CHICAGO — A lot can happen in three minutes, in turns out.
Like, for instance, a basketball game being lost. A lead squandered. Twenty minutes of advantage-building wasted.
That is what Marquette men’s basketball’s second half start in Friday night’s 80-75 defeat against DePaul at Wintrust Arena showed.
In three minutes, it is possible for a 44-36 halftime lead to be turned into a 50-44 deficit. In three minutes, one team can score 14 points while another posts a goose egg. It takes only 180 seconds to throw away a first half of balanced and efficient scoring.
The Golden Eagles walked into the locker room with an eight-point advantage. Six different Golden Eagles posted at least five points. And they did so shooting 17-of-28 overall and 8-of-14 from beyond the arc.
Two in-game minutes later, after each team returned to the court, it was all gone. An afterthought.
The Blue Demons scored a layup after 30 seconds, a three after 45 and another on their next possession. Tie game, 44-44. The run only 8-0 by this point, a mere 2:13 into the second half, Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart called his second timeout. Trying to stop the bleeding, salvage the game before it was too late.
After drawing Xs and Os on his whiteboard, his Marquette team missed a 3-pointer and DePaul went down the other end to take a lead with an and-one layup. The Blue Demons’ offensive machine, CJ Gunn, nailed his second three of the half and the home team lead 50-44.
It was not until Caedin Hamilton made his second of two free-throws that Marquette put points on the scoreboard in the second half, changing that 44 to 45. Nearly three-and-a-half minutes had transpired, and the Golden Eagles had only one point against many bricks to show for it.
After that, the Golden Eagles could only get close. Very close, albeit.
Holding DePaul to zero field goals for the last four minutes, Marquette cut the deficit to 79-75 with 19 seconds remaining. The many fans wearing blue & gold began to believe again. But, it was not enough, as the Golden Eagles wasted another late game possession and those same fans that once believed got up to leave.
The Golden Eagles again could not put together a 40-minute winning recipe. The combination of 18 points from Nigel James Jr., 14 from Royce Parham, 13 from Chase Ross and 12 from Damarius Owens created only a nail-biting defeat.
Gunn led the Blue Demons with 31 points. He was trailed by NJ Benson’s 17.
This story was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.