Marquette will be looking to rediscover its shooting touch when it hosts Georgetown on Wednesday night in Milwaukee in the Big East opener for each team.
The Golden Eagles (5-6) lost at No. 6 Purdue, 79-59, on Saturday. That marked their third setback in the last four games, with their only win in that span a 75-72 overtime victory at home versus Valparaiso.
Georgetown (7-3) defeated St. Peter’s 76-68 in overtime Saturday to bounce back from a 20-point loss at North Carolina.
Seven-foot sophomore center Julius Halaifonua had a career-high 22 points against Saint Peter’s, hitting 9 of 12 shots, along with a team-best nine rebounds. Georgetown led 52-40 before Saint Peter’s rallied to tie it at 60-60 at the end of regulation.
“All the credit goes to Saint Peter’s. Zero credit should go toward us other than we won the game, right?” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said. “We didn’t play well. We didn’t coach well. We didn’t perform well.”
After a 5-0 start, the Hoyas had dropped three of four before defeating Saint Peter’s.
The Hoyas, who average 78.2 points per game, have five players averaging in double figures. KJ Lewis leads with 15.6 points and Malik Mack adds 14.8.
Marquette has struggled at times against power conference opponents, losing to Indiana by 23 early in the season and at in-state rival Wisconsin by 20 earlier this month.
Two consistent areas of concern, shooting and rebounding, plagued the Golden Eagles again in the loss at Purdue. Marquette shot a season-low 32.8%, including 25.8% (8 of 31) beyond the arc, and was outrebounded by nine.
“There’s definitely a mental component to it,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said of his team’s shooting performance. “We have to focus on what we can control in terms of our process, our spacing, our cutting. I thought when we did get to cutting the right way, we got a lot of good shots out of that. Didn’t make all of them, didn’t make enough of them.”
The Golden Eagles average 78.9 points per game, allowing 76.6.
Chase Ross leads with 18.6 points per game and freshman Nigel James Jr. adds 11.1. Ben Gold adds 9.3 points and team-high 7.0 rebounds.
Marquette swept the Hoyas last season, winning 74-66 at home and then 76-61 at Georgetown after leading by as many as 28 points.
“We have not beaten Marquette since I’ve been the head coach here,” Cooley said. “We’ve been actually throttled by them, to be honest with you.”
–Field Level Media
