NEW YORK — There’s just something about those quarterfinal games.
Whether it was the first half struggles against St. John’s after dominating the Big East regular season in 2022-23, or the thrilling overtime win over Villanova in last year’s quarterfinals, No. 5 Marquette men’s basketball (23-9) has found a way to make Thursday at the Big East Tournament as entertaining (and stressful) for MU fans alike.
That trend continued Thursday afternoon despite trailing by 14 points at one point. The Golden Eagles found a way to get it done in the quarterfinals once again, this time beating No. 4 Xavier (21-11) 89-87 at Madison Square Garden to snap its seven-game winning streak. It’s the third time in as many years that Marquette is moving on to the semifinals.
“That was a high-level game,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “…Our guys never stopped believing, we showed great fight, even when we got down as much as 14. You know, Xavier didn’t give up, they kept battling at the end there, it got dicey, but guys did a good job of executing late game inbounds, execution and getting the ball in.”
The @WBsilverlining highlights from BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinal Win vs Xavier#MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/th500sxYb2
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) March 13, 2025
To put it simply, the first two matchups this season both featured one team getting out to a double-digit lead, and the other storming back at some point to make it a close game in the final minute. All three matchups between the Golden Eagles and Musketeers were decided by exactly two points this season, with MU winning two of the three.
The Golden Eagles were struggling on both ends of the floor entirety of the first half. After Mitchell and senior forward David Joplin nailed back-to-back triples to open the game, MU missed 11 of its next 12 shots and trailed 19-10 early.
First-year forward Royce Parham, who scored 10 points off the bench in his first Big East Tournament game, nailed a pair of free throws during that stretch to keep the Golden Eagles within striking distance. And that felt like the theme of the middle 20 minutes of the game for the Golden Eagles, keeping the game close to give themselves a chance.
“They did a really good job in the first half of having us on our heels,” Smart said. “I actually thought we played better defensively than the numbers indicated in the first half, we just missed a lot of layups.”
Marquette trailed by 10 going into the locker room after senior guard Kam Jones hit a layup with 18 seconds left. But that lead grew to the largest it would be all night when graduate guard Dayvion McKnight sunk a pair of free throws to make it 53-39 Xavier.
But from there, Marquette woke up. A 24-9 run over the next 6:52 ensued and was capped off by Jones hitting a trey to make it 63-62 MU, giving the Golden Eagles their first lead since early in the first half.
The Musketeers and Marquette traded baskets down the stretch, with two of the Big East’s most talented guards, junior guard Ryan Conwell and Jones going at it in front of an awe-stricken crowd.
Jones scored 18 of his team-high 28 points in the second half. The Memphis, Tennessee native averages 16.8 points per game over the last three seasons in the Big East Tournament.
“We’ve won big-time games here before, made big time plays,” Jones said. “So, [the] coaches has been trying to instill the confidence in us and just go after it. You know, just play with everything we got for 40 minutes, and we’ll see what happens.”
Jones hit a step-through layup with 2:41 to play to put MU up a pair. Then Conwell stepped up and hit a triple in junior forward Ben Gold’s face to give Xavier a one-point lead just under a minute later.
Marquette stepped up and got a crucial stop with just under a minute to play as Freemantle got tied up with Mitchell and junior guard Chase Ross, with Ross coming away with the steal. That all led to the biggest 10 seconds of the season for Marquette, as Joplin stepped up and nailed a 3-pointer with 26 seconds to put the Golden Eagles ahead four. Six seconds later, he sent a ball into the stands on defense and showed off how pumped up he was afterwards.
Dialed in Jop! #MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/JAWAFY3ASN
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) March 13, 2025
“It’s the only game we have, try to be as present as we can,” Joplin said. “You get to make plays like that, in the Garden, I get hype.”
A free throw battle ensued in the final seconds, but when Conwell missed the front-end of a one-and-one, Ross nailed a pair of free throws to seal the deal for Marquette.
After going 12-for-22 from the line in a tough two-point loss on Saturday against St. John’s, MU dialed it in from the charity stripe on Thursday, shooting 11-for-13.
The Golden Eagles got double-digit scoring from four of their five starters, with Ross and senior guard Stevie Mitchell each scoring 16, and Joplin chipping in 14.
For Xavier, Conwell was the star of the show, draining seven triples while dishing out three assists and grabbing three rebounds. His 38-point performance was the most ever by a Xavier player in the Big East Tournament and was one point shy of tying Markus Howard’s record of 39 points in a game.
Marquette is now slotted to faceoff with a familiar opponent in the semifinals; No. 1 St. John’s. The Golden Eagles just lost in overtime to the Johnnie’s last Saturday on Senior Day in Milwaukee. They’ll certainly have revenge on their minds at 6:30 EST in ‘The World’s Most Famous Arena.’
“We’re excited to get ’em back,” Parham said. “We lost to them a less than a week ago, so it’s another chance, another opportunity, to beat them, come at them.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
