As I type this sentence, the horn just sounded for the end of Marquette’s 79-59 loss to #6 Purdue. That doesn’t come close to explaining what happened in this game, as the Boilermakers were up 77-47 with less than four minutes left. The Golden Eagles threw a 12-0 run at Matt Painter’s team after the thing was long since over.
When was it over? Probably about the moment that Purdue wrapped up their 12-0 run in the first half that left them up 21-8. The margin fell back into single digits for precisely
59 seconds later in the first half, and the Boilermakers answered that with a 9-0 run that nearly ended the half until a Ben Gold bucket right before the horn made it 37-21 at intermission.
That 16 point distance would be the closest that the Golden Eagles got for the entire final 20 minutes, getting back there on an Adrien Stevens and-1 early in the half, but then handing that and-1 right back on the other end made it 19 again. Oscar Cluff scored with 16:36 to play, making it a 21 point game, and until Marquette’s pointless end of game run, the lead was never less than 20.
There’s nothing to take away from this game. Marquette stuck their face into a woodchipper and the woodchipper ripped them up. The end.
I do want to point this out: Chase Ross subbed out with 7:59 left to play and Marquette down 29. Adrien Stevens left with 7:25 to go. Ben Gold left the floor with 9:24 to go. None of those guys came back into the game. Nigel James subbed back into the contest with about four minutes left to go because Sean Jones had played the last four minutes and someone’s gotta play point guard.
Other than James catching the business end of a rotation, Shaka Smart said “yeah, we’re done here” with eight minutes to play and went the rest of the way — other than James — with a collection of guys that, to this point of the season, haven’t proven that they belong in the circle of trust. You can take whatever you want to take from the fact that they held the line between when Ross checked out and right before the meaningless 12-0 run started. It was 29 points when Chase checked out, it was 30 points when the run started just over four minutes later.
For the record: Royce Parham and Michael Phillips are the only players that scored in the closing stretch. Does that mean anything? Hard to say for certain.
Highlights, such as they are, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and Peacock:
Up Next: First we watch to see of Marquette slips outside the KenPom top 100. In the immediate wake of the loss, they have fallen from #92 to #98, but MU won’t play again til Wednesday.
That game on Wednesday will be the Big East opener, and it will be Georgetown at home to get things started. Tipoff on that one is set for 7:30pm Central time, and FS1 will have the broadcast. The Hoyas are 6-3 on the year with losses in three of their last four as I type this, but they’re up nine on Saint Peter’s at home with six minutes left in the second half, too.
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