Marquette vs. Seton Hall final score: Marquette blunders cost Golden Eagles win over Seton Hall

In what was a well-contested game at the Prudential Center, late Marquette mistakes saw a three point lead turn into a three point loss at the hands of the Seton Hall Pirates, 69-66.

With 38 seconds left, the Golden Eagles led by three off of a tough layup by Katin Reinhardt after a well-placed pass from freshman point guard Markus Howard. Marquette looked to be in control and one good defensive stand would see, at worst, the possibility of overtime with a last shot attempt.

And then the wheels fell off.

Khadeen Carrington was fouled going to the rim and got the basket to fall with it. He stepped to the line and proceeded to miss his free throw. Thankfully for Seton Hall fans, they had a man named Ismael Sanogo, who grabbed a huge offensive rebound and was fouled after being pushed out of bounds by Sam Hauser of Marquette. He proceeded to miss his free throw attempt, only to see the ball take a wacky series of bounces and slip through multiple hands on both sides to fall to Carrington again, who mad his basket and was fouled again, putting Hall up 67-66 (and for good in the game, it would turn out). He calmly made his free throw to take Hall up two with 24 seconds left in the game.

Marquette would then proceed to turn the ball over twice and surrender another one of two trip to the line to Carrington without even seeing a shot attempt in the final 24 seconds.

The ending overshadowed what was a fantastic game. No team managed to create separation by any huge margin, and even when Marquette was up by ten in the middle of the first half, the score still felt as close as a one or two possession game. Katin Reinhardt caught fire in the first half, going 5-7 from three to power Marquette’s offense.

On the other end, however, Marquette had no answer for Angel Delgado. No combination of Luke Fischer, Matt Heldt, Hauser, or Reinhardt could handle him. Every post touch was impactful, and he seemed to absolutely eat up Marquette’s interior defense to the tune of 18 points on 9-13 shooting with 12 rebounds, adding yet another game to his impressive tally of double-doubles.

Marquette was lead by Reinhardt with 17, including going 5-8 from beyond the arc. Tellingly, Marquette’s star players Haanif Cheatham and Jajuan Johnson combined for eight points, including zero by Cheatham, on a combined 4-18 from the field.

Marquette even competed with the high-rebounding Pirates, finishing with just three fewer rebounds, which means they were only down one rebound before the calamity that was the offensive rebounds at the end.

With both teams now 1-1 in conference play, Seton Hall gets DePaul at the Prudential Center next. Marquette, meanwhile, has to find a way to overcome the loss to play at Villanova.

Musings

• If Josh Hart and Maurice Watson Jr. were not in the Big East, Angel Delgado would be the Big East Player of the Year hands down, and I’m not sure it would be close (Though Marcus Foster might have something to say about that). He’s easily the best big in the Big East and should be mentioned in the conversation surrounding a top ten list of best bigs in the nation.
• I usually talk about how Reinhardt is not living up to offensive potential here, but besides basically disappearing in the second half, he had an okay game. Better than some of his games before. If he starts to get comfortable he can only help Marquette.
• Markus Howard still needs to be talked about in the Big East Freshman of the Year race even if Shamorie Ponds, Justin Patton, and Marcus Lovett are all much better candidates. Kid can play.
• Big props to Seton Hall for executing. As unbelievable as it is to see a team implode like Marquette did, Seton Hall did all they needed to do to take this game, and never let the pressure or the moment get to them.