NCAA hopes take a huge hit
CHICAGO - This loss will haunt Marquette.
The Golden Eagles suffered a secondhalf scoring drought and couldn’t do much else right in a 70-62 defeat to DePaul at Win Trust Arena on Saturday.
MU’s hopes for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid also were likely crushed with the defeat to the Blue Demons (11-17, 4-12 Big East).
The Golden Eagles (16-12, 7-9) went more than six minutes without a point in the second half, allowing DePaul to open up a 52-40 lead with 7:36 remaining.
When MU finally started hitting shots and got the lead down to five points at the 3:47 mark, the Golden Eagles were done in by atrocious rebounding and a porous defense that has plagued them all season.
“Missing good shots is not my concern,” MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “It’s what missed shots do to other
areas of the game.
“I think it affects us defensively. I think when our offense is not easy, our guys don’t pick up the slack on the other end.”
The Golden Eagles turned the ball over 15 times, including nine in the first half.
The Blue Demons had 17 miscues and shot 3 of 17 on three-pointers, but were able to take control of the game by pulling down 19 offensive boards. MU was outrebounded, 49-30. “We didn’t hit bodies,” said MU sophomore wing Sam Hauser, who led the team with nine rebounds. “We got to hit bodies before we get the ball. We didn’t do that this game.”
After scoring 175 combined points in the last two games, the Golden Eagles shot 24 of 59 (40.7%) against the Blue Demons.
“I thought that our length was there,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. “Especially because we had high hands and tight bodies on the catch. It allowed them to hesitate and not give them clean looks as we had previously the last time we played them.”
The Golden Eagles were out of sorts from the start, with senior guard Andrew Rowsey being whistled for two fouls in the first 1:22.
Wojciechowski subbed in sophomore guard Markus Howard for Rowsey.
Howard missed MU’s previous game with a hip contusion and was not in the starting lineup against DePaul.
He wound up playing 31 minutes and scoring 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
“He had to play much more than I anticipated him playing,” Wojciechowski said. “It was probably not fair to Markus because he’s done very little (since being hurt last Saturday).”
Rowsey finished with 16 points but shot just 5 of 14.
He made a three-pointer to pull MU within 41-40 at the 13:18 mark of the second half. But the Golden Eagles
didn’t score again until Rowsey made three free throws with 7:15 left.
After cutting DePaul’s advantage to 58-53 on Howard’s layup, MU couldn’t get a stop.
The Blue Demons grabbed offensive rebounds on consecutive possessions, leading to two free throws by Max Strus and a layup by Marin Maric for a 62-53 lead with 1:25 left that clinched the victory.
“We were a very immature basketball team today,” Wojciechowski said. “And DePaul was a very mature basketball team today.
“That’s not surprising because that’s who we’ve been all year. And our immaturity has led to crazy amounts of inconsistency.”
MU lost five of seven games before earning back-to-back victories over Creighton and St. John’s to revive NCAA Tournament hopes.
Now the Golden Eagles have to win their last two regular-season games at Georgetown on Monday and in the home finale against Creighton on Saturday to finish with a .500 conference record.
Even with victories in those games, MU’s résumé is probably not enough to impress the NCAA selection committee, especially with this loss to DePaul.
That would leave a deep run in the Big East tournament as the last hope.