Marquette Golden Eagles found themselves in the best spot they’ve been in the Big East Tournament since 2013. They were a high seed and did get an extra day off. What stood in their way was Seton Hall. A team who Marquette beat once, and should have beat twice during the regular season, but in general, they are a bad matchup for Golden Eagles. Hall used their strength to power past Marquette, 82-75. This loss shouldn’t spell NCAA Tournament trouble for Golden Eagles.

Angel Delgado is a man among boys
We talk about ‘Bucks Killer’ and ‘Brewers Killer’ but there’s no greater Marquette killer than Angel Delgado right now. He joins a long list of players who absolutely torched Golden Eagles during their time. Delgado finished with 11 points, 16 boards and nine assists. Marquette tried to limit his shot selection by doubling him, and that hurt the team in my opinion. It left too many open opportunities for Pirates. Marquette’s help defense was lacking all game long.

Tale of two teams at Madison Square Garden
Marquette’s continued struggles at The Mecca are now an official thing. They go 0-4 this season at MSG with poor shooting in all four games. There’s something about the court and arena for the boys from Milwaukee. Hall on the other hand loves Madison Square Garden. They’re filled with kids who watched Knicks’ teams through the years and wanted to emulate them on that stage. Seton Hall is in the Big East Tournament semifinals for the third straight year. They’ll also look to beat Villanova for three straight years as well in this tournament. Marquette would have been better off with Creighton or Providence.

Katin Reinhardt needs to be stronger with the ball
I feel like a fifth-year senior shouldn’t need the remainder to not be reckless with the basketball, but here we are. Katin Reinhardt had five turnovers in the game compared to Andrew Rowsey and Markus Howard who had two total. Reinhardt seemed to have a poor shot or turnover at the worst time. He needs to be a little bit more in control with these big games, and not let the moment get to him.

Bubble talk
Imagine me whispering this to you, but it appears Marquette is okay. BracketMatrix has Golden Eagles in with 120/121 brackets and the highest 10th seed in the group. Personally, I would rather be Golden Eagles be a 10 versus a 9 due to playing two seeds unless it’s Gonzaga’s region. Tonight’s Big East games are big because I do feel like Marquette is above Providence given their total resume, not just the head-to-head, and they still could make an argument to be ahead of Xavier or Seton Hall for that matter unless either team wins tonight. It’s big for Golden Eagles to have a Villanova-Creighton final along with an Iowa State-West Virginia final in the Big 12.

Players of the Game: Andrew Rowsey (Marquette) Angel Delgado (Seton Hall)

Next up
Who knows. Marquette could be playing on Tuesday or Wednesday in Dayton. Or those same dates at home for the NIT or they’re playing either Thursday or Friday at an unknown location. We shall see.

Charlie.