game it could — nay, should — have won and the Pirates walked off the floor the victors, 79-73.
In what has been a season comprised of disappointing losses, Tuesday night was the one leaving all involved — players, fans and coaches alike — with the sourest of tastes in their mouths as they left Fiserv Forum.
“Man, that was as tough of an ending as I’ve seen in a while,” an irritated Smart said.
There were too many head-shaking mistakes from the Golden Eagles to scapegoat one person or happening.
Senior guard Sean Jones fouled a 3-point shooter with 1:48 on the clock, allowing Seton Hall’s Trey Parker to sink three free throws to cut the Golden Eagles’ advantage to 73-72.
On the next possession, first-year guard Nigel James Jr. made a bad pass, and Tajuan Simpkins stole the ball and gave the Pirates the lead for good with a breakaway layup.
Fellow first-year guard Adrien Stevens then traveled after hesitating on a shot attempt, and James Jr. and Ross badly missed 3-point attempts in the final 30 seconds, sealing Marquette’s fate.
“We did not do a good enough job taking care of the basketball,” Smart said. “We did not do a good enough job being solid on the defensive end.
“There were a couple fouls that sent them to the line that were just … we can’t have. We can’t foul 90-feet away from the basket. We can’t foul a 3-point shooter. That’s a bitter pill to swallow, but that’s where we are right now.”
By the time the final buzzer rang, the Pirates had closed the game on a 13-0 run. The Golden Eagles made 0 of their last 10 shot attempts, and 2 of their last 15; their final basket, a Royce Parham three, came with 6:15 remaining. The blue & gold did not score a single point for the final three minutes, and coughed up three turnovers.
It was yet another tight game against a good opponent that Marquette could not close out, joining the losses to Dayton and Oklahoma.
“A lot of it is closing down the stretch,” senior forward Gold said. “That’s something we struggled with this season so far in these close games.
“It’s a 50-50 game whether we have a lead or not. It could go either way. We just need to continue to come together and talk to each other about ‘This is the last three or four minutes or whatever it is.’ We gave a couple transition layups, we can’t give those up. I think they had two or three so that’s a free four or six points. That can decide games right there.”
The redshirt sophomore forward Hamilton started the game in the post for Marquette, but Smart elected to turn to his bench quickly and put Gold on the court not even three minutes into the contest. The 6-foot-11 big man played 36 minutes, despite coming off the bench, en route to a career-high 19 points, while only making 1-of-7 3-point attempts, to go with seven rebounds.
“The most important thing is to have five guys with clarity of mind and purpose and are connected with each other,” Smart said. “I saw that in Ben tonight from the beginning, the way he was putting his body on plays. I think for him, one of the lessons from tonight is that ‘I can impact a game even on a shooting night that’s not great.’ He still impacted the game in a major way on both ends of the floor.”
Perhaps the most frightening part of Tuesday’s rock-bottom is the fact the Golden Eagles have 17 more regular season games, starting with at No. 4 UConn on Jan. 4, leaving the door wide open to keep sinking further.
“Whether it’s rebounding, passing, or whatever it is, we need to make sure that we can’t just focus on the negatives and all that, we need to make sure that we’re helping each other,” Gold said. “Because at the end of the day, we need each other to win these games.”
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.