Late rally isn’t enough in ugly loss
Marquette played about six good minutes against DePaul on Saturday. The rest of the game was ugly.
The Golden Eagles rallied from a 13point deficit to take a late lead, but then MU couldn't close and suffered a brutal 68-61 loss at Fiserv Forum.
MU (8-7, 4-5 Big East) has to start thinking about its NCAA Tournament resume, and a home loss to the Blue Demons (3-5, 1-5) will be a major blemish.
“I thought the start, the first half especially, we were bad,” MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “And I take full responsibility for it. It was like we were running in mud . ... They were quicker to the ball. They played harder.
“Our 10 turnovers (in the first half), many unforced, were avoidable. We were 3 for 19 in the paint in the first half and that's generally been a strength of ours. Not that we make every shot, but we generally get a really good return on investment when we get it down low. And tonight we didn't. You got to give DePaul credit for that, but very disappointing effort for our group.”
MU's first three baskets came on three-pointers from Dawson Garcia,
Koby McEwen and D.J. Carton as the Golden Eagles took a 9-5 lead.
But DePaul took advantage of a sloppy stretch by MU and ripped off a 10-0 run. The Golden Eagles had five turnovers in the first eight minutes and the Blue Demons scored 10 points off them.
McEwen ended the run by sinking another three-pointer. That helped settle MU and kicked off a 7-0 run.
Carton gave the Golden Eagles a 2422 lead after getting fouled on a threepoint attempt and sinking all the free throws.
DePaul then grabbed the lead again on back-to-back two-point buckets by Nick Ongenda and Kobe Elvis before an open three-pointer by Javon FreemanLiberty with 1:10 remaining in the first half.
MU forced Elvis to miss a tough three-pointer in the waning seconds of the first half and Garcia came down with the rebound. But Garcia had the ball stripped by DePaul's Darious Hall and then the MU freshman fouled Hall under the basket.
Hall made one free throw for a 30-24 advantage at the break. MU had more turnovers (10) than field goals (eight) in the first half.
The Golden Eagles shot a frosty 8 for 29 (27.6%) in the first half, but were helped by making 5 for 12 (41.7%) from long distance.
Carton led MU with nine points in the first 20 minutes but also had three of the turnovers.
The Golden Eagles scored the first basket of the second half on a put-back from Theo John, but then DePaul's Romeo Weems and Charlie Moore had easy layups for a 34-26 lead that prompted a timeout by MU after just three minutes.
McEwen traveled on the next possession for MU's 12th turnover and Freeman-Liberty hit a floater to give the Blue Demons their largest lead at 36-26.
The Golden Eagles' Greg Elliott hit two free throws and a floater in the lane to cut the deficit to 38-32.
MU couldn't maintain the momentum and DePaul scored seven unanswered points for a 45-32 lead.
The Golden Eagles got to within 4741, but Moore answered with a threepointer.
MU finally showed a burst of energy with Carton scoring on a short jumper, then McEwen dived on the floor for a steal and found Carton for a dunk that made it 50-45 with 7:48 left.
After another turnover by DePaul, MU's Symir Torrence hit a three-pointer in the corner.
The teams traded baskets before Jamal Cain hit a three-pointer from the corner to finally give MU the lead back at 56-54 with 3:48 on the clock.
Freeman-Liberty gave DePaul the lead again on a short jumper and two free throws, and then Moore had a layup goaltended for a 60-56 lead with 1:34 remaining.
Moore made it 62-56 with two free throws.
Carton sank a three-pointer with 25 seconds left that brought MU within 6461, but DePaul salted away the win at the free throw line.