Kam Jones became the #7 scorer in program history and the Golden Eagles moved to 4-0 in Big East play for the first time since 2013.
There’s a key difference in “bad team” and “team’s worse than expected.”
A bad team can’t do anything right. A team that’s worse than expected can still be a huge pain in the ass if their drop is from, say, maybe a national title contender to barely a bubble team for the NCAA tournament.
That second one is Creighton this season, and that’s why Friday night’s 79-71 victory over the Bluejays for #8 ranked Marquette men’s basketball wasn’t a complete picnic from top to bottom, just merely a top 10 ranked team knocking off a competitive team in their home barn.
In fact, things started looking a little rough when the Bluejays handed the Golden Eagles a dead skunk — nine straight stops — late in the first half, and went on a 10-0 run on the other end of the court to take a 35-27 lead. Marquette wasn’t doing anything silly or bad, as they finished the first half with just four turnovers, but they weren’t converting chances. In fact, Creighton’s run timed up nearly perfectly to Stevie Mitchell picking up his first foul of the game and heading to the bench for a break to stop him from picking up a second one quickly.
Kam Jones broke up the Creighton run with a three-pointer, one of just two in the game for the 6’5” Memphian, and that broke the Golden Eagles out of their slump. Across the final 2:25, MU outscored Creighton 12-0, including a bit of basketball IQ from Kam Jones. The Bluejays knocked a Steven Ashworth missed three-pointer out of bounds with 39 seconds left in the half, and Kam Jones noticed that Creighton retreated to their end to defend. So, he called for the slow roll inbound, and it got to halfcourt before he picked it up and started the clock. Five seconds later, Jones scored on a layup, and MU had just created a two-for-one situation out of thin air because Creighton let them let the ball roll. Royce Parham made the calculation by Jones count with a block with nine seconds to go, and Zaide Lowery cashed it in with a tip in putback as time expired.
MU got the ball to start the second half, and 11 seconds in, Jones scored again, floating in a layup for a 14-0 run…… and the run just kept going……… all the way out to 26-3. Marquette up 15, 53-38, on a three-pointer from Ben Gold with 15:09 left in the game. It certainly looked like Creighton had zero answers for anything Marquette was doing, including three more turnovers handing the ball back to the Golden Eagles.
But again: Creighton is down from their preseason expectation, which is not the same thing as bad. They capped a 12-0 run with a three-pointer from Jamiya Neal with 11:18 to play, and WELP, three point ball game all of a sudden.
Marquette picked up a kill — three stops in a row — with less than eight minutes to go, and that helped them push the margin to six. Two free throws from Jones moved the margin to seven, and the clock started working for the Golden Eagles as it wound under five minutes to go. All of a sudden, Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Big East Preseason Player of the Year, came alive, scoring six of his team high 16 points in the final three minutes to keep what bare hopes the Bluejays had still pumping. But Marquette had answers. Chase Ross slithered to the rim to pop back a Stevie Mitchell missed three-pointer, and with 35 seconds to go, David Joplin hit his only three-pointer of the game for a dagger and a 77-69 lead. Jop shot that one over his primary defender and two more Bluejays rushing at him on a closeout, but it is what it is.
Kam Jones led all scorers with 22 points, and the first 19 of those shoved him past Wesley Matthews, Tony Smith, Brian Wardle, and Travis Diener up to #7 on the all-time scoring list. He also just barely missed a double-double on a team high nine rebounds plus another team high on five assists plus two steals. David Joplin’s dagger gave him 11 points here, while Stevie Mitchell put up a kind of rough 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting. Still had six rebounds, two assists, and a game high three steals, though.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and Fox Sports?
Up Next: Marquette will stay at home for their next game, as they will host Georgetown on Tuesday, January 7th. Tipoff is set for 7pm Central, and CBS Sports Network will have the broadcast. The Hoyas beat Xavier on Friday night 1) to win their fifth straight game and 2) to move to 3-0 in Big East play. Yes, Georgetown is one of the last three unbeaten teams in league play, and someone leaves Fiserv on Tuesday with their first loss of Big East play.