After having six days in between his teams 103-98 double overtime loss to Providence, head coach Shaka Smart’s message was simple heading into the game against Seton Hall; bring the Energy Generating Behaviors.
“Our theme for the game was EGB’s, we challenged our guys from the opening tip to the final buzzer to get 3,000 thousand as a team,” Smart told ESPN Milwaukee broadcasters Steve “The Homer” True and Tony Smith in a post-game radio interview. “We hadn’t in a game had more than 1,500, we needed to double our all-time best and we got 3,046.”
The Golden Eagles did just that Tuesday night inside Fiserv Forum as they used all 3,046 of those EGBs to improve to 2-1 in Big East play with a 83-69 victory over the Pirates.
Both sides got off to a slow start with Marquette leading 6-5 heading into the under-16 media timeout. Then the Golden Eagles’ offense found some momentum going on a 10-0 run to force Pirates head coach Shaheen Holloway.
Seton Hall rattled off an extended 9-0 run of its own out of the media timeout to tie the game at 16-16 with 9:07 left to play in the first half.
First-year guard Chase Ross hit a 3-pointer heading into the under-eight media timeout to capitalize a 15-4 run for Marquette as it opened up the game 34-20.
Marquette forced three turnovers during that run, forcing another timeout from Seton Hall.
However, Holloway’s team would respond yet again ending the half on a 12-2 run before sophomore forward David Joplin hit a buzzer-beater three to give Marquette a 39-32 lead heading into the locker room.
Junior forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper went 4-for-4 from the field, scoring nine points in the first half. Junior forward Oso Ighodaro added eight points himself.
The Golden Eagles were able to force seven turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action, resulting in 11 points.
Marquette continued its momentum in the second half as it hit four of its seven shots to extend the lead to 47-35 heading into the first media timeout.
Despite both sides trading baskets for the majority of the second half, Marquette kept Seton Hall at arm’s length, leading by double digits almost the whole way.
The Golden Eagles’ largest lead would get up to 19 points thanks to a steal from sophomore guard Stevie Mitchell who would finish the layup in transition.
After starting the night 0-f0r-3, first-year guard Sean Jones knocked down three straight shots from beyond the arc giving Marquette a 69-54 lead with 7:13 left in the game.
Seton Hall would try to make things interesting down the stretch, going on an 11-2 run to cut the lead down to 10 points, but it wasn’t enough as Marquette would take care of business, winning 83-69.
Ighodaro would finish the night as the leading scorer with 16 points, adding 10 rebounds, four assists, and three blocks.
Junior guard Tyler Kolek finished the night with eight assists, three steals and three rebounds while not committing a single turnover.
Dre Davis would led Seton Hall with 15 points after junior guard Kadary Richmond was held scoreless in the second half. Richmond finished the game with nine points on 4-for-12 shooting.
Even with getting outrebounded 34-29, the Golden Eagles won the turnover battle 15-7 and scored 18 points from those turnovers.
“I thought our guys did a great job of getting their hands on the ball, Stevie (Mitchell) led the way with that,” Smart said. “He brought great energy, you’re talking about a guy with a 4.0 grade point average and six classes and brings that type of energy and focus to the team.”
The Golden Eagles received 28 points from its bench on the night, the fifth-highest the bench has scored this season.
Marquette (10-4, 2-1) will be back in action on New Year’s Eve as it will travel to Finneran Pavilion to take on the Villanova Wildcats for a 1 p.m. CST showdown.
This article was written by Jackson Gross. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JacksonGrossMU.
