Well-rested Marquette will look to solve its 3-point-shooting woes on Tuesday night when it returns to the court to face visiting Seton Hall in Milwaukee.
Sure, the 16th-ranked Golden Eagles (19-6, 10-4 Big East) were successful in snapping a three-game losing streak with a 68-58 victory over DePaul on Feb. 11 in Marquette’s most recent game.
And sure, the team improved to 12-2 at home with that win and will face a Pirates team that is 0-8 on the road.
That said, Golden Eagles coach Shaka Smart was left shaking his head after his team shot a dismal 16 percent from 3-point range against the Blue Demons. Marquette, in fact, has made just 30 of 108 attempts (27.8 percent) from beyond the arc over its last four games.
“A lot of those shots are good shots that we’d love to have back,” Smart said of the most recent game. “Maybe a couple that we had to force late.
“But for the most part … Kam Jones 1-for-6, David Joplin 1-for-6, Ben Gold 1-for-4, Royce Parham 1-for-4. Those are four really good shooters.
“Now why are they missing? There’s a lot to it. I’m not going to play sports psychologist on that one. We just have an opportunity to bounce into our shot, shoot it the right way. Shoot it with discipline. We all believe in the guy rising up to shoot it. And I think that over time those guys are going to make shots.”
Jones finished with 19 points to move past Lazar Hayward (1,859 points) and into third place on the program’s all-time scoring list. Jones’ total of 1,870 trails only Jerel McNeal (1,985) and Markus Howard (2,761).
Jones also scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor in the Golden Eagles’ 76-59 victory over Seton Hall on Jan. 21. He boasts team-best averages in points (19.2) and assists (5.9) this season, while Joplin leads in rebounds (5.4).
Smart noted the break in the schedule would go a long way in aiding his weary team.
“Certainly physically, when you get to this late in the season, it’s always a good time to get guys some extra rest,” he said. “Chase Ross, for example, Stevie Mitchell, those guys play so incredibly hard.
“They’re not 100 percent, just like guys who log heavy minutes on other teams are not 100 percent.”
The Pirates (7-18, 2-12), meanwhile, are coming off a stunner on Saturday, snapping a nine-game losing streak with a 69-68 overtime victory over two-time defending national champion UConn.
Isaiah Coleman scored 23 points and Scotty Middleton converted an off-balance tip-in of his own missed shot with three seconds remaining in overtime for the Pirates.
“It was a crazy Euro-step,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said. “One of the best things about Scotty is his desire to play basketball. He just cares about winning and playing basketball.”
Coleman scored a career-high 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor in the previous encounter with the Golden Eagles. He averages team-bests in points (15.3) and rebounds (5.4) this season.
–Field Level Media
