It was a night of firsts for the No. 11 Marquette men’s basketball team.
On top of claiming sole possession of first place in the Big East with its 69-68 win over No. 16 Xavier, it is the first time Marquette has beaten every conference team at least once in a single season since joining the conference in 2006.
Here is a breakdown of Marquette’s win:
GAME MVP:
Sophomore guard Stevie Mitchell brought the EGB’s on the court for Marquette Tuesday as he finished with a career-high six steals, several of which led to fast break buckets.
On top of his defensive efforts, Mitchell led all Marquette scorers with 17 points and gathered four rebounds, three of which came on the offensive glass.
“Stevie is one of a kind. He deserves a lot of credit for guarding Boum all night,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “He had the internal fortitude to not get down after a bucket and try to win the next play.”
KEY STATS
- Xavier opened up the scoring, going on an 11-0 run between the under-16 and under-12 timeouts. The Musketeers connected on 5-of-8 from the field in that stretch.
- After going the first twelve minutes with eight points, Marquette closes the first half on a 16-9 run, making it a four-point game at halftime; 28-24 Xavier.
- Xavier, who entered the night as the second-best 3-point shooting team according to Kenpom.com, scored 20 of its 28 first half points inside the paint as it shot 2-for-21 from beyond the arc. The Musketeers finished 7-for-19 from the 3-point line on the night.
- Junior guard Tyler Kolek led all players with six rebounds in the first half. He finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
- Marquette out-rebounded Xavier 36-32 on the night. Of their 36 boards, 15 were offensive rebounds.
- The Golden Eagles scored 15 points off of second chance opportunities.
- Marquette had 21 points off of Xavier’s 17 turnovers. Marquette only had seven turnovers, which Xavier scored six points off of.
NOTES:
- The Musketeers are dealing with injuries from Desmond Claude, Kam Craft, and Zach Freemantle, leaving Xavier with a shortened rotation. KyKy Tandy and Cesar Edwards contributed a combined four points, two rebounds, an assist, and a block in their expanded roles for this game.
- Marquette reached its goal of 32 deflections in the second half.
- Senior guard Souley Boum led all scorers with 24 and was one of four in double figures for the Musketeers. He went 10-for-15 from the field and 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.
- Junior forward Oso Ighodaro played the whole second half for Marquette and only sat for 1:54 of the game. He finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Mitchell recapped his point-of-view from the waning seconds and Prosper’s tip-in.
“We all know Kam gets buckets; I thought he was going to make it, and then I saw O-Max roll in, and I was like, yes O-Max,” Mitchell said. “Then I saw the clock and knew we had to get a stop.”
NEXT UP:
Marquette will have the weekend off as its next game isn’t until Feb. 21 at No. 18 Creighton. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CST at the CHI Health Center.
This article was written by Trevor Hilson. He can be reached at [email protected] or @hilsontrevor on Twitter.
