It was just not No. 16 Marquette men’s basketball’s night.
The Golden Eagles got out to a bad start, trailing 14-4 after just three minutes. They were down by as many as 19 in the first half and 23 in the second half. The final frame was more of the same with all of Marquette’s comeback attempts being stifled by the home team.
It all led to the Golden Eagles’ (20-7, 11-5 Big East) fourth loss in six games as they fell to the Wildcats (16-12, 9-8 Big East) 81-66 Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
“To play the way we want to play, it requires violence and focus,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart told ESPN Milwaukee broadcasters Steve “The Homer” True and Tony Smith in a post-game radio interview. “We didn’t have that on enough possessions tonight.”
The story of the first half was Villanova’s hot shooting.
The Wildcats went on an 8-0 run to start the game and made the first five 3-pointers that they took. By the time MU reached 10 points, Villanova had already scored 22 points, and 10 minutes had already passed.
Villanova got out to its largest lead of the half when redshirt first-year Jordann Dumont hit his second 3-pointer in a row at the 6:36 mark. They finished the half shooting 12-for-15 (80%) from beyond the arc and 16-for-28 (57.1%) overall, taking a 13-point lead into the locker room.
“You have to make them miss, and we didn’t do a good enough job of that in the first half,” Smart said.
Marquette had a tall task to begin the second half and wasn’t ready to give in.
The Golden Eagles cut their deficit to 10 points by the under-16 media timeout after they went on an 8-5 run with contributions from three different players. However, their momentum was killed after sophomore guard Zaide Lowery and first-year forward Royce Parham fouled 3-point shooters on back-to-back plays.
“We had some good possessions early in the second half on defense,” Smart said. “They made an extremely tough shot in the first basket of the second half… When we did sub, Zaide fouled a 3-point shooter, Royce fouled a 3-point shooter, they (VU) got some critical loose balls and rebounds.
“Give them credit, they played like a desperate team on the bubble, and that’s exactly what they are.”
Villanova continued to roll, going on a 13-2 run with six of those points coming from free throws. It shot 18-for-20 from the charity stripe on the night. It got out to a 66-43 lead — its largest of the night — at the 10:58 mark.
Five minutes later, the Golden Eagles’ entire starting five had checked out as the Wildcats closed out the game. The starters only combined for 30 points with senior forward David Joplin, junior forward Ben Gold and senior guard Stevie Mitchell tallying nine all together. Mitchell only played 14 minutes.
“We did not have the requisite fire and passion required — particularly our starting lineup — to be able to come in here on the road and then come back from a deficit,” Smart said. “We have a lot to figure out with our starting group in terms of coming into the game with a level of hunger and passion that we have to have.”
Lowery was the bright spot for the Golden Eagles, scoring a career-high 25 points and eight rebounds on 9-for-10 shooting in the loss. The Springfield, Missouri native netted 16 of those points in the final frame.
ZAIDE LOWERY CAREER HIGH
25 points
-9/10 FG
-5/5 3PT#MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/t5HTqtnKp6— ESPN Milwaukee (@ESPNMilwaukee) February 22, 2025
The Golden Eagles return to Milwaukee to face the Providence Friars (6-10, 12-15 Big East) on Tuesday night, looking to turn things around as March looms on the horizon.
“We need for everyone on our team to understand there’s only one way for us, and that’s to truly come together and multiply each other,” Smart said. “Let go of ourselves enough that we’re focusing on uplifting the guys around us and connected with the guys around us to get one stop…
“What’s disappointing tonight is there wasn’t enough true ownership of that and that’s on me.”
This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at kaylynn.wright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @KaylynnWrightMU.