Koby McEwen had the chance to put a bow on yet another Marquette comeback victory on the road.
The senior found himself unguarded with time winding down and the score tied. DJ Carton saw McEwen and tried to get him an open shot, but the pass was slightly off target.
With an opportunity to end the game and stay in the top half of the Big East standings, McEwen slipped. The win slipped away five minutes later, pushing Marquette’s season in a similar direction.
A third consecutive road win was there for the taking Wednesday night in Providence, Rhode Island. Instead, Providence junior David Duke’s season-high 31 points willed the Friars to a 72-63 overtime victory.
The loss is Marquette’s second consecutive and sends them to 8-8 overall and 4-6 in conference play.
[pickup_prop id=”3006″]
It was a familiar script for the Golden Eagles. On the road, they hung close for most of the first half before Providence went on a run before halftime. Tied at 18 with three minutes until halftime, a layup from Duke sparked a 7-0 run to end the half.
Marquette’s 18-point half was its lowest scoring half of the season.
The second half started with offensive urgency from both teams, with Marquette freshman Dawson Garcia scoring his first four points of the game to make it a three-point game again. The Golden Eagles stayed within striking distance over the first seven minutes of the half and retook the lead with 12 minutes left.
After taking a 38-37 lead, Providence responded with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes. Desperately needing to stop the run, junior guard Greg Elliott hit a three to pull back within three. But once again, Duke answered by scoring Providence’s next seven points.
Leading by four with 6:20 left, the Friars appeared to be on the verge of breaking the game open after McEwen was called for his fourth foul. Instead, sophomore guard Symir Torrence came in and kept the offense moving.
Both teams switched to zone defenses at this point. Despite missing its leading scorer in the backcourt, Marquette was able to penetrate the zone with ease thanks to Carton. Carton and Torrence both took over ball-handling duties with McEwen out. Carton especially thrived, immediately scoring four points to tie the game with 5:30 remaining.
After tying the game, Carton found Elliott for a three to take the lead on the next possession. Marquette then had an opportunity to build a lead after getting a stop, but Carton missed a three with the shot clock winding down. On the ensuing possession, Providence guard A.J. Reeves tied the game back up with a three.
All night long, Marquette struggled on the offensive glass. The Golden Eagles gave up 12 offensive rebounds while only grabbing three. The third and final Marquette offensive rebound appeared to be pivotal, as Garcia saved another Carton miss and threw it back to him. Carton drew a foul catching the pass but missed the first free throw of a one-and-one opportunity.
On the next Friar possession it was their turn to get a pivotal offensive rebound, with Nate Watson cleaning up a missed three with a dunk that drew a foul. Watson once again slipped a screen on Providence’s next possession for a dunk to give the Friars a 59-55 lead with 2:22 left.
After a 30 second timeout by Marquette, Carton quickly drove to the rim for a layup. He then held onto a rebound and found Theo John for a dunk to tie the game at 59 with 50 seconds left. Providence had two chances to take the lead thanks to another offensive rebound, but Jimmy Nichols Jr.’s putback rolled off the rim.
On the final possession of regulation, Steve Wojciechowski opted not to call a timeout. With the clock running down, McEwen was open on the wing and Carton saw him. But because of the low pass, McEwen was forced to drive towards the center of the floor. As he tried to hoist up the shot, he slipped and had to call a timeout with 0.8 seconds left.
The Golden Eagles did get a final shot off, but Elliott’s three was off target.
In the extra period, David Duke took over.
He drew three fouls but missed one free throw each trip. As for Marquette, its offense reverted to first half form. Held scoreless for the first two minutes of overtime, the Golden Eagles found themselves in a four-point hole again after Duke drained a three. After another missed layup by Carton, Duke then drew the fifth foul on McEwen.
With McEwen out the rest of the game, it was up to Carton to lead a comeback. He started with an impressive spin move that led to a dunk to pull Marquette within three. McEwen’s replacement, Torrence, was immediately tasked with guarding the red-hot Duke. He forced a bad shot then grabbed the rebound, giving Marquette a chance to tie the game.
Instead, Torrence tried to find a streaking Elliott on the other end of the court. Elliott couldn’t hold onto the pass, Duke drew another foul and made one free throw. What could have been a one-point game turned into a two-possession deficit with 1:14 left.
Carton immediately responded with a huge one-handed dunk to make it a two-point game again. But Marquette couldn’t make one more stop. With most of the defensive attention focused on Duke and Providence’s frontcourt, Duke found Alyn Breed for an open three to seal the game with 35 seconds left.
They Said It
Steve Wojciechowski was the only person from Marquette to speak following the loss. He held a press conference via zoom from courtside at Providence:
“I thought our guys competed. We had opportunities we didn’t capitalize on in a number of areas. We had the ball by the basket a number of times where we have to complete the play.”
“The one area we didn’t compete like we could was rebounding the ball. It was the reason we beat them at home. We didn’t get enough of that this weekend.” – Wojciechowski on what changed from Marquette’s first game against Providence.
“There’s nothing on the basketball court that Duke can’t do.” -Wojciechowski on David Duke.
“I thought we had good opportunities to start the game…Those plays can be deflating, there’s no question about that.” Wojciechowski on the 18-point first half.
What This Means
This was an absolutely crushing loss for Marquette. A season sweep of Providence was there for the taking, and the Golden Eagles let it slip away.
January slumps are normal, but they are more costly than usual in an abbreviated season. After a tough and impressive win at St. John’s 10 days ago, Marquette had an opportunity to go on a run against teams from the lower half of the standings. Instead, Marquette has struggled to find any offensive consistency and took two brutal losses right on the chin.
Losing to Providence is not embarrassing in any fashion, the Friars upset No. 11 Creighton last week. But the opportunity was there down the stretch to pick up a quality win and now Marquette has six days to ruminate on that.
Looking Ahead
Next Tuesday, Marquette faces Butler (5-8, 4-6) for the first time this season. With Creighton and Seton Hall looming after, this is one of the more important games left on the schedule. The Bulldogs are another tough opponent that has been playing better as of late and split their two games with Marquette last year.
Tied in this Big East standings, these two teams play each other twice in the next 15 days. A sweep from either team would do wonders for their postseason resume.
Marquette has the weekend off for the second time in three weeks. The long break led to an embarrassing loss at home to DePaul last time. If Marquette wants to stay within range of a postseason berth, it can’t afford a similar result this time.
Follow me on Twitter at @hardestymatt12 and follow us at @WiscoHeroics1 for more great content! To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here.