It was a holiday stinker Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center as Seton Hall thrashed Marquette, 83-63, in the BIG EAST conference opener.
Seton Hall outscored Marquette 44-23 in the second half en route to its second consecutive win in Milwaukee. All five starters – all sophomores – scored in the double digits for the Pirates, including 17 points and 10 rebounds from guard Khadeen Carrington. Guard Isaiah Whitehead had 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
“I thought we played young tonight,” Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “Our offense affected our defense, and that’s a sign of immaturity.
In his first BIG EAST contest, freshman phenom Henry Ellenson faceplanted when matched up against Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado and Ismael Sanogo. Ellenson was completely overpowered on the offensive end and looked timid under the basket defensively. In front of 17 NBA scouts from 12 teams, he finished with 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting and 14 rebounds. Redshirt junior Luke Fischer was contained for 12 points and nine rebounds.
“You’ve got to play through contact,” Wojciechowski said. “(Ellenson and Fischer) have a lot of responsibilities and teams game plan to try to take them away. They were getting some really good looks at the basket that just didn’t go down.”
The Pirates jumped out to a 17-6 lead through 5:18, but Marquette responded with a 15-2 run midway through the half. Freshman Haanif Cheatham led the charge, getting to the basket at will, and he led the Golden Eagles with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first half. Marquette led 40-39 at halftime.
After the break, Seton Hall adjusted well to Marquette’s plan to attack the basket. To make matters worse, the Golden Eagles couldn’t buy a shot from outside the paint – they scored just seven points from outside the lane in the game. The combination of porous outside shooting and inefficiency from Ellenson and Fischer in the lane was ultimately Marquette’s demise, and the team was held to just 25.8 percent shooting in the second half. The team had only 10 assists on 24 made field goals and committed 18 turnovers.
Marquette will now head to the east coast for two pivotal games, first against Georgetown Saturday followed by No. 12 Providence next week.
“Every game is a crossroad in the BIG EAST and every game is going to be a battle,” Wojciechowski said. “We’ve got to grow up.”
Game Notes:
- The loss snapped Marquette’s nine-game winning streak. The team last lost on Nov. 19 – a 28-point loss to Iowa.
- Seton Hall out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 49-33, including 16 offensive rebounds.
- Marquette didn’t score a point outside the paint until the 10:29 mark in the second half on a field goal just outside the low block by Duane Wilson, on which he was fouled. He missed the ensuing free throw.
- Sophomore Sandy Cohen and freshman Traci Carter combined for zero points on 0-for-5 shooting with four turnovers in 31 minutes.
- Seton Hall’s Desi Rodriguez scored a career-high 19 points, including 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
