Coming off its 72-66 loss to UConn, Marquette (22-9, 13-7 Big East) found itself in a gritty battle vs St. John’s (27-4, 18-2 Big East). The Red Storm defeated the Golden Eagles in overtime 86-84 on a game-winning buzzer-beater by junior forward Zuby Ejiofor.
Marquette struggled early when dealing with Ejiofor, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. The game was very physical and took a lot out of the Golden Eagles.
Marquette had chances to win both games in the last minute this week, but was unable to finish in either.
“I think our guys turn the page a little bit in terms of the spiritual battle that we talk a lot about internally.” Smart also said, “You have to a willingness to understand that every play matters but also understand basketball is a game of mistakes.”
Marquette honors its seniors
Before the game, MU honored its six seniors, Jake Ciardo, Cameron Brown, Jack Anderson, Stevie Mitchell, David Joplin, and Kam Jones.
Jones led the team with 32 points and nine rebounds and seven assists. Joplin was 7-9 from the field with 21 points, which included three shots from long-range. Mitchell had four points, which all came from the free-throw line and six rebounds.
The seniors, while at Marquette, have won 97 games, with 78 coming over the last three seasons. That ranks 2nd all-time in program history behind a three-year period from 1970-72 in which those teams had 79.
“Kam Jones is a guy who has been asked to do so much, it is kind of almost unreasonable how much we ask him to do,” Smart said.
Jones has been a crucial part of the team and has had an enormous impact his entire career. He is just 33 points shy of becoming the 2nd player ever to score 2,000 points at Marquette.
What is next for Marquette?
Free throws will be crucial in any game they play going forward as the Golden Eagles were 12-for-22 from the free throw line. Marquette is 72.4 percent from the free throw line this season and will need to improve its shooting from the charity stripe in the postseason if it wants to make a run in either the conference tourney or The Big Dance.
MU’s next game will be against Xavier on March 13th at 2:30 PM ET at Madison Square Garden in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament. The Golden Eagles split the season series with the Musketeers this season, with both teams winning on the road.
If there’s any positive that Marquette can take out of the last two losses and out of the last couple of weeks, it’s that its remained gritty and aggressive on defense down the stretch of these games. The Golden Eagles have shown a lot of fight over the last four games and have been resilient even if they have not come out on top.
This story was written by Brian Wilson. He can be reached at b.c.wilson@marquette.edu.