It was a special night for the Marquette men’s basketball program.
The program honored the 20th Anniversary of the 2003 Final Four team with the entire team and head coach Tom Crean in attendance.
With legendary Golden Eagles sitting court side, the current No. 20 ranked Marquette team took care of business defeating the No. 22 ranked Providence Friars 83-75.
The win moves Marquette into second place in the Big East conference.
Here is a breakdown of the Golden Eagles’ win:
Game MVP:
Sophomore guard Kam Jones had a dominant second half performance with 18 points in the final 20 minutes, shooting 8-for-14 from field and 4-for-8 from beyond the arc on the night.
The Memphis, Tennessee native finished netting a game-high 21 points and grabbing a team-high three steals to go along with three assists and four rebounds.
“He’s just more assertive. Even one point he motioned over me, wanted to run a specific out of bounds play that gets him a shot, he never really does that,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “He holds himself to a really high standard, and he wants to help his team. He’s really connected with his teammates.”
This season, Jones has averaged 16.1 points per game.
Stats:
- In the first half, Marquette was out-rebounded 18-13 by Providence.
- Both the Golden Eagles and the Friars shot 14-for-29 from the field in the first half, an equal 48.3%. However, Marquette shot 4-for-9 from deep, nailing two more than Providence, which shot 2-for-9.
- In the opening 20 minutes, the Golden Eagles went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe compared to the Friars who went 1-for-3.
- Marquette’s largest scoring lead of the night was 14 points which came at the 15:01 mark of the second half.
- The Golden Eagles collected nine steals in the game while holding the Friars to two.
Notes:
- Providence scored zero bench points in the first half compared to Marquette’s seven.
- Only sophomore forward Bryce Hopkins scored double-digit points for the Friars in the opening frame with 13 points.
- Marquette earned its 32 deflection goal in the final 20 minutes of the game.
- All of Jones’ rebounds came from the defensive end of the court.
Quote of the Day:
Jones said that before the game, Dwyane Wade went and talked to the team.
“He (Wade) was talking about how Marquette basketball embodies playing together, relationships and doing everything for each other,” Jones said. “I think we carry that culture pretty well.”
Next Up:
Marquette (15-5, 7-2 Big East) will travel to South Orange, New Jersey to face the Seton Hall Pirates (12-8, 5-4) Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. CST.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached [email protected] or on Twitter @JackAlbrightMU.
