No. 24 Marquette men’s basketball team had its second Big East win of the season in reach.
But foul trouble and struggles rebounding down the stretch, resulted the Golden Eagles to fall short of that in a 103-98 loss to Providence in double overtime Tuesday night at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
“This was a really, really physical Big East game and these are the type of games that our team is growing and learning how to handle,” head coach Shaka Smart told ESPN Milwaukee broadcasters Steve “The Homer” True and Tony Smith in a post-game radio interview.
Marquette (9-4, 1-1 Big East) had an eight-point lead at midway point of the second half after junior guard Tyler Kolek pulled up for a jumper and a 76-69 lead with 4:16 left to go.
Much like its three losses heading into the night, the Golden Eagles’ offense went cold in the winding minutes of the half. Against Providence, Marquette went on an near six minute scoreless drought allowing the Friars to go on a 10-1 run to take a 78-76 lead with 1:03 to go.
Sophomore forward David Joplin ended the drought for the Golden Eagles with a driving to the basket layup to tie the game at 78-78 and force overtime. Marquette turned over the ball four times in the final 6:06 of the second half.
The Friars outscored the Golden Eagles by a margin of 10-2 to start overtime forcing Smart to call a timeout.
The Kolek, who grew up 20 minutes from Providence, took over as the Cumberland, Rhode Island, native went on a personal 9-0 run over the final 1 minute and 38 seconds. Kolek buried a fadeaway jumper from mid-range to tie the game at 89 with 5.8 seconds remaining in the first overtime period.
“Thought our guys showed a ton of fight to force the second overtime after being down,” Smart said to True and Smith.
Kolek finished with a career-high 29 points and five steals as he fouled out with 3:18 remaining in the second extra period.
The Golden Eagles took a 93-92 lead on a layup and an AND-one free-throw from sophomore guard Kam Jones. Joplin then extended the Marquette advantage to 96-93 with a 3-pointer but Providence junior guard Alyn Breed responded with a triple of his own.
Providence sealed the game from the charity stripes as Bryce Hopkins, Ed Croswell and Breed hit five free-throws in the final seconds to pull out the upset victory.
The Friars shot 49 free throws compared to the Golden Eagles’ 19.
The disparity caused frustration in Smart.
“We still got some rest to go take,” Smart said to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Ben Steele after the game. “We had a chance to win this game and they shot 30 more free throws than us. Tyler Kolek’s a really good player. Oso Ighodaro, Kam Jones. But we got to go take the respect that we want. No one is going to give it to us. Clearly. So that’s on us.”
With the loss, Marquette missed an opportunity to move to 2-0 in Big East play for the first time since 2012-13, when the Golden Eagles won the Big East Regular Season Title.
“Thought we showed some youth at times today and let’s be honest, we still have a little ways to go in terms of getting to the point where we got five guys out there that are grizzled veterans in those type of moments and have brought those type of games home,” Smart said to True and Smith.
The Friars out-rebounded the Golden Eagles by a margin of 48-33. Providence also dished seven more assists than Marquette.
Thirty of Marquette’s 33 first-half points from the field came in the paint and it finished with 62 points for the game. The Golden Eagles’ first 20 points of the night came in the paint.
Smart said despite offensive struggles throughout the night, it was an overall “really good” offensive showing from his team.
“We had a couple stretches, one in the first half, and then the one that hurt us the most was in the second half when we got the nine point lead without eight minutes left. We really struggled to score,” Smart said to True and Smith.
“And if you get to the foul line a couple times and if you can put a couple of those away, you probably win the game in regulation. They (Providence) got extra physical, they added to their physicality. We didn’t get any calls. But in those type of moments, you’ve gotta take it upon yourself to continue moving and creating actions for each other. Thought we got stagnant and tried to play too much one-on-one.”
Marquette (9-4, 1-1 Big East) will now head into the Christmas holiday break. The Golden Eagles will be back at it next Tuesday when they host Seton Hall at Fiserv Forum. That matchup will tip-off at 7 p.m. CST on FS1.
This article was written by John Leuzzi. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JohnLeuzziMU.