Once again turnovers proved to be the Golden Eagles’ demise, falling to Seton Hall 70-63 in Marquette’s BIG EAST home opener.
This is Marquette’s eighth loss at Fiserv Forum since it replaced the BMO Harris Bradley Center during the 2018-19 season. The team went 16-3 at home in the 2018-19 season, 13-3 at home in the 2019-20 season and MU’s only other loss this season was a 70-62 decision to Oklahoma State Dec. 1.
Despite an 11-point Golden Eagles comeback, the Pirates’ Shavar Reynolds scored seven of SHU’s last nine points to secure Seton Hall’s fourth consecutive win.
MU’s total of 14 turnovers, including nine in the first half, led to 17 easy points for Seton Hall.
GAME MVP:
Seton Hall senior forward Sandro Mamukelashvili was efficient on both sides of the ball as he sliced through Marquette’s defense and racked up points for the Pirates.
“He’s one of the best players in the U.S.,” Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski said.
At the half, he was tied with Jared Rhoden for a team and game-high of eight points. He also added four assists, three rebounds and two dunks.
The 6-foot-11 forward from Tbilisi, Georgia finished with a game-high 17 points on 6-for-16 shooting, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals in 39 minutes.
Mamukelashvili’s seventh assist to Reynolds helped put the Pirates up 64-61 with 40 seconds remaining.
“I thought the best thing he did was his unselfishness,” Wojciechowski said. “He found his teammates and to his teammates credit, they hit big shots.”
NOTES:
- Both teams’ offenses struggled in the first half, with Seton Hall shooting 43% and Marquette at 41%.
- At the 13:51 mark in the first half, the Pirates shot 5-for-11 from the field and the Golden Eagles were only 2-for-9.
- The first field goal for MU in the second half didn’t occur until Justin Lewis’s jumper with 17:28 remaining in the game.
- Sophomore guard D.J. Carton, who scored a career-high 20 points against Creighton on Monday, was scoreless until the 4:32 mark in the first half, when he dunked.
- Carton’s back-to-back 3-pointers tied the game at 61, after Marquette was down by 11 points.
- Though Koby McEwen made the 3-pointer that would have tied the game at 64 with 27 seconds remaining, he was called for a travel.
- Seton Hall made nine 3-pointers and shot at a 43% clip.
- The Golden Eagles made all eight free throws, while the Pirates went 15-for-18 from the charity stripe.
- Marquette outrebounded Seton Hall 38-29 and won the battle down low with 26 points in the paint.
- Seton Hall possessed the lead for 37:15, which was 93.1% of the game.
- SHU had 15 bench points and four players scored in double figures.
NEXT UP:
Marquette (5-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) travels to Cintas Center Sunday at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.
This story was written by Zoe Comerford. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @zoe_comerford.
