Tuesday night was nearly Marquette men’s basketball’s newest low in a season already chock-full of them.
The Golden Eagles this year have lost two-straight home games for the first time since Shaka Smart became head coach. They sit 0-3 against high major opponents, not including a home loss to Dayton. They have squandered two separate end-of-regulation, game-winning possessions despite calling a timeout to draw up a desired play.
But the almost-disaster that happened inside Fiserv Forum against buy game opponent Valparaiso (5-3) would have been the cherry on top of the disheartening sundae that has been Marquette’s 2025-26 season.
The Golden Eagles (5-4) walked away with a 75-72 win, though, despite needing an extra five minutes in overtime to do so. When the final buzzer rang after the Beacons’ final 3-point attempt missed, everyone in the blue & gold probably sighed the deepest sigh in the history of sighs.
The reason they sighed, with Marquette having been narrowly saved from its first buy game loss under Smart, was because of a late-game comeback and important free-throw executions.
Having not led since the score was 19-17 in the first half, the Golden Eagles overcame the Beacons’ efficient second-half shooting — 16-for-27 and 3-for-6 from deep — by making 5 of their 7 3-pointers and locking down defensively in the final moments. Marquette held Valparaiso scoreless over the final three-plus minutes and used a 6-0 run to force overtime.
“We shot the ball a lot better, but we were behind the entire half,” Smart said. “And you could feel it like, ‘Man, when are we going to take this lead?’”
The Golden Eagles had a chance to do exactly that in the final possession, but they again wasted it, this time with a Chase Ross turnover. It was the third time they have not converted at the end of regulation, and the second they could not get even a shot up.
Once the game went to overtime, Marquette continued to hit free-throws, going 8-for-8 from the stripe in the extra period. First-year Nigel James Jr., who led in scoring with 21 points, accounted for half of the makes.
“I remember I missed three earlier in the game,” James Jr. said. “I was just like, it is what it is. Just next play mentality, go out there. I rep it all the time, so it’s nothing different.”
After more examples of Marquette’s well-documented offensive issues in the first half — it shot 9-of-31 (29%) and 1-of-13 (7.7%) from deep — the Golden Eagles began trying to draw fouls, and made 15 of 18 free throws in the second half before its 100% mark in overtime.
“The foul line won us the game,” Smart said.
It needed to, because the shooting was not getting it done. Marquette did not make a 3-pointer until the 3:33 mark of the first half after starting 0-for-10.
The Golden Eagles forced 13 turnovers, grabbed eight steals and forced the Beacons to shoot 37% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc, but their offense again made waste of the extra possessions and they trailed 27-23 at halftime.
“That was one of the worst offensive halves that we’ve played,” Smart said.
But, thanks to its free-throws and second half shooting, Marquette overcame the sluggish start and avoided its worst defeat in the Smart era. The blue & gold cannot sigh for long, though, as it has what might be its toughest stretch this season when it travels to Wisconsin on Saturday and No. 1 Purdue Dec. 13 before beginning Big East play.
“The main thing for us is not looking too far ahead,” senior forward Ben Gold, who scored 17 points, said. “We take it one game at a time, one day at a time, so the next matchup is Wisconsin. We got to do what we have to do. Stay within our building and just compete.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.