Like in the rest of the losses this season for Marquette men’s basketball, fans on Wednesday night threw up three fingers more times than they can count in the 77-71 overtime fall to Dayton, just to put them down in disappointment.
Shooting 9-for-31 from beyond the arc in the loss, the Golden Eagles’ second-straight defeat was another instance where no matter what, they just could not get threes to go the way they want.
“We’re going to have games where we shoot a lot of threes, and we’ll have games where we make a higher percentage,” said head coach Shaka Smart. “Tonight? Not quite good enough.”
A game of runs for both teams, Marquette’s numerous attempts to cut into deficits throughout the game came courtesy of several players trying to kickstart its offense from behind the 3-point line.
Towards the end of the first half, it was senior guard Chase Ross whose three tied the game 23-23, erased its early going struggles and forced Dayton’s first timeout. Not even a minute later, with 6:01 remaining before halftime, junior guard Zaide Lowery drilled a 3-pointer to extend the Golden Eagles’ run to 17-1.
Late in regulation, it was back-to-back threes from forwards Royce Parham and Ben Gold that cut Dayton’s lead to two points, 66-64, forcing another Flyers’ timeout and allowing the Golden Eagles to even think about a comeback.
In overtime, Nigel James Jr. responded to a Dayton 3-pointer with one of his own to make it 74-71 Flyers and keep Marquette one possession from tying.
The signs of what could be for the blue & gold’s offense were there in various moments of Wednesday’s loss, but they weren’t consistent enough to win.
On the final possession in regulation, with the game tied 68-68, the Golden Eagles passed the ball around the perimeter but failed to even get a shot up. In overtime, they went 1-for-4 from deep — James Jr.’s three being the lone make.
Overall, Marquette’s three double-digit scorers combined for a total 5-of-22 split from behind the arc; plenty of volume, but too little accuracy.
The highest-scoring Golden Eagle James Jr. (18 points) went 2-of-8 on threes. Ross, who finished with 15 points, went 1-for-7 and Lowery (10 points) finished 2-of-7. Gold was the only other Marquette player to make multiple 3-pointers, all six of his points coming from two makes from deep during the Golden Eagles’ second half comeback.
“We’ll pick it up a little bit and just keep trusting each other to shoot the shots that we practice every day,” Lowery said.
The Golden Eagles maintained that their perimeter looks can and will improve, as their approach remains rooted in taking available shots created by defensive rotations. Smart pointed to Dayton’s strict defensive scheme forcing Marquette into more perimeter activity when drives stalled, which Smart noted required quicker decisions to find open shooters.
“That’s a cue for us to get more paint touches and then create those [three-point shots] because Dayton, literally, tonight, had the big guy standing at the basket,” Smart said. “That means you got to spray it out to the open man, and we got to step up with confidence and make them.”
But the 3-point issues were not a Wednesday night issue. In all three of its losses, Marquette was held to under 30% from deep (25% vs. Indiana and 27.5% vs. Maryland).
According to Synergy Sports, this year the Golden Eagles rank 364th out of 365 teams in making guarded spot up threes (16.7%). But they rank 19th in attempts.
Per Synergy, #mubb ranks 364th out of 365 teams so far this season for making guarded spot up 3s (16.7%). That’s bad.
Worse? MU ranks 19th for total attempts. pic.twitter.com/wvbiFUROur
— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) November 20, 2025
The focus moving forward, Smart insisted, will be ensuring each attempt comes out of rhythm and within the structure of a possession, reiterating that he encouraged players to not reduce their three-point volume despite the misses.
“If you shoot, shoot,” Smart said, “you can’t half-shoot it.”
On Saturday against Central Michigan, the Marquette faithful will see if the Golden Eagles will avoid the distance-shooting woes they’ve seen prior, hoping when threes go to the sky, they will not fall flat.
This article was written by Eamon Bevan. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @EamonBevanMU.
