The Meandering Middle
Most teams, even the good ones, go through a stretch during the season where they underperform or have to make adjustments due to injury. Marquette would deal with both. Big East play opened up on the road at Providence for the Golden Eagles, where they would have to go at the Friars without hustle-guard Stevie Mitchell, who aggravated a hamstring in the game prior.
Down a starter, Marquette would drop the opener to Providence by 15 points at Amica Mutual Pavillion, one of the toughest places to play in the Big East. Marquette would bounce back with a win at home over lowly Georgetown and a signature 5-point win against Creighton that gave Marquette their record-tying 20th straight home win inside the conference.
After losing a tough game out in Jersey to Seton Hall by 3, Marquette returned home to face Butler. In what was arguably the low point of the season, the Golden Eagles would not only end the home winning streak and lose to the Bulldogs in a game in which they were favored by double digits, but they would also lose their high-energy sophomore guard Sean Jones to a season-ending torn ACL injury. Marquette found themselves dropping three of their first five games in the Big East and sat at a season-low #17 ranking.
Thankfully, Stevie Mitchell returned the next game to bolster the backcourt, and Marquette would rattle off eight straight wins that included wins over St. John’s at MSG, a season sweep of Villanova, and a revenge win at home over Seton Hall. Back at #4 in the country, the Golden Eagles soared into the homestretch only to see something they hadn't seen yet. UConn.