Tag: Marquette

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No. 12 St. John’s handles its first challenge of the week with a win over No. 11 Marquette, per the team in New York

Simeon Wilcher and Kadary Richmond in the 2nd half

It’s been a while since St. John’s has had this much success, and fans are beginning to feel the excitement.

“We want UConn! We want UConn!” some of them chanted during the final seconds on Tuesday as the 12th-ranked Red Storm defeated No. 11 Marquette 70-64 in their Big East matchup at Madison Square Garden.

The win marked a strong start to a key week for Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino’s team, which remained in sole possession of first place in the conference and moved to 1-1 against ranked teams this season.

Next up is a game Friday night at No. 19 UConn, the two-time defending national champions.

“It’s a nice feeling. It’s good to enjoy it. But we know we’re not done,” said guard Kadary Richmond.

Richmond, a transfer from Seton Hall, had an impressive all-around performance with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.

Leading scorer RJ Luis Jr. contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds as St. John’s (20-3, 11-1) won for the 15th time in 16 games. The Red Storm has now won nine straight regular-season Big East games for the first time since the 1984-85 season, when the program reached the Final Four under legendary coach Lou Carnesecca.

“We put in a lot of hard work in the preseason. You guys can see it now,” said Luis. “I think we’re having a great season. We have a lot to accomplish yet. And the guys are hungry and we’re going to go after it.”

Zudy Ejiofor celebrates after scoring

Zuby Ejiofor added 13 points and 13 rebounds to help St. John’s improve to 15-0 at home in front of a roaring crowd of 16,521. The crowd included New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, former Mets closer John Franco, and former Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz.

With their highest ranking in 25 years, St. John’s is off to its best start since 1985-86. The last time the program was 11-1 or better in Big East play, the Johnnies opened 14-0 in 1985 during the glory days led by Carnesecca and star player Chris Mullin.

“Seeing St. John’s come back is so much fun,” said the 72-year-old Pitino, now in his second season at St. John’s. “I’m having a blast coaching these guys. I’m having a blast seeing The Garden explode like this. I’m so happy for the fans and so appreciative of everybody coming out and being supportive of us.”

Marquette (18-5, 9-3) lost its second straight game and is now 3-3 since a six-game winning streak. The Golden Eagles had won the previous six meetings between the teams.

“That was a heck of a game by St. John’s,” said Marquette coach Shaka Smart. “Hats off and much respect to coach Pitino, their whole program, and all their guys. I thought they played with incredible violence. They were just the more aggressive team for the majority of the game.”

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No. 12 St. John’s faces No. 11 Marquette, aiming to extend their streak in New York

No. 12 St. John (NCAAB)

No. 12 St. John’s will look to extend three important streaks and strengthen its lead in the Big East when it takes on No. 11 Marquette on Tuesday evening in New York.

The Red Storm (19-3, 10-1 Big East) are on an eight-game winning streak, including seven consecutive wins at Madison Square Garden, and they’ve won all 14 home games this season.

St. John’s moved into first place in the Big East on Saturday after a 68-66 win over Providence, combined with Marquette’s 77-69 loss to No. 25 UConn.

Marquette (18-4, 9-2), tied for second place with Creighton (16-6, 9-2), will face the Bluejays on Saturday.

Kadary Richmond led St. John’s with a season-high 24 points, hitting the game-winning jumper with three seconds left against Providence.

“It felt very good. The coaches, my teammates, they believed in me to give me the ball at the end of the game,” Richmond said, according to the New York Post. “We executed the play, and I made a big-time shot.”

Richmond has been in great form recently, going 10-for-14 from the field against Providence, making him 30-for-45 in the last four games.

“I think he’s playing really good basketball. We were going to win it or lose it with Kadary’s shot or his pass,” Red Storm coach Rick Pitino said. “He made a terrific shot. He was shooting the ball well all game. I’m really, really happy for him.”

No. 25 UConn and No. 9 Marquette

RJ Luis added 19 points and eight rebounds, helping St. John’s win its eighth straight Big East game, their longest league winning streak since February 1992.

Luis (17.5), Zuby Ejiofor (14.4), and Richmond (11.9) are all averaging double-digit points for St. John’s. Ejiofor leads the team with 8.1 rebounds, while Richmond leads in assists (4.8) and steals (2.0).

While St. John’s has been improving, Marquette faced a setback on Saturday.

Kam Jones scored 22 points, and Chase Ross added 19, but the rest of the team struggled, making only 9 of 30 shots against UConn. Marquette also fell behind by 22 points in the first half.

“Defensively, it was a roller coaster for us,” Ross said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We had great stretches, and we had other stretches where we could have done better. So I feel like if we just negate negative stretches, we’ll be fine.”

