UConn has been a thorn in No. 20 Marquette’s side for the past two years now.
The Golden Eagles (22-8, 13-6 Big East) dropped their fifth consecutive game to the Huskies (21-9, 13-6 Big East) Wednesday evening at Gampel Pavilion, 72-66. The last time MU beat UConn was in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament in 2023.
Marquette played one of its best first halves of the entire season Wednesday night, even after a leaky Gampel roof delayed tip-off by nearly 30 minutes. Senior forward David Joplin scored 14 of his 23 points in the first frame as the two teams went shot for shot through the first 17 minutes of it. MU then went on a 9-0 run to close the half as it went into the locker room leading 37-33.
“Our guys played with so much better connectivity and presence and fight than we did the last time we played them,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart told ESPN Milwaukee broadcasters Steve “The Homer” True and Tony Smith in a post-game radio interview.
The scoreboard read 57-54 UConn when junior forward Ben re-entered the game with three fouls. Gold, who came into Wednesday having scored a combined 32 points in his last two games, had not been as effective on the offensive end but did pick the slack on the defensive end picking up a pair of blocks and a steal.
Unfortunately for MU, Gold picked up his fourth foul just 22 seconds after entering the game and was forced to sit once again. The Huskies went on a quick 4-0 run to give themselves a 61-54 lead with 7:49 to play. Just under a minute later, Joplin nailed his third and MU’s final triple of the night to get the Golden Eagles back within four.
Marquette made a season-low three 3-pointers on 22 attempts against UConn. Joplin went 3-for-6 from deep, and the rest of the team went 0-for-16.
“Obviously, we missed some threes that we’d love to shoot again,” Smart said. “Tough to come in on the road and win going 3-for-22, but at the same time, I think the biggest statistic in the game is [UConn’s] 19 offensive rebounds. Because we made them miss enough, if we rebound the ball better.
“They weren’t like above the rim rebounds, obviously the one tip dunk was, but there was a lot of loose ones that flying around. Our guys played with good effort but give UConn credit, they flew around and got a lot of them.”
Despite the poor shooting and rebound performance, MU found itself down 67-66, needing to a stop with just 46 seconds to play. The Huskies were able to switch senior guard Stevie Mitchell onto the bigger sophomore forward Tarris Reed with around 10 seconds left on the shot clock. When Gold came down to help, Reed fired it back up to junior forward Alex Karaban, who stepped up and drained the biggest shot of the night to put UConn ahead for good.
ALEX KARABAN FOR THREE!!!! BANG!! pic.twitter.com/aRtDm1u8GH
— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) March 6, 2025
“We went down to get it out of there, they got the ball out to Alex Karaban. And he did what he does. He’s a winning guy. He’s a guy that’s made that shot a million times and he took it with no hesitation.”
At the conclusion of the game, Smart made sure to find the two-time national champion forward to pay his respects.
“I told Alex Karaban ‘That’s what you do, man,'” Smart said. “He’s a winner.”
Marquette welcomes No. 6 St. John’s to Fiserv Forum this Saturday for its regular season finale. The Red Storm (26-4, 17-2 Big East) locked up the Big East regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament last weekend with a win over Seton Hall.
The Johnnie’s will still have plenty to play for though, as many bracketologists currently have them as a two or a three seed. Another Quad One win over a team that’s only lost at home twice this season could go a long way in helping St. John’s make their case for a two seed.
The Golden Eagles currently sit in fourth place in the Big East, with an outside chance to drop to fifth place if they lose on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. CST, with Marquette honoring its seniors before the game.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
