After playing 12 games this season against ranked teams and winning six of them, Marquette likely has done enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
Now with the schedule easing up, it’s up to the Golden Eagles to avoid stumbles in their final five games, all against unranked Big East teams.
The first game will come Wednesday night when Marquette (16-9, 8-6) hosts reeling Georgetown (6-18, 0-13), which has lost a program-record 14 straight games.
Marquette also enters on a downturn as it has lost three of its past four and dropped out of the Top 25 after being ranked No. 18 last week.
There was no shame in losing close games to ranked teams Providence and UConn. But alarm bells sounded Saturday at Butler, as the Golden Eagles dug themselves a 31-11 hole and never fully recovered in an 85-79 defeat to a team with a losing record.
“This game was lost on the defensive end,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “Gave up 85 points — 42 and 43 in the two halves; it can’t be that way.”
Before its mini-swoon, Marquette had built an impressive resume, winning seven straight Big East games. Among the victims were Seton Hall (twice), Providence, Villanova and Xavier. The Golden Eagles later added another win over Villanova.
The team is led by two Baltimore products. Emerging star Justin Lewis tops the Golden Eagles with averages of 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Darryl Morsell, a transfer from Maryland, averages 13.1 points and sets the tone defensively.
Meanwhile, Georgetown is running out of chances to avoid becoming the first team to go winless in the conference since DePaul in 2008-09.
In Monday night’s 88-77 loss at Creighton, the Hoyas made a late run, reducing a 23-point deficit to six behind Aminu Mohammed’s season-high 27 points and 10 rebounds.
“We went small to try and jump the game up a little bit. We trapped, got a couple of turnovers and a couple of steals,” Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing said. “The smaller lineup seemed to work for the most part.”
The first meeting between Georgetown and Marquette, on Jan. 7, was a Golden Eagles romp as they scored a season high in a 92-64 win over a rusty Hoyas team that was coming off a 19-day COVID pause.
–Field Level Media
