The National Marquette Day on February 1 was supposed to end in a celebration but it did not end up that way and Chase Ross of the Marquette Golden Eagles think the day affected their mindset versus the University of Connecticut Huskies.
The Golden Eagles saw their three-game winning streak snapped by the 2024 NCAA Tournament winners in front of the around 17,000 loud home crowd.
The game was supposed to be the final touch to National Marquette Day but it was the opposite that happened as the hosts succumbed to a 69-77 defeat at the hands of Dan Hurley‘s squad.
Ross, who scored 19 points in 37 minutes, thought they need to do a better job preparing for a game of this magnitude.
He suggested that maybe they were too eager to perform well in front of their fans.
“I don’t think it was necessarily a mental block,” he said post-game. “It was just the atmosphere, with it being National Marquette Day, just feeling the energy, it was a little weird.
“This day’s a little tricky. Just feeling the energy and vibes around, you want to perform for the crowd. Just thinking about it a little too much.”
Suspect again for the Golden Eagles is their slow start. The team trailed by 13 points entering the second half. They outscored the Huskies by five points in the last 20 minutes and obviously, it was not enough.
Shaka Smart agrees with Chase Ross
It was the first time since 2018 that the Golden Eagles lost during National Marquette Day
Head coach Shaka Smart takes responsibility for the defeat saying they did not have the “poise, our discipline in certain situations, it just wasn’t good enough.”
He also talked about how he should prepare his guys mentally for huge games like the one the other night, saying he should do a better job as sports psychologist.
You’re at a place where there’s 18,129 people that come to your game. There’s an excitement and passion for the game, the team, the opportunity to win all week long. I thought our guys did a nice job focusing on Butler on Tuesday, that was not an easy feat because of everybody saying to them starting on Monday was ‘Can’t wait until Saturday.’ So I thought we checked that box, but I got to do a better job helping them just relax.
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