There is always a game or two per season that ends up with a perplexing box score. A game where you could look at most of the team stats and say, “That team definitely won.”. This was the case for Marquette(18-3, 9-1 Big East) in their first Big East matchup with two-time defending National Champion UConn(15-6, 7-3 Big East) on Saturday Night.
If we rewind to the early hours of the morning, Marquette fans and alumni across Wisconsin and the country woke up to National Marquette Day. Every February 1st, Marquette celebrates its history, students, and alumni, and it’s all capped off with a Marquette Men’s basketball game in downtown Milwaukee. The energy is high, and Marquette Nation is tuned in. Saturday was no different at Fiserv Forum, where Marquette set a new home attendance record to see the Golden Eagles take on their Big East rival. The scope of the day may have played a factor in Marquette getting things started early, as they struggled to get out of the gates against a UConn team that had won 3 straight and 8 of the last 10 head-to-head meetings with the Golden Eagles.
Marquette has been starting to earn the reputation as a slow-starting team. The first half of the Big East season has been a major opportunity for the Golden Eagles, where they’ve trailed at halftime in 6 of their 9 Big East wins. UConn being without their McDonald’s All-American, freshman Liam McNeeley, and a limited Hassan Diarra, presented an opportunity for Marquette to change the script and come out flying early. Unfortunately, the shots fell flat in the opening minutes, and UConn couldn’t miss. Before the sell-out crowd had even settled into their celebratory evening, the Huskies had made all 5 of their field goal attempts, including 4 three-pointers, forcing Shaka Smart to take a timeout, trailing 14-4. It was the same opening result the Big East had been giving them, as they tried to once again fight from behind very early in the game.
Marquette struggled to gain any kind of footing on the offensive end in the first half, with the UConn lead swelling to as high as 22 in the opening session. As UConn buried shot after shot, Marquette would shoot just 32% in the first half, including an abysmal 10-20 from the free throw line. UConn had their way on 56% shooting and a shiny 50% from behind the arc. The in-between stats started to reveal themselves in positives for Marquette, as they were +7 in turnovers and got to the line the aforementioned twenty times. But just one assist on eight made shots in the first half put Marquette behind 42-29 at the break.
Like most of the previous Big East games for Marquette, the second half was an improvement from the first. The Golden Eagles shot better, rebounded better, and turned UConn over even more. Unfortunately for them, UConn continued to shoot lights-out, even when contested. UConn, and most specifically sophomore guard Solo Ball, shot 65% from the field and an incredible 86% from behind the arc in the second half. Ball would score a game-high 25 points while shooting an incredible 7-9 from three. Every time Marquette would put together stops and eke into the lead, UConn would answer, and Solo Ball committed most of the daggers. Marquette would end up outscoring the Huskies in the second half, but it wouldn’t be enough as UConn filled up the basket for a 77-69 victory, spoiling the peak excitement of National Marquette Day.
Back to the perplexing box score mentioned at the top. If you take the all-important shooting out of the mix, Marquette pretty much dominated UConn. When all was said and done, Marquette attempted 21 more field goals than UConn. They would go +18 in turnovers, have 17 offensive rebounds, and outscore UConn in the paint and on the fast break. But poor shooting negates all of those wins, and instead, Marquette struggled their way to a second Big East loss.
Kam Jones would lead Marquette in scoring with 22 points, but Chase Ross would be the most efficient, with 19 points on 7-13 shooting. David Joplin added 13 points and 5 rebounds, and Stevie Mitchell came back down to earth with 6 points while creating his usual havoc with 5 steals. Ben Gold had his second straight game without a point, and didn’t record a rebound over 21 minutes.
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Next up: Marquette heads to Madison Square Garden to take on Big East leading St. John’s on Tuesday at 5:30pm CST on FS1
The Barn 