#5 Marquette took their perfect 8-0 record into Ames on Wednesday night to take on #6 Iowa St. The Hilton Coliseum is one of the toughest places to play in the country, and coming into Wednesday night, the Cyclones had won 21 straight games on their home floor. A tall task for the Golden Eagles in one of four Big 12-Big East Battles on Wednesday’s slate, Shaka Smart’s squad would have an uphill battle from the opening tip.
Iowa St. leads the nation in fewest turnovers per game, an area that Marquette excels in and exploits against every team they play. Forced turnovers turning into transition points just wasn’t in the recipe in the first half against the Cyclones. Marquette forced just 3 Iowa St. turnovers in the first-half, leading the Cyclones to set up their half-court offense for high-percentage shots, shooting over 64% from the field in the first half. Iowa St. also scored 24 of their 46 first half points in the paint, exploiting Marquette’s interior defense. Standout senior guard Keshon Gilbert torched Marquette for 18 points in the first half, mostly through dribble penetration into the paint, where Iowa St. lived all night.
Kam Jones, who struggled to find his shot all night, had just 4 points in the first half as Marquette had to turn to others for scoring output. Iowa St. focused on taking Jones away, especially on his patented scoop-and-scores around the basket. Marquette did have success from behind the arc, shooting 7-16 in the half to keep it a 9-point game at the break, despite losing Chase Ross midway through the half with an ankle injury.
The second half played out with a near exclusivity of scoring runs. Not your typical back-and-forth scoring, both teams were able to put together enough stops to chunk up 8-10 point scoring runs at a time, only to see their opposition do the same in the following minutes. Marquette went on a 10-0 scoring run late in the game to tie it at 61, only to see Iowa St. go on their own 10-0 run immediately after. Shaka pivoted to putting the hard-nosed Stevie Mitchell on Keshon Gilbert in the second half, shutting him down to just 6 points in the second half on only one field goal, but Iowa St. would get enough around the rim to salt away Marquette 81-70.
Definitely not a bad loss; Marquette takes their first defeat of the season, falling to 8-1. And although Kam Jones had a rough night, shooting just 6-21 from the field, the Golden Eagles still had many bright spots come out of a tough contest against a tough team, especially from their freshman. Without Chase Ross for much of the game, the freshman with plenty of buzz, Damarius Owens, stepped in and flashed his talent on the offensive end. Owens would score 11 points in 26 minutes of action, hitting some big 3-pointers exactly when Marquette needed them. Fellow freshman Royce Parham also had his coming-out party, scoring a career-high 17 points on 7-12 shooting.
It was a mixed bag of performance from Marquette in Ames on Wednesday, but they walk away with plenty of positive outcomes to take into the rest of the season and beyond. Interior defense and rebounding still need to be better against top opponents, but the outburst of freshman production sparks excitement around the depth of the team and the future of Marquette basketball.
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Next Up: Its rivalry weekend in Milwaukee as #11 Wisconsin comes into Fiserv Forum to take on Marquette on Saturday at 12:30pm CST on FOX
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