Marquette finding groove again after holding on to beat St. John's for first Big East road win

NEW YORK – The Marquette men’s basketball team exorcised some demons with its 73-72 victory over St. John's on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

The 17th-ranked Golden Eagles (13-5, 4-3 Big East) earned their first road victory in the conference after dropping their first two. MU also saw its woeful three-point shooting stabilize in the second half.

Not that the victory over the Red Storm (12-7, 4-4) was easy.

After David Joplin's three-pointer gave MU its biggest lead at 71-58 with 6 minutes and 20 seconds left, the Golden Eagles did not convert a field goal. MU had four turnovers in that stretch and missed four free throws in the final 2:05.

That left the door open for St. John's. But the Red Storm's Daniss Jenkins missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, and MU escaped with the victory.

BOX SCORE: Marquette 73, St. John's 72

"It was big," said MU's Oso Ighodaro, who had 17 points. "We want to win every game we play in. Winning is a lot better than losing, obviously, so that's what we're going after each and every game."

Three-point shooting comes back in the second half

MU came into the game shooting just 27.8% on three-pointers in Big East games this season.

It looked like it could be another clunker of a game when MU missed all 11 of its attempts from beyond the three-point shooting line.

"We talked for the last several days about the need to have a level of resolve as a team," MU head coach Shaka Smart said. "To come in here and win, we knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"The first half, certainly we kind of made things difficult on ourselves with the basketball gods. Because we were 0 for 11 from three and we missed a lot of point-blank shots."

The Golden Eagles only trailed, 34-28, at the break after forcing 11 turnovers.

"Just like our offense, we trust our process," Ighodaro said. "Shots haven't been falling for us, but we trust our process on offense as well.

"We practice what we want to do in games each and every day, and we just want to bring that to life. Use the energy and competitiveness that we play with."

Then on the first play of the second half, MU ran a play to get an open three-pointer and point guard Tyler Kolek found David Joplin all alone for a shot that splashed through the net.

MU was 6 for 9 from long range in the second half.

"We always say once the game breaks open, it's our game," Kolek said. "Once that lid came off, Jop hit the first one, Kam might have hit one after that, we just started rolling.

"I like the fact that we stayed with it. We were 0 for 11 in the first half, we stuck with it. We stayed shooting. We stayed confident. I made one. And then we just kept rolling."

Stevie Mitchell asserts glue guy status

All five of MU's starters scored in double figures.

Smart made special mention of Stevie Mitchell, who compiled 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. He also made timely baskets, hitting two layups in the final 1:20 of the first half.

"The two baskets by Stevie kept us attached, a six-point game at the half," Smart said. "The way our guys came together, and fought and battled to start the second half, that felt familiar.

"That's what we've done in the past on the road to take games. And it's not easy. And even then it comes down to the last second. We certainly made mistakes, but guys just stayed connected and kept playing for each other."

Mitchell also had back-to-back layups after two blocks from Ighodaro while MU was rolling early in the second half.

After missing four games with a hamstring injury, Mitchell has been a steady contributor, shooting 19 for 34 over his last four games while also notching 13 steals in that span.

"Man, he just brings a level of intensity," Smart said. "Intensity, disruption for the other team. He just plays all out.

"It was important today because we were struggling on offense and he kind of took it upon himself to get to the paint and make something happen. He also in the second half, went out and got some layups for us, which was huge.

"His energy, his intensity, the way he rubs off on his teammates. And then you can put Stevie on any opposing great player. He might not shut them down, but he's going to make things challenging. He's going to continue to fight."

Tyler Kolek back in All-American form

The last time the Golden Eagles played at Madison Square Garden, they claimed the Big East tournament championship in March.

MU showed flashes of being that team again on Saturday, despite the bumpy finish.

The best news for the Golden Eagles is Kolek looks again like the first-team All-American he was expected to be in his senior season.

Kolek finished with 15 points and 11 assists.

After shooting just 2 for 19 with 14 assists in MU's back-to-back losses to Seton Hall and Butler, Kolek was 13 for 26 with 22 assists in consecutive wins over Villanova and St. John's.

"Just to get our road mentality and our road approach going again, I feel like it was important," Kolek said. "To kind of kick-start the rest of the year.

"We got six weeks until we can be back in this building again (for the Big East tournament). It's a good feeling back here from the last time when we won it."