Coach Buzz Williams’s yellow blazer couldn’t will the Golden Eagles to victory on Al’s Night Tuesday as the men lost to St. John’s 80-68 – Marquette’s first double-digit loss this season.
Williams apologized to the legacy of former Marquette coach Al McGuire and his family in attendance Tuesday night for the way that his team played. He said his team didn’t play well “at all.”
Marquette won the battle of the boards, 33-32, and attempted more free throws, 32-31, than St. John’s. Those two statistics usually signal a Marquette victory, but 18 turnovers – a season high – were too much to overcome, according to senior forward Jimmy Butler.
“We turned the ball over way more than we planned to,” Butler said. “Careless turnovers, some passive turnovers, and I think if we’re going to beat anybody we can’t have 18 turnovers.”
“It’s just statistically almost impossible to turn the ball over 18 times (to win) when you only get 46 shots,” Williams said. “It puts a lot of pressure on your offense.”
After a 38-38 stalemate in the first half, Marquette opened the second half on a 7-0 run after an emphatic dunk from redshirt sophomore center Chris Otule, and things started to look up.
But then St. John’s coach Steve Lavin called a timeout. That timeout was the catalyst to a 26-10 run by the Red Storm over the next 9:17, which featured seven Marquette turnovers – a run that put Marquette too far behind the eight ball to comeback.
Lavin said he used the timeout to “put the light under their fanny.”
“In the Big East, if you come out lackadaisical you will get your fanny handed to you,” Lavin said. “I wasn’t talking about made shots or missed shots, I was just talking about competing.”
Lavin credited his defensive swarm and aggressiveness over that stretch as the keys to opening up the game.
During that run, St. John’s scored many of its points in or around the paint and outscored Marquette in that area 38-22 for the game and 22-8 in the second half.
“I thought in the second half we were more aggressive at getting into the lane, more aggressive at the rim and then our defense really picked up,” Lavin said. “You could see the feet moving quicker and our rotations were faster, and we had higher hands on closeouts and we were collapsing and swarming to the paint for rebounds, which led to the run-outs.”
The one bright spot for Marquette may have been Butler. He paced Marquette with 23 points and added seven rebounds.
But early in the game it looked as if the night would belong to junior guard Darius Johnson-Odom, who had four free throw attempts within the first five minutes of action. He finished with only 14 points after posting eight in the first half.
As the game winded down, students could be heard chanting “NIT,” suggesting that Marquette’s run of NCAA Tournament appearances would end. The Golden Eagles, as of Friday, were still an NCAA Tournament team, according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi.
“I don’t know what it takes to get to the tournament, but I know you got to win games,” Butler said.
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