With about seven minutes left in the first half between Marquette and Missouri on Sunday afternoon, Marquette was up three, 23-20, in a back-and-forth men’s basketball game where the largest margin to that point had been five points for the Golden Eagles and the Tigers hadn’t led at all since about the 15 minute mark when they were up 8-6 early. It was supposed to be a competitive basketball game between two sides looking for their first notable win of the season, but I found myself disliking how
the Golden Eagles were playing, even though they had been leading by a few points for about eight minutes of hoops. That led me to make this point in our Game Thread:
The game was, to that point, fine. Things to critique, things to like, Marquette was holding a slim lead…. but I was uneasy because I had watched Marquette play well against Michigan and then completely disappear into the earth in the final 28 minutes. The half ended tremendously well, with the Golden Eagles tacking on the final eight points of the half to make it a 15-6 burst since Mizzou had nudged back out in front by a point.
Marquette by eight at intermission, 10 on the first bucket of the second half, but slowly Missouri clawed back in. Nothing fancy, no big runs, just chipping, Marquette’s lead down to four. A bucket from Royce Parham, a free throw from Josh Clark, and two from Nolan Minessale, MU by nine. Buckets from Parham and Minessale about 90 seconds apart but back-to-back in terms of scoring, and that’s Marquette by 11, 52-41, 7:36 to go.
For whatever was causing my unease in the first half, the Golden Eagles were slowly but surely unwinding it. They were looking like the good version of themselves that we saw in the back half of last season, the type of energetic, advantageous basketball that led a lot of people, not just yours truly, to think that Marquette is, at worst, an NCAA tournament team this season, no matter what last year’s record ended up at.
And that was the last time we saw that Marquette team in this game.
10-0 run for the Tigers, make it 14-2, can I interest you in 17-3? Missouri by three, 2:38 to play. Sananda Fru was the only Marquette player to convert a field goal in there, and he fouled out of the game immediately after his bucket because he got beat to the rim by Toni Bryant with 4:14 to go and chased him and got whistled for a quite obvious foul.
Mathematically, this game was not over after Jason Crowe’s and-1 that put the Tigers up, 58-55. That’s just three points and two and a half minutes is a loooong time in basketball. But Marquette had managed just one field goal in about five minutes of game time, and I dare you to find a Marquette fan who was convinced that the Golden Eagles had the offensive capabilities to accomplish anything down the stretch.
Credit where credit is due here because Missouri was on the floor as well. It’s not like all five of them were standing in the paint with one heel on the restricted circle letting Marquette take any shot they wanted, they were out there contesting MU’s activity. From my perspective, though, Mizzou didn’t have to contest much. As their lead disappeared and the Tiger faithful in the stands got more and more boisterous, the Golden Eagles looked lost, tentative, shaken, hesitant, or at the very least playing with a lack of purpose. They built their lead with energy and vivaciousness, and they seemed to be under the impression that they could just patiently wait for the game to end.
Nope.
Marquette’s last gasp came after Royce Parham sank two free throws to tie the game at 60 with just over a minute to go. This is what I mean: This game was up for grabs. Anyone’s contest as Mizzou brought the ball up as the clock wound under a minute to go. Crowe canned a three from the wing, Nigel James committed his sixth and final turnover of the game as he got stymied trying to make literally anything happen, fell down, and lost the ball, and with under 30 seconds left, Marquette was kind of out of options.
Yes, there was hilarity at the end with Mizzou and turnovers, and sure, if Marquette had anything resembling the ability to execute a baseline in-bounds play with effectiveness, MAYBE this ends differently.
But nothing about the last 7:36 of this game said that Marquette had that ability in their back pocket here. If they did, they wouldn’t have needed to execute the BLOB.
Marquette is now 1-9 in games where Nigel James has four or more turnovers in his career.
Not to pin the entire thing on James or his 5-for-18 shooting, we should note that Royce Parham went 3-for-13 here. That’s 3-for-11 inside the arc because he missed both of his long range attempts, and this comes immediately in the wake of Parham shooting 2-for-13 against Michigan with a 2-for-10 inside the arc. Josh Clark didn’t have a single field goal attempt in his 17 minutes of action. Sananda Fru, who is being paid more by Marquette than LeBron James is being paid by the Sixers, had five points and two rebounds in 20 minutes before fouling out.
On the other side, Colin Porter hit his only shot in six minutes of play and Alex Egbuonu was 3-for-3 in the game, with all three of his attempts coming in the final three minutes of the first half. Those two guys played nine combined minutes in the second half. Guess who I’m blaming for that one?
Marquette is now 0-2 to start their six non-conference games that matter, and I would be feeling very different about both of these losses if they were “so and so hit a shot at the horn and MU loses by 1” and not both “Marquette folded like a cheap French card table.”
Highlights, such as they are, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and NBC Sports/Peacock:
Up Next: Marquette returns to action on Wednesday, which will also be their return to Fiserv Forum for the first time since the season opener. They will tangle with Northern Illinois, with tipoff on ESPN+ scheduled for 6:30pm Central. The Huskies have won three in a row, including dropping Dayton and Bellarmine on the road, to move to 3-2 on the year.
I mean this seriously, and say it in the comments so I know you read to the end: What kind of a margin of victory is acceptable for you on Wednesday, and is it less than 30?
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