With the chairs on the media room podium empty, the only noise that came from the Fiserv Forum bowels postgame was the visiting locker room. That’s as good a place as any to start a story about another vexing loss for Marquette men’s basketball, with the cheers and hollers of the team that sent home fans to exits early and kept road fans in seats long after the buzzer.
It hasn’t been a common occurrence in this building these days. But it was Wednesday night. Dayton made sure of it, finishing a 77-71 overtime victory over the Golden Eagles.
The defeat marked Marquette’s second-straight home loss — something that had not happened since head coach Shaka Smart’s first season in Milwaukee — and a new low for a 3-3 program whose NCAA tournament chances are dwindling by the game after a tattered start to the year.
“We’ve had three really, really tough losses in the first 17 days of our season,” said Smart once he got to the podium, his solemn voice cutting through the jubilation occurring about 50 feet away from him in the hallway.
“We have to own that. We have to look that in the mirror and understand what created those. It was different for each of those games, but what we have in common in those games is we have to be better.”
About 20 minutes before, the Flyers (4-1) put the final touches on their win, going 3-for-4 from the free throw line in the waning seconds.
But it could also be said the Golden Eagles put the finishing touches on their defeat. They shot 1-for-7 in the extra period and 0-for-4 on their final field goal attempts, the lone make being a 3-pointer from Nigel James Jr. Dayton, meanwhile, went 2-of-3 on threes in the final five minutes before closing the game at the stripe.
“Detail. Slowing down,” junior guard Zaide Lowery said about improving execution in the critical moments. “Got sped up a little bit. Down the stretch, we’re going to make those plays, and it just happened that we didn’t tonight. But we’ll get better.”
Having erased poor starts to both halves, lackluster shooting and 40 minutes of inconsistent basketball, Marquette forced overtime with a double-digit comeback that ended in a Lowery baseline dunk with 40 seconds remaining. Though, it didn’t complete said comeback, despite being in an ideal spot to walk away with a win.
Calling a timeout with 17 seconds remaining in regulation, the Golden Eagles had the ability to draw up whatever play Smart’s heart desired for what they hoped would be the final possession. Instead, after three passes — all caught outside the 3-point line — Marquette failed to even attempt a shot and the game went to overtime, tied 68-68.
#mubb failed to get a shot off. To OT we go. pic.twitter.com/aeZET2Yafn
— Jack Albright (@JackAlbrightMU) November 20, 2025
“Being aware of the time,” Lowery said about what they could have done better on the play. “Anything we could do to get the shot up at least.”
The inconsistencies that spelled defeat — perhaps Marquette’s most consistent trait this season — were an issue all night. The Golden Eagles found themselves again in an early hole, a recurring theme, trailing 23-16 after 10 minutes. While they scored 14-straight points to regain the lead, immediately after they started missing shots again. And over 4-and-a-half scoreless minutes later, the Flyers used a 13-2 run to lead 39-34 at halftime.
Marquette’s cold shooting continued at the start of the second half — starting 2-for-8 overall and 0-for-4 from deep — and that five-point deficit ballooned to 12 before the comeback began.
The Golden Eagles finished the game shooting 25-for-65 (38.5%) and 9-for-31 (29%) from deep, not turning into baskets the 16 more shots they had that the Flyers did not, courtesy of 13 offensive rebounds and 25 forced turnovers.
“We’re going to have games where we shoot a lot of threes, and we’ll have games where we make a higher percentage,” Smart said. “Tonight? Not quite good enough.”
James Jr. led Marquette with 18 points, with Ross (15) and Lowery (10) also scoring in double figures. Dayton was led in scoring by Javon Bennett (19) and De’Shayne Montgomery (18).
Now, the Golden Eagles have to weather two days of pundits, commentators and social media warriors clamoring about the absence of transfers before they take to the court again on Saturday against Central Michigan.
“We got some hurt guys right now in the locker room, some very hurt guys, because those guys want to win. How do we keep them from focusing on outside noise?” Smart said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what is said outside. It matters what we do. I can promise you, our guys will be terrific tomorrow, and their response will be terrific on Friday.
“The key is on Saturday, when that ball goes up in the air, can we be connected around going after winning and let go of the avoidance to make a mistake or worrying about what different people think? Because I think that definitely affected us tonight.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
