Villanova tripped up by missed shots and Marquette in 57-54 loss

Take away the outside factors – like Marquette’s youth and inexperience and Villanova’s talent advantage and No. 11 ranking – and basketball games still sometimes come down to simple shot-making.

Miss enough open looks while your opponent makes theirs and none of those other things really matter.

Marquette made shots when it mattered Wednesday night inside Finneran Pavilion.

Justin Lewis drilled a straightaway three-pointer with 11.9 seconds to play and the Golden Eagles knocked off the 11th-ranked Wildcats, 57-54.

“They hit a lot of threes, but a lot of timely threes, and the last one being most timely,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “The 13 threes were big, but every time we started to separate, they hit some threes to get it back close. You have to give them credit for that.”

Justin Moore got off a decent look from deep as time ticked away but it didn’t fall.

Villanova (13-5, 6-2 Big East) had its six-game winning streak snapped thanks in part to 6-of-24 shooting from beyond the arc.

“We executed right to the end,” Wright said. “We just didn’t make the shots. That’s going to happen sometimes. You look at other little things that you can do when it’s a one-possession game, the little things you can control. That’s where I think they got us, on the little things.”

Lewis finished with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range.

Eric Dixon paced Villanova with 15 points.

Villanova trailed 36-33 and had gone five minutes without a made basket before Brandon Slater’s three-pointer six minutes into the second half kicked off a 12-0 run that put the Wildcats ahead, 45-36, with 10:53 to play.

Villanova had made just 3-of-16 three-point attempts prior to Slater’s run-starting shot.

The key run featured back-to-back baskets from Jermaine Samuels, including a dunk that got the home crowd going. It was capped by a Moore triple that forced Marquette coach Shaka Smart to call timeout.

But Marquette (13-6, 5-3) kept fighting back. A Greg Elliott three-pointer with 3:40 left got the Golden Eagles within a point, 51-50.

Then Collin Gillespie’s three-point play gave Villanova a four-point advantage, but Justin Lewis got to the rim twice to even the score at 54.

That set up a wild finish. Caleb Daniels nearly had a steal on Marquette’s game-winning possession, but Lewis gathered the ball and fired.

Villanova missed seven of its final eight shot attempts.

Former Villanova All-American Josh Hart was honored during halftime with a ceremony celebrating the retiring of his jersey.

Hart, who played four seasons for the Wildcats from 2013-17, was the 2017 Big East Player of the Year and a key player on Villanova’s 2016 national championship team.

A plaque honoring Hart, who wore No. 3 at Villanova, will be in the main lobby of Finneran Pavilion. Villanova doesn’t retire numbers, except for Paul Arizin’s No. 11.

“It’s definitely something I think when I’m done playing I’ll look back on and appreciate it even more,” Hart said during a pregame press conference.

Hart, 26, is having his best season in the NBA. He’s started in 34 of 35 games for the New Orleans Pelicans and is averaging 13.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game.

He entered Villanova as an average recruit and blossomed into a player NBA teams covet. He’s one of nine players coached by Wright playing in the NBA.

“He’s been vital to my growth, not just as a basketball player but also as a person,” Hart said of Wright. “It’s kind of hard to put into words what he’s meant to me. I came in as a freshman with a small shot of getting to the league.”