When Tre Norman drove to the rim in the second half of Marquette’s (9-18, 4-12 Big East) 76-70 loss to No. 17 St. John’s (21-5, 14-1 Big East) on Wednesday night, Nigel James Jr. knew what he needed to do.
“I know my job is usually to cut right there,” he said.
What James Jr. didn’t know, was that he was about to create what may be the highlight of the season for the Golden Eagles. After receiving the pass from a stumbling Norman and leaping off two feet for what he initially intended to be a dunk, the first-year guard had to make a mid-air adjustment and go up-and-under a pair of Red Storm defenders.
James Jr. finished the layup despite the difficulty of the shot, leaving the Fiserv Forum crowd beside itself.
CLEARLY CREATIVE!🎨#MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/GZ9nmPvgyM
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) February 19, 2026
The move brought Fiserv to its feet, extended Marquette’s lead to 56-50 and prompted Rick Pitino to call timeout. Little did anyone know it would also be the last time the Golden Eagles had the advantage.
Whatever the Naismith Hall of Fame head coach drew up in the huddle went off without a hitch, as the Red Storm went on a 9-0 run over the next 1:35 after MU missed two shots and committed a pair of turnovers. The Johnnies wouldn’t trail the rest of the way.
James Jr. answered the run with his lone 3-point make of the night to even the score once again with 9:22 to play. But from there the Golden Eagles would only convert on 1 of their next 9 field goal attempts. The lone make in that stretch unsurprisingly came from James Jr., who sent home a mid-range jumper to cut St. John’s lead to three with 7:33 to play.
Marquette would not score another field goal until first-year guard Adrien Stevens hit a three with barely over a minute remaining. By that time, the game was virtually out of reach.
The Golden Eagles got a late and-one from James Jr., but it wasn’t enough as they again could not make the plays necessary down the stretch to win a close game.
“A lot of credit to St. John’s on the way they ramped up on both ends of the floor those last 12 minutes,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. “I thought when we got the six point lead, some of our rim decisions really hurt us. Against them, they’re going to try to block everything, you got to find the open man. Definitely some possessions we’d love to have back.”
Graduate guard/forward Bryce Hopkins was crucial for the Red Storm down the stretch, scoring 10 of his team-high 23 points in the final 11:11 of the game.
“Hopkins had too many opportunities in the paint,” Smart said. “You know, he’s a load.”
While St. John’s did not score a basket for the final three and a half minutes, its free throws made up for the cold shooting. Over the final 11-plus minutes, the Red Storm went 10-of-13 from the stripe. And, with the Golden Eagles knocking on upset’s door, the Johnnies converted 5 of its 6 free throws in the final 60 seconds.
Meanwhile Marquette only shot 16 free throws on the evening, converting 12 of them.
After scoring a team-high 11-points in the first half, sophomore forward Royce Parham was limited to two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field in the second frame. Parham picked up his third foul with 16:21 to play, forcing him to sit for four minutes, and then he drew his fourth foul with 8:02 to play and sat for another two and a half minutes.
“Royce’s foul trouble hurt him in terms of being aggressive as you want to be,” Smart said. “But as a team you need to find a way to win anyway. We just didn’t quite have enough. This is the first-place team in our league.
“I thought our guys did a good job going toe-to-toe with them for a while. But you got to step forward.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
