Nerves get best of Marquette Golden Eagles

By Antwaun Hackman
MATC Times

The bright lights of Madison Square Garden seemed to intimidate the Marquette Golden Eagles, as they lost their conference tournament matchup against the Creighton Bluejays 74-63.

The first half for Marquette was less than ideal. The Golden Eagles opened the game shooting just five of 15 and had seven of their 10 first half turnovers in the early moments of the game.

For Marquette it seemed like nerves may have been getting the best of them.

“I feel like based on our play, it was kind of like nervousness, not wanting to mess up, wanting to play a perfect game,” Marquette forward Justin Lewis said.

Marquette was not alone in its slow first half start. Creighton too seemed to be anxious. The Bluejays shot selection seemed erratic, and they failed to make the shots they were taking. The first half ended with Creighton shooting just 30% from the field and 22% from 3. Marquette was able to string some shots together to keep it close, but their 10 total first half turnovers were the difference in the score at the half, which was 29-26.

The second half got under way with Creighton shooting five of six; this was a showing of a team beginning to settle in.

Marquette saw the turnovers slow down, but shooting woes began to plague the Golden Eagles. They opened the second half shooting just three of nine. Marquette at one point went down by as many as 13 points.

However, as the half progressed, Marquette stepped up its defensive pressure enough to keep its hope of winning the game alive. Creighton relied on the shooting of Ryan Hawkins, who was making his 131st straight start, and the post play of Ryan Kalkberner.

Once these two got going it was evident that Marquette would need some spark of their own if they had any hope of winning the game. Luckily for Marquette their spark came from Daryl Morsell. Down 48-60, Marquette’s Morsell got it going with a lay-up.

He would go on to make a couple more big shots to bring the Golden Eagles within striking distance. Morsell’s spark seemed to inspire his teammates. To continue the run Marquette would get huge shots from Tyler Kolek, Greg Elliot and Lewis to bring Marquette within 3 with 1:45 left to go. Unfortunately, Morsley had a turnover that resulted in easy points for Creighton, putting their lead back up 70-63 with just 1:10 to play. That costly turnover is when the hope of any miraculous comeback faded for Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles. 

Creighton’s Hawkins was the Bluejays leading scorer, putting up 18 points, shooting an efficient seven of 12 from the floor. For Marquette, Morsell would end being their top scorer, finishing with 18 points as well shooting seven of 16. As a team, Creighton finished shooting a staggering 49% while Marquette would finish shooting just 39%. 

Creighton moved on to face to the Providence Fiars Friday at 6:30 p.m. It will be one of the Big East Conference semifinal games.

“So we didn’t play very well at Providence,” Creighton Head Coach Greg McDermott said. “They’re the league champs. Our guys have a lot of pride, and we look forward to another opportunity to play.”

Posted on: March 16, 2022CMANYC16admin