After St. John’s went up 22-13 about midway through the first half on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum, the remainder of the first 20 minutes struck a note of “well, Marquette’s not going away.” The Golden Eagles immediately answered the Johnnies 7-0 run with one of their own to knock the margin back down to two, and they just kept responding when the Johnnies got a couple of points together. It started to get shaky in the final two minutes as a Joson Sanon triple bumped the lead to 10, the largest
of the game, or rather, the largest of the game until a bucket from Bryce Hopkins made it an 11 point game, 44-33, just 51 seconds later.
However, the last bucket of the first half was a Nigel James jumper in the paint, so it was Marquette down nine at intermission which sounds not terrible against the #17 team in the country. However, since MU had locked down Zuby Ejiofor, perhaps the leading Big East Player of the Year candidate, to just one free throw and two assists with no rebounds in the first half, trailing by nine kind of felt like it was bad news for the Golden Eagles.
Except……
Except the James jumper ended up being the first two points in a 13-0 run bridging halftime, and when capped with a Chase Ross triple, Marquette was now leading St. John’s, 46-44, with 15:43 to go. After the Johnnies tipped it back in their favor, a 7-0 Marquette run with two buckets from James and [checks notes] an and-1 from Tre Norman? That actually happened? Huh. Where was I? Oh, right, a 7-0 Marquette run had the Golden agles leading 56-50 with under 12 minutes left.
And that’s where the wheels fell off.
Remember when I mentioned the Norman and-1? That was Marquette’s last non-Nigel James points until two free throws from Chase Ross with 3:54 left. In the meantime: 18-5 St. John’s, yes, two buckets by James as Marquette’s only scoring in there. St. John’s by seven, 4:10 left.
Before Adrien Stevens snapped the “only Nigel gets field goals” streak AT OVER 10 MINUTES OF GAME TIME — St. John’s had outscored Marquette 21-7. That’s 11:54 through 1:05, two Nigel buckets and two Ross free throws and THAT’S IT for MU down the stretch.
Now, yes, somehow, in complete defiance of probability, Marquette had a chance to win. Thin and narrow and they needed help after a James and-1 with 27 seconds cut the margin to just two, a place it had no business being. However, that meant fouling, and even though the Golden Eagles snagged Ejiofor, who is shooting under 70% on the year, he made them both, and after Ross rimmed out a layup, that was that.
Speaking of Chase Ross.
In the 10 minute stretch that cost Marquette the game: 0-3 from the field on his way to a 2-for-9 night. Six rebounds and four assists and two steals, sure. But his shooting was nowhere to be seen in this game, and he came up very not helpful at the high leverage moments that Marquette needed him most.
I make this point that he was not good here because Nigel James had 25 points, four rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal with 11-for-21 shooting. Also, Ben Gold had seven points and 10 rebounds. Also, Royce Parham had 13 points and four rebounds in a foul-hampered 29 minutes. On a night where Marquette was maybe on the edge of tilting over and getting the best win of the year, Ross was unable to help his younger teammates with a positive contribution, and especially unable when it mattered the most.
By the way, Zuby Ejiofor? Finished with 10 points, six rebounds, two assists, three blocks, and a steal in 30 minutes. That didn’t matter much because Bryce Hopkins ran wild for 23 points and 10 rebounds and Ejiofor did most of his damage after intermission when Marquette had a chance to do something thrilling, but I would have signed for that line from him before the game, no questions asked.
Highlights, such as they are, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and TNT Sports:
Up Next: Marquette will have to wait about a week to snap this three game losing streak, and to do it, they’ll have to win away from Fiserv for the first time this season. Their next game is coming up on Tuesday, February 24, when they visit Georgetown. Tipoff is set for 6pm Central time, and Peacock will have the broadcast. The Hoyas have lost three straight themselves after losing 93-89 at Butler on Wednesday to drop to 5-10 in the league, and they will visit Seton Hall on Saturday before MU comes to town.
