New York, NY – #17-ranked Marquette (13-5, 4-3) came back in the second half against St. John’s (12-7, 4-4) 73-72 for a much-needed road victory at Madison Square Garden.
Marquette has struggled to win on the road this year going 2-3 overall, with no road wins in conference play prior to today. Team leaders in scoring for the Golden Eagles were top prospects Oso Ighodaro with 17 points and Tyler Kolek with 15. Marquette’s starters would all finish in double digits as Kolek set the table for everybody, dishing out 11 assists.
For St. John’s this was their third consecutive loss. It was also the third loss they’ve had against top-25 ranked teams this season, losing them by a combined six points. Sophomore RJ Luis Jr. put forth a solid effort for the Johnnies scoring 20 points paired with three steals. Chris Ledlum notched his fifth double-double of the season finishing with 13 points and 11 boards.
St. John’s was up double digits at one point in the first half despite 11 early turnovers and little impact from both Daniss Jenkins and Joel Soriano. Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor provided a spark in relief of Soriano with five points during a 14-2 late first half run. Luis Jr. chipped in four of his own during the stretch and nine in the half. They dominated the glass 24-13 and held Marquette 0-of-11 from distance the entire first period. Kolek was kept in check with only 4 first half points. The Garden was rocking and things were going in favor of the Johnnies as they headed into halftime up 34-28.
Marquette stayed in this game with their fast pace. Make, miss, or turnover, Shaka Smart wants his team to flip sides of the court quickly. St. John’s has struggled to deal with pace and transition points in previous games, and Marquette was able to exploit them with quick passes up the floor. Their emphasis for deflections and quick offense never wavered even in the face of an early deficit. Coach Smart immediately out of halftime drew a play up for an open David Joplin 3-pointer that reversed their shooting fortunes. That’d be the first of three for Joplin, as Marquette went 6-of-9 from deep in the second half. They scored 31 points by the 10-minute mark, after scoring 28 all first half. Their offense was humming on all cylinders and Kolek was getting anywhere he wanted to through his pick and roll navigation. The game seemed in-hand for the Eagles as they built up a 71-58 lead with six minutes to go.
St. John’s with their backs against the wall, started playing superb defense again, forcing three turnovers and allowing no field goals the rest of the game. The energy on defense transferred to the offense as Jenkins and Soriano came alive, scoring 12 of the team’s last 14 points. Despite the late surge and three straight misses from a 90% free throw shooter in Kolek, the Johnnies couldn’t cash multiple attempts to take the lead. It was more supporting evidence to Coach Pitino’s claim of “not being a great team by any stretch of imagination.”
The potential to be a great team remains with this Johnnies squad however. Jenkins had an uncharacteristically poor game playmaking. One of the Big East’s leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio, he had four assists to six turnovers. Leading scorer and rebounder Soriano hasn’t made the same impact as earlier this season, during a crucial stretch of games against Creighton, Seton Hall, and now Marquette. St. John’s have failed to handle business going 2-5 against Quad 1 teams. They’ll need to learn how to step up to the competition and close a game against top opponents. St. John’s next game is on this Wednesday against Villanova in the Garden.
Marquette snagged a win in a packed and fired up Madison Square Garden. If they can win in this venue against a talented St. John’s squad, they can win anywhere in March. The Garden is where they claimed last year’s Big East title, and the same place they’ll go this year to defend it. Marquette are winners of two straight looking to extend their streak at DePaul on January 24th, before a highly anticipated rematch against Seton Hall at home January 27th.
This article was written by Justin Maldonado, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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