David Joplin led Marquette with 18 points and guard Stevie Mitchell was huge down the stretch, scoring seven straight to cut Xavier's lead to 53-49 at the final media timeout. Overall, Xavier held Marquette to just 37.1% shooting and 8-of-29 from three-point range. The Golden Eagles got to the free-throw line just seven times.

It was not quite enough. Marquette’s 26-14 run over the final 12:10. David Joplin and Kam Jones’s late layups to trim it to a single-possession game with a minute