RECAP
#8 Ranked Marquette Golden Eagles top the Creighton Bluejays with a strong second half from Kam Jones. Winning the back-and-forth affair (79-71) against a squad with four starters ending the game with double-digits in points. They notch yet another win to their stellar 4-0 conference record midway through the season.
On a night that saw the Bluejays get off to an electric 7-0 start in the first half, Jones and most of this Golden Eagles squad could not find the bottom of the bucket. However, with nitty gritty defense and a major contribution from Stevie Mitchell (18 points on the night), they were able to avoid an insurmountable deficit early on. That, mixed with some key shots from role players, helped them grow a small lead heading into halftime (39-35).
Eagles coach Shaka Smart got Jones going in the second half by getting him an immediate basket right out of the half with an easy inside shot. Setting the tone for how physical the team was going to play Creighton in the latter half of the ball game. Despite the Bluejays never going away in the game, Marquette never lost the lead they built at the end of the first half. That was mainly due to their poor three-point performance that saw the Eagles shooting at a 32% clip, but their season-staple defense was the other reason why Creighton couldn’t pull back into the game.
The defense of the Eagles, headlined by Stevie Mitchell’s three steals and David Joplin’s one steal and two blocks, forced the issue against the Bluejay offense. Holding Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton’s number-one scorer) to just 16 points on 36% and the rest of the team 40% from the field and 22% from three. With the added offense of Jones (22 points, 5 assists, and 4-4 from the line), Marquette was able to quelch any kind of a Creighton comeback.
POST-GAME AND UPCOMING
Coach Shaka Smart had this to say regarding his team’s defense after picking up another conference win on the season: “Yeah just activity, you know we want to be disruptive.” Said Coach Smart, “Creighton has a unique line-up I mean they’ve got Jackson McAndrew who’s a very very good player.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvutnUb5h1Q
They were able to hold the 6’9 small forward McAndrew to just 10 points on nine shots tonight, showing the defensive prowess that Smart has instilled in the squad all season long. This is the same energy on defense that they will need for their stretch of games against conference opponents to round out the season.
Coming up for Golden Eagles, they will be heading to Georgetown to take on the Hoyas on Tuesday at 7:00 PM (CST). The 12-2 Hoyas are on a five-game win streak and have two 39% three-point shooters at the guard positions that will prove to be a challenge for this battle-tested team. This will be the first time the two teams see each other this season, with both teams sitting at one and two for the top two spots in the Big East.
The conference is looking very tight this season with multiple teams having major success, especially with the reigning champs in the Big East, the Golden Eagles will need to rack up as many conference wins as they can get. The Eagles and Hoyas are a combined 7-0 against Big East teams, both teams seeing continued success in conference play since the beginning of the season. Adding yet another layer to the upcoming showdown between the top two teams of the Big East conference.
