The Golden Eagles took their foot off the gas in the final 10 minutes, so it was much more of a BEATEMDOWN than it even looks.
KenPom.com only registers big runs on the win probability chart when you have a 10 point gap and you allow less than one possession’s worth of points. 18-4 runs are cool and all, but if you go 9-0, give up 4, and go 9-0 again, it doesn’t make it onto the chart.
I say this to make the point that the Marquette run that ended Seton Hall’s time with a lead in Tuesday night’s game at Fiserv Forum was nine straight. That put #16 ranked MU up 14-9, and things were very quickly about to come unglued for the visiting Pirates. A three-pointer from Royce Parham triggered a 16-3 Marquette run in the first half, and a modest lead became a 20 point advantage with four minutes still to go. That run contained MU’s second and third failed skunk — coming up with just five stops in a row, not getting to consecutive kills — of the game to that point. Generally speaking, when you’ve stacked up 15 stops in the first half, things are going okay for you, and they were.
It was 40-23 at the half, and honestly, it shouldn’t have been. Marquette went to sleep and committed a shot clock violation without even being aware of what the time was, and then on the ensuing inbound, no one came remotely close to stopping Isaiah Coleman flashing up the sideline as he scored right before the horn. Frustrating, to say the least, but Marquette’s defense opened up the second half with a kill, their fifth of the game to that point.
If there was any doubt as to how this game was going to end up, Marquette’s 12-2 run in the middle of the second half made it clear. Stevie Mitchell put back a Zaide Lowery missed three-pointer for what would end up as his only bucket of the night, and Marquette was up 31, 64-33, as the clock passed the 10 minute mark in regulation.
This was not Marquette’s strongest close to a game, as Seton Hall would outscore Marquette 23-16 in the final 10:15 of the contest. It doesn’t matter in the big picture, as Marquette’s 24 point final margin beats out both the computer projections for the game as well as the line put on the contest by our friends in the desert. Would it have been nicer to keep the margin above 30? Maybe, but I don’t think anyone’s going to lose sleep over it.
Kam Jones led all scorers with just 14 points in this one as he led MU in minutes with 27. Light workload, light output, that’s how it works. Chase Ross had 11 and Ben Gold had 10 points to go with his game high six rebounds, and that wraps it up for double digit scorers in this one. That’s what happens when nine guys play at least 10 minutes each. Kam Jones and Chase Ross finished tied for the game high in assists with five, while Ross and Stevie Mitchell led in steals with two each.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and CBS Sports Network?
Up Next: Marquette returns to action on Friday night when they hit the road to face Villanova. Tipoff at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia is set for 6pm Central, and FS1 will have the broadcast. The Wildcats are coming off throwing a home win over St. John’s directly in the trash by losing by 13 at Providence and then blowing a 53-39 lead with 11 minutes to go AND blowing a 58-52 lead with four minutes left only to lose by 7 at UConn on Tuesday night.
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