Kam Jones racked up 19 points, four 3-pointers, four assists and three steals as No. 10 Marquette stymied Seton Hall 76-59 on Tuesday in Newark, N.J.
The Golden Eagles entered the day tied for fifth in Division I with 10.2 steals per game. They grabbed 18 on Tuesday, with 10 in the first half, and forced the Pirates into a season-worst 24 turnovers that led to 23 Marquette points.
David Joplin scored 12 points and Ben Gold added 11 for Marquette. It was a quieter scoring night for Chase Ross (seven points) and Stevie Mitchell (three), but Ross had five steals and Mitchell swiped four.
Marquette (16-3, 7-1 Big East) bounced back from its first loss of conference play three days earlier against Xavier. The Golden Eagles led by double figures for the final 26:11 of game time.
Isaiah Coleman carried Seton Hall (6-13, 1-7) with a career-high 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting, plus a game-high nine rebounds. Coleman shook off a 1-for-13 shooting performance Saturday against St. John’s. Prince Aligbe added 12 points and six boards.
Aligbe made a layup for a 2-0 Pirates lead while the Golden Eagles needed almost three minutes to get on the board. However, Marquette then rattled off a 9-0 run, punctuated by Ross’ dunk off a steal by Mitchell.
Seton Hall was able to trim its deficit to 12-11 before Marquette used another 9-0 run to build its first double-digit lead. Gold sank a 3-pointer during that surge.
Jones (two) and Gold combined for three consecutive 3-pointers to make it 30-13 with 4:59 left in the first half, and it was clear the rout was on — even though the Golden Eagles missed their final 12 shots from the floor in the half.
Jones drained back-to-back 3-pointers for Marquette’s first 20-point cushion of the night, 48-28, with 14:35 to play in the game.
Golden Eagles freshmen Damarius Owens and Royce Parham got significant run in the second half and finished with eight points apiece.
Seton Hall trailed by as many as 27 points. The Pirates made the margin more respectable by scoring 23 points in the final nine minutes.
–Field Level Media
