The #10 Marquette Golden Eagles (16-3, 7-1 Big East) turned in another dominant performance on Tuesday night, defeating the struggling Seton Hall Pirates (6-13, 1-7 Big East) 76-59.
Coming off a heartbreaking home loss to Xavier in which their offense struggled to get anything going, Marquette bullied their hosts on both ends of the floor. The Golden Eagles scored 28 points in the paint and forced the Pirates into a whopping 24 turnovers on the night.
Senior Kam Jones led Marquette with 19 points on 7/11 shooting to go along with 4 assists. Sophomore Isaiah Coleman led Seton Hall, scoring a career-high 27 points.
Here are three key takeaways from the Golden Eagles’ victory.
The Marquette Golden Eagles’ Defense Can Win The Big East And Maybe More
The biggest takeaway from Marquette’s Tuesday night beatdown is that this defense can be scary. Coming into last night’s contest, the Golden Eagles led the Big East in steals, turnovers forced, and points off turnovers per game. After 40 minutes against the Pirates, those leads only grew as Marquette forced Seton Hall into 24 total turnovers and scored 23 of their 76 points off of turnovers.
Head coach Shaka Smart, speaking in a post-game radio interview, loved the intensity he saw from his team on the defensive end of the floor:
“I thought our guys did a good job setting the tone on defense in the first half…we had three different players have double-figure deflections…Stevie, Chase, and Kam….all three guys had defensive focus and defensive intensity.”
Marquette’s defensive intensity raises the floor of what they’ll be able to do come March. Despite some stretches of poor offensive play, the Golden Eagles can hang their hats on their smothering defense.
Kam Jones Should Be Considered A Wooden Award Contender
Senior guard Kam Jones, the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer this season and a 2022/23 All-Big East selection, has been a stalwart leader for Marquette on and off the court despite a recent string of poor shooting. Jones had struggled from the field over the four games coming into Tuesday’s contest, averaging 15.5 points per game on only 35.7% shooting from the floor and 22.2% from three-point range compared to 20.1 points per game on 53.5%/34.3% shooting splits in Marquette’s opening 14 games.
Tuesday, however, was a return to form for the senior. Jones led Marquette in scoring with 19 points on an efficient 7/11 from the field and 4/6 from beyond the arc. His impact was felt beyond just the basket, as he recorded 4 assists and was a defensive menace to the Seton Hall Pirates, notching 3 steals during the game.
Speaking to the media after the game, head coach Shaka Smart praised Jones’s abilities:
“Kam is, of anyone I’ve ever coached, he’s a rhythm shooter. If he’s feeling good, he could kick it up there and it would go in. So it’s amazing how the ball going in helps you with the next one. He got some rhythm and was able to make four threes.”
Over his four years with the Golden Eagles, Kam Jones has established himself as one of college basketball’s most electric scorers.
His scoring ability is what got him on the watchlist for the 2024/25 Wooden Award in November, but Jones has added an aspect to his game this year that could make him a legitimate contender: his passing. Jones is averaging a career-high 6.5 assists per game. Jones’s play this season has been integral to the success of the Golden Eagles, as he has either scored or assisted on 50.4% of all Marquette field goals this season.
The Seton Hall Pirates Are One Of The Worst Teams In the Power 5
The Seton Hall Pirates were, to be frank, terrible. Their offense was unable to score until the game was well out of hand and Marquette started playing their reserves, they turned the ball over at will, and they allowed the Golden Eagles chance after chance on the offensive glass, surrendering 15 offensive rebounds.
It’s been a season of struggles for the Pirates. The reigning NIT champions have failed to measure up to last season’s success, winning only 6 of their opening 19 contests. Their lone conference win this season came against a similarly struggling DePaul team, and in their 7 conference losses this season they’ve lost by an average of 13 points. Following the Pirates’ 79-51 loss to the St. John’s Red Storm on January 18, head coach Shaheen Holloway sounded off on his team’s recent string of performances:
“We got punked like it was men against boys. We got punked. We got embarrassed… I feel awful for the program, I feel awful for everything that took place tonight. But this is big boy basketball.”
It’s hard to find other teams in Division I’s Power 5 conferences with resumes as poor as Seton Hall’s. Between the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and SEC, only the Miami Hurricanes have a worse record at 4-14. The Pirates rank 78th out of 79 Power 5 teams in points per game and 79th in field goal percentage.
The Marquette Golden Eagles will return home for a Friday night matchup with the Villanova Wildcats (12-8, 5-4 Big East) on January 24. The Seton Hall Pirates will hit the road for a game against the Creighton Blue Jays (12-6, 5-2 Big East) on Saturday, January 25.
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