DALLAS — They sounded like an alarm.

Ringing for 40 minutes, only with no snooze button in sight to silence the painful knells.

The endless sounds of clanks reverberated around the American Airlines Center for the entirety of Marquette men’s basketball’s 67-58 loss to NC State in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament Friday night.

A shot would go up. It would ring around the rim. It would bounce out into the safe hands of whichever Wolfpack player was closest. 

Rinse and repeat, the Golden Eagles couldn’t make anything stick.

40 minutes of misses. 40 minutes of clanks.

A snooze button-less alarm clock. 

In a game whose mere existence had the preponderance of Marquette Nation in full belief that the years of March doldrums were behind them, the reality turned out to be the harsh opposite. 

It was the opportunity for Marquette to make right what the last decade made wrong.

A win would be a sign that past sins had been forgiven. That after 11 years, the Golden Eagles were back on the good side of the March Madness Gods. 

Alas, it was not meant to be. 

No Elite Eight appearance. No more Final Four dreams. Nothing on the upcoming schedule except a likely silent flight back to Milwaukee. 

The Golden Eagles held their heads low as they sulked off the court.

Kam Jones was in tears. Tyler Kolek ripped his jersey in anguish.

Everyone in that locker room knew they could’ve done more. That there were bread crumbs still sitting on the table after the final buzzer rang.

27 breadcrumbs, to be precise, the exact number of 3-pointers Marquette missed in its worst offensive performance of the season.

When their offense needed to be at its best to handle the Wolfpack’s firepower, the Golden Eagles shot a dreadful 33.3% (20-for-60) overall and 12.9% (4-for-31) from beyond the arc. 

Only Jones hit more than one 3-pointer, yet he finished 3-for-12 on them. Without Jones, only one Golden Eagle would’ve nailed a single three in Kolek (1-for-5). The rest went a combined 0-for-14. 

Alarms normally wake people from their nightmares. The one haunting the Golden Eagles Friday acted different. 

Not as a wake-up call, but as a reminder the only silencing of the basketball’s rim-hitting tolls was going to be the death of the season.

This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.