Marquette head coach Shaka Smart believes it’s more complicated than that.

“We have to have an understanding that beating Marquette is a quality win, and there’s a level of desperation that the other teams have when they play us,” Smart said. “Whether that’s UConn, Butler, Villanova, it doesn’t matter.

“We talk about that a lot. Acceptance only works 100 percent. So if you 75 percent accept that, it ain’t going to work.”

Jones leads Marquette in points (19) and assists (6.2), while David Joplin contributes 14.5 points and a team-high 5.2 rebounds per game.

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No. 25 UConn defeats No. 9 Marquette with stellar shooting in Storrs

No. 25 UConn and No. 9 Marquette

Solo Ball scored 25 points and Alex Karaban added 15 as No. 25 UConn held off a strong second-half push from No. 9 Marquette, winning 77-69 in a Big East matchup on Saturday night in Milwaukee.

Samson Johnson chipped in 13 points for UConn (16-6, 8-3 Big East), who shot an impressive 59.5 percent from the field, including 12-of-19 from 3-point range. Ball made 7 of 11 shots, hitting 7 of 9 from beyond the arc.

Kam Jones scored 22 points and Chase Ross contributed 19 for Marquette (18-4, 9-2 Big East), which trailed by as much as 22 points in the first half. This was only their second home loss in 13 games.

Marquette made a run in the second half, cutting the lead to 66-59 after Jones’ layup with 5:47 left.

Stevie Mitchell stole the ball and scored a breakaway layup to make it 69-63 with 2:50 to go, but Ball responded with a 3-pointer, putting UConn up 75-66 with 1:48 remaining.

UConn allowed Marquette to stay in it by missing the front end of two bonus free throws. David Joplin’s deep 3-pointer pulled Marquette to 75-69 with 38 seconds left.

No. 5 Marquette and No. 11 Wisconsin

Ball then made two free throws to push the lead back to 77-69, and Marquette missed its last six shots, preventing any further comeback.

Marquette forced 25 turnovers, including 11 steals, but struggled from long range, making just 7 of 22 3-pointers and 12 of 22 free throws.

Marquette ended the first half with a 9-point run, trimming UConn’s lead to 42-29 at the break. UConn opened the second half strong, but Marquette answered with a 6-point run to cut the deficit to single digits.

The Huskies responded with an 8-3 run, extending their lead to 52-38 on a 3-pointer by Ball.

UConn dominated most of the first half, taking a 42-20 lead on two free throws by Karaban with 2:27 left.

Ross sparked a 9-point run for Marquette, hitting two 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater, bringing the Golden Eagles within 42-29 at halftime.

Jones and Ross each had 12 points in the first half on 8-of-13 shooting, while the rest of the Marquette team went 0-for-12.

UConn jumped out to a 19-9 lead as Marquette struggled, hitting just 3 of its first 14 shots, including 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.

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Marquette Women’s Basketball Wins Against Georgetown in Milwaukee

Lee Volker stuck 20 on the Hoyas on Saturday

I arrived at the McGuire Center just a bit too late to catch the start of Marquette women’s basketball’s game against Georgetown on Saturday.

Due to some circumstances beyond my control, I got settled in my seat during the first-quarter media timeout.

At that point, Marquette was leading 14-6. It turned out Georgetown had just ended a 12-0 Marquette run right before the timeout. After the break, Marquette went on to score the next eight points.

That was a 20-2 run. With the score at 22-6, Marquette just had to maintain their lead for the rest of the game.

They did give up the last five points of the first quarter, but then they won the second quarter by three points and outscored Georgetown by 11 in the third. That’s better than just holding steady.

Even though Georgetown started the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run, it didn’t really change much in the grand scheme of things.

The lead was still 16 points at 68-52. Marquette then outscored the Hoyas 7-6 for the final six minutes, and that was it.

The surprising part? Marquette wasn’t even playing at its best offensively. They finished the game shooting 55% from the field and a remarkable 67% from three-point range.

Marquette Women’s Basketball wins against Georgetown in Milwaukee

When they did get a shot up, it was likely to go in. But because Marquette committed 21 turnovers—just like Georgetown—they didn’t quite hit their usual average of one point per possession.

Despite this, they still won by 17 points thanks to their strong defense. In fact, you could argue that Marquette really stepped up on defense, as Kelsey Ransom scored 25 points on 21 shots, and Ariel Jenkins had 16 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out.

Lee Volker led Marquette with 20 points, while Halle Vice added 19 and Skylar Forbes contributed 18.

Vice led the team in rebounds with eight, Volker had the most assists with six, and Forbes tied with Vice for the team-high in steals with three. Forbes also added four blocks for a well-rounded performance.