For the third game in a row on its home floor, Marquette men’s basketball (4-3) and its opponent were within single digits of each other with five minutes to go. But unlike the last two times — against Maryland and Dayton — this dogfight was against a low major opponent.
Also unlike the previous two times, though, the Golden Eagles got the win over the Central Michigan Chippewas, 85-71. Definitely not convincing, but given how ropey the last seven days have been, they’ll take any victory they get.
“They wouldn’t go away,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. “It was a good rep for us as a team to work on closing out a game.”
Rising back to a winning record, the Golden Eagles’ main highlights came in the closing act, where a standout scoring effort from senior guard Chase Ross paired with a late Chippewas (2-4) scoring drought propelled Marquette to its first victory in 10 days.
As the time winded down well into the second half, it was clear that the Chippewas would not be going anywhere. They shot 16-for-36 (44.4%) in the first 20 minutes and always loomed within striking distance.
That was until the final five minutes, in which Central Michigan scored zero points for over four minutes and missed seven of its last eight shots. Marquette’s defense in that stretch allowed senior forward Ben Gold to secure the win with a 3-pointer at the 1:03 mark, before first-year guard Adrien Stevens added a punctuation mark of a three in the waning seconds.
“Deflections were a big part of those four minutes,” said Stevens. “They really do change the game.”
With only two steals and 15 deflections in the first half, that one portion of the matchup turned it on its head and enabled the Golden Eagles’ offense to operate with a serious cushion as they pulled away from the Chippewas.
Chase Ross drove that offensive run to cap off one of his most efficient showings of the season, scoring 27 points on 7-of-8 shooting. He also had five rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
“He’s an efficient player and he just makes the right plays,” Stevens said. “You just can’t ask for much more from a guy that’s in that role.”
The rest of the young Golden Eagles, largely in new, expanded roles, have fallen victim to up-and-down play over the first seven games. It’s part of why Central Michigan hung around as long as it did and Marquette seldom lead by more than single-digits over the 40 minutes.
“At first media (timeout), I told the guys during the timeout, I said ‘The good news is we’re on pace to score 100 points, the bad news is so are they,’” Smart said. “With a team like that, they were making some tough shots, but they kind of had a rhythm about them and had some confidence driving the ball.”
But Smart, as he has done in buy games against lower-rated teams, leaned into his depth, even in unsettled stretches. The likes of first years Joshua Clark and Michael Phillips saw extended minutes in key minutes during both halves.
“I was struggling in the first half,” said Phillips. “Coach stuck with me and kept telling me I’d be okay and I came in down the stretch and helped out.”
Marquette now looks ahead to its next game on Black Friday against Oklahoma in Chicago, Illinois. It will be the Golden Eagles’ next chance to win a match against a high major, something they have failed to do once this year.
“There’s a lot of game adversity that occurs. In those last couple games, I didn’t think we handled the game adversity great,” Smart said.
“We’re however many days into the season and we have a real opportunity to grow. It’s really incumbent on us to determine our own ceiling and our own opportunity. Not let anyone else determine that for us.”
This article was written by Eamon Bevan. He can be reached at eamon.bevan@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @EamonBevanMU.