There are two reasons that Marquette men’s basketball looked like a different team in each half of Tuesday’s visit to St. John’s.
One was Zuby Ejiofor, and the other was Bryce Hopkins.
In the first half, the two a combined for nine points and played a combined 10 minutes. But over the final 20 minutes, the duo combined for 25 points and 12 rebounds. That was the difference in a game that got away from the Golden Eagles (6-12, 1-6 Big East) in the second half, who fell 92-68 to the Red Storm (12-5, 5-1) at Madison Square Garden.
“When we had good stretches, we were getting our hands on the ball, putting our chest on them,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said in his postgame radio interview. “But there was way too many possessions where we did not in the second half.”
The first four minutes went very poorly for the Golden Eagles. By the time Smart called his second timeout, not even four minutes into the game, the Red Storm led 14-4. Redshirt sophomore forward Caedin Hamilton — who was already expected to step into a bigger role with senior forward Ben Gold (ankle) out with an injury — picked up his second foul after just 2:58.
Marquette was down, but not out, as was illustrated by the rest of the half. It used the absence of the Red Storm’s best front court players to get to the paint and score 20 points. Marquette only took five 3-pointers, making two. It was an unusually low volume of triples, but MU found other ways to score — something it has struggled mightily to do this season.
Despite turning the ball over 10 times, the Golden Eagles were the pesky opponent that would not go away, trailing 40-36 on their way into the locker room. Senior guard Chase Ross broke out of his recent skid and first-year guard Nigel James Jr. continued playing like he has, and the duo combined for 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the first half. The Golden Eagles were well within position to pick up a big road win in the World’s Most Famous Arena.
However, the second half was not as kind.
Ejiofor and Hopkins did not pick up early fouls this time. Marquette could not get into the lane as easily and score as many points in the lane. And, most importantly, the defensive intensity of the first 20 minutes was not matched in the second 20 minutes.
St. John’s scored two quick baskets in the first minute to extend its lead to double-digits. The Red Storm’s advantage hovered around 10 until a 13-0 run made it 70-47 with seven minutes to go, leaving the Golden Eagles in the rearview mirror.
“That second half defense, there wasn’t enough force, wasn’t enough aggression,” Smart said. “They only made one three, and so the story of the half is points in the paint. Whether it was offensive rebounds, drives down the middle, we have to have more force.”
The Red Storm scored 52 points on 19-of-36 shooting in the second half, despite just hitting 1-of-9 of their 3-point attempts. They scored 30 points in the paint in the second half, boosting their game total to 48.
St. John’s led 15-3 in second chance points, scoring 24 points off Marquette’s 19 turnovers — the second most they’ve had in a game this season.
“Too many of them were unforced,” Smart said of the turnovers. “We had, I think four against the press, where we struggled getting the ball in. It’s something that anytime you play St. John’s, you got to be prepared for and execute against.”
Hopkins, Ejiofor and Oziyah Sellers — who scored a game-high 24 — combined for 56 of the Red Storm’s 92 points.
Ross led the way for Marquette with 20 points, with James Jr. close behind with 17. After their strong start, the duo was quieter in the second half, combining for 13 points on just 4-of-11 shooting. The Golden Eagles shot 17-of-27 from the charity stripe, dropping their season average to 69.2%.
Marquette now turns its sights to Chicago and a visit with DePaul on Friday night. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CST.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.