The No. 10 Golden Eagles needed the win they got Tuesday night.
After all, their performance against the Xavier Musketeers Saturday afternoon was less than ideal. They shot 37 percent from the field, trailed by as many as 19 points and failed to complete the second-half comeback, losing by two points.
But Tuesday was an entirely different story.
Marquette (16-3, 7-1 Big East) looked like itself again. Its defense was lethal in the first half, its offense rolled in the second frame and Kam Jones found his spark as it defeated Seton Hall (6-13, 1-7 Big East) 76-59 at the Prudential Center.
“Our theme of the game was gift of desperation,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart told ESPN Milwaukee broadcasters Steve “The Homer” True and Tony Smith in a post-game radio interview. “We felt like we better have that coming off a loss. We have high character guys. They always come together in moments like that, and they do a good job with that, and tonight was no different.”
When shots were not falling for the Golden Eagles in the first half, they banded together and created havoc on defense. In the first frame alone, they earned 16 points off 14 forced turnovers and corralled 10 steals.
Jones, senior guard Stevie Mitchell and junior guard Chase Ross combined for 12 of Marquette’s 18 steals on the night.
“Our guys set a really good tone defensively in the first half,” Smart said. “That was a huge emphasis for us coming out of the last game… We felt like last time out, we allowed what happened on the offensive end to impact our defensive energy, and that’s just not who we want to be.
“We had three guys with double-figure deflections, which is huge for us — Stevie, Chase and Kam. I thought those guys all had really good defensive intensity and defensive focus.”
Despite going 0-for-12 from the floor to close the first half, Marquette had a 12-point lead at the break and was not ready to take its foot off the gas pedal just yet.
Enter Kam Jones.
Heading into the matchup, the Memphis, Tennessee native was just 9-for-46 from 3-point range in Big East play. He netted nine points in the first half and went 3-for-7 from the field.
But in the first part of the final half, Jones looked like his old self again. In 4:37, he earned 10 points and went 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.
He finished with 19 points on 4-for-6 shooting from triple land in 27 minutes of action. Jones is now third all-time at Marquette with 285 3-pointers, passing Travis Diener (284).
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“This was one of Kam’s better games all around,” Smart said. “I thought offensively, he did a nice job managing the game, got going and made some threes, which was nice because he’s been cold from out there the last few games. And then again, his defensive activity was impressive.”
The bench saw extended minutes after the Golden Eagles got up to a 27-point lead at the 9:00 mark of the second frame. They earned 24 points with first-years Royce Parham and Damarius Owens each earning eight.
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“We need those guys to keep growing,” Smart said. “I’d be lying if I said they were as far along as I want them to be, but they say, things don’t always happen when you want them to, but they always happen on time.
“We just have to keep improving those guys and putting them in positions where they can grow and learn. Like I told Royce and Damarius just now in the locker room, every second of that game video is very, very valuable to look at and learn from.”
Marquette bounced back in a big way to move to 4-0 in Big East play on the road and is now tied with St. John’s at the top of the conference table. Onto Villanova.
This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @KaylynnWrightMU.
