It is the same Marquette men’s basketball team.
No matter how many 3-pointers the Golden Eagles drain in however efficient a manner, regardless of the newfound emergence of players once better known for not meeting expectations, despite their best win of the season coming four days prior.
This is still the same Marquette that is winless on the road, with a now 8-15 and 3-9 conference record, whose fans think primarily about future seasons, having almost entirely written this one off. The Marquette that throws away advantages in the second half, gets dominated on the boards and hampers itself with turnovers and missed free throws.
That is why Saturday’s 69-64 loss at Seton Hall (16-6, 6-5 Big East) was what it was, despite what the Golden Eagles accomplished in the opening 20 minutes.
In the first half, if ideas some kind of roster shake up occurred seeped into the minds of those watching Marquette, it would be an understandable mistake.
The Golden Eagles went into the locker room having hit as many threes as their average across 40 minutes, and at a 66.7% clip (8-of-12), and from the hands of six different players. They led 41-33 and looked like a new team that truly turned a corner.
Alas, it had not, and Seton Hall did what it has done to many other teams this season, and Marquette let it happen.
“They have a unique ability to ramp up their energy at certain points in the game,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said in his postgame radio interview. “And when that happens, you have to match or exceed it.”
The Golden Eagles had a lot of trouble matching, let alone exceeding, right out of the locker room. The Pirates opened the second half with a 12-3 run, ending the streak with a layup that marked their first lead of the afternoon, 45-44, with 14:42 remaining.
While Marquette did not let the game get out of hand, it also never offset Seton Hall’s opening five minutes. The Golden Eagles’ last time leading was 46-45, when Chase Ross stopped the bleeding with a layup the subsequent possession.
“I thought our guys showed some resistance,” Smart said. “It’s a tie game [at the final media timeout], but we didn’t make them miss enough.”
They continuously tied the game, but could not retake the advantage, some mistake stopping any chance at doing so.
After tying it 49-49, Marquette got a stop and went down the floor, just to turn it over. With 4:08 to go, the Golden Eagles tied it, 60-60, and forced a Pirates timeout, but missed a jumper to take the lead. Royce Parham got an and-one layup with 1:46 left, but clanked the free throw to keep the score tied, 64-64.
Seton Hall then went down and scored a three, and Marquette responded with another turnover, its final of a game full of them.
“We weren’t far away,” Smart said. “But at the same time, there’s a lot of things we’ll look at — 16 turnovers, some loose balls, some execution down the stretch — where we need to get better.”
After scoring 41 points in the opening 20 minutes, Marquette dropped only 23 in the final 20. After shooting 53.6% in the first half, it shot only 39.1% in the second. Two Golden Eagles — Nigel James Jr. and Parham — went into the locker room with double-digit points, but once they came back onto the floor, none added more than seven, and three provided less than five.
“When we watch the tape, we’re going to see a lot of times where the ball handler needed to make a different decision,” Smart said about the second half struggles. “Find an open teammate and then attack a 2-on-1 on the perimeter.”
Conversely, Seton Hall went from shooting 45.2% in the first to 57.7% in the second. The same Pirates who got out-rebounded 17-12 the first period, dominated the glass 20-8 in the second. Budd Clark went into halftime with only four points, before finishing with a game-most 19.
“We got to guard the paint better. You got to guard the 3-point line, and you got to guard the paint, and you have to rebound,” Smart said. “Some timely second chance points for them in the second half were backbreakers.”
This story was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.