Kam Jones' career high in assists helps Marquette handle Georgetown in road win to start March

WASHINGTON - It has been a while since the Marquette men's basketball team savored the taste of its signature milkshakes for road victories.

They are even sweeter in March.

The Golden Eagles looked smooth for most of a 76-61 victory over Georgetown, then avoided a late meltdown on Saturday at Capital One Arena as the calendar flipped to the sport's most important month.

MU (22-7, 13-5 Big East), which is ranked No. 21 in the Associated Press top 25 and 22nd in the USA TODAY coaches poll , earned its first road win since Jan. 28 at Butler.

More: Box score | MU schedule | Standings

"Just trusting who we are," said MU senior David Joplin, who had team highs with 17 points and nine rebounds. "If we are who we say we are, then there's not really any place to go but up, to improve ourselves and play harder.

"We had our stretch at the beginning of the season when we were playing really well, then we had a rough stretch where we lost four out of six games (to start February). We got to look ourselves in the mirror and see who we are.

"We think we are a team that has guts. We think we are a team that can come back from anything. We just kept it pushing and got to go at who we got up next."

Ben Gold sparks hot first half with shooting

Ben Gold was coming off a career-best 17 points against Providence on Tuesday.

He carried that confidence over against the Hoyas (17-15, 8-13). Gold notched 13 points in the first half, hitting all three of his three-point attempts, as MU raced to a 39-22 lead at the break.

"I'm proud of Ben just the way he's played overall," said head coach Shaka Smart, who improved to 8-0 against Georgetown since he's been at MU. "We talk a lot about the other 98%, which is everything other than shooting and turnovers.

"I think he's done a nice job with that stuff. And then the basketball gods reward you with shots. He's shot a really good percentage all year long. It's just depending on the way teams guard us, he may or may not get five good looks from three, like he did tonight."

Gold had just one basket in the second half, but now has back-to-back double-digit scoring games for the first time since November against Georgia and Purdue.

When Gold is hitting shots, the spacing for MU's offense is unlocked.

"It's a multiplier," Joplin said. "When he's playing well, the guys are playing well, just shooting it confidently, it opens up everything for us.

"The biggest thing is it gives us more confidence. We love to see him get going. It gives us all energy."

Kam Jones has career high in assists

MU senior guard Kam Jones notched nine assists in the first half, so reaching his career high of 11 felt like an inevitability.

He got that early in the second half, and also scored a few buckets for his fifth double-double of the season. Jones has scored in double figures in 45 straight games, the longest streak in the nation.

Jones finished with 13 points and 13 assists.

"He did a really good job winning hits, as we say, winning ball screens in the first half," Smart said. "(Georgetown guard Micah) Peavy is tough, he's an NBA-level defender. He's going to make a lot of money, particularly with the way he defends.

"And I thought Kam did a good job, and our other guys did a good job, being intentional running him off ball screens. That was a domino for us because it created help from them and Kam was able to spray it around.

"Think about this. He came into the year, people thinking about him as a shooting guard. What he's doing passing the ball - and this is on a night when he went 0-5 on threes; we love him taking threes, we love him looking to score - but the fact that he can be a threat and almost have double-digit assists in one half is pretty powerful."

Georgetown provides brief scare

MU's largest lead came at 55-27 early in the second half.

Georgetown cut MU's lead to 65-53 with just under six minutes left. But the Hoyas' Curtis Williams missed a three-pointer that would have got Georgetown within single digits.

Joplin put in a rebound for a layup, and the Golden Eagles cruised to the finish.

"I think for our team, with our style of play, we have to be all-out," Smart said. "When we got that big lead, before Georgetown made their run, or as they were making their run, I feel like we let up with our intensity.

"It might not have been physical intensity, it might have been mental intensity to do the right thing."

There were several timeouts called as MU gathered itself.

"Just stay solid, stay sound," Joplin said. "We were gambling a little bit. We were trying to be greedy. I feel like we were just trying to get our hands on the ball, but sometimes you can get overzealous with that.

"We just had to be smarter. We were trying to be surgical with it. We knew they were going to add some pressure to us when they were trying to come back. We handled it well."

Stevie Mitchell forced to wear a different jersey

All of MU's starters scored in double figures, including Chase Ross (12) and Stevie Mitchell (13).

But there might have been confusion for anyone flipping on the game and trying to figure out who exactly was No. 33 on MU with no name on the back of the jersey.

Mitchell's usual No. 4 jersey was ripped in the opening minutes, and he was forced to switch to the No. 33.

According to MU, the team travels with three emergency jerseys, all in different sizes. Nobody has worn No. 33 for MU since Dawson Garcia in the 2020-21 season.

"That was weird," Joplin said. "That was horrible. That was terrible.

"I double-glanced. I thought he was just going to rock the ripped jersey for the whole game. I looked, like, who is that? But he made it work. Shoutout Stew."

Marquette probable starters

Guards:Kam Jones, Stevie Mitchell, Chase Ross

Forwards:Ben Gold, David Joplin

Georgetown probable starters

Guards: Malik Mack, Jayden Epps

Forwards:Micah Peavy, Jordan Burks

Centers:Drew Fielder

Marquette vs Georgetown odds

Odds courtesy of  BetMGM  as of Saturday

• ODDS: Marquette by 8.5

• O/U: 145.5

Marquette-Georgetown prediction

The Hoyas are a sneaky tough matchup for MU. The Golden Eagles had to scrap back in the first matchup at Fiserv Forum after falling behind by 14 points . The difference now is that the Hoyas' standout freshman Thomas Sorber is out for the season after foot surgery. MU also broke out of its three-point shooting funk against Providence, a good sign for March.

Prediction:Marquette 81, Georgetown 67

What channel is Marquette vs Georgetown on tonight?

• Stream: You can stream the game on the  Peacock app with a subscription .

• Announcers: John Fanta (play-by-play) and Tarik Turner (analyst) will call the game.

Marquette's remaining schedule

• March 5: at UConn, 7:30 p.m.

• March 8: St. John's, 11 a.m.

• March 12-15: Big East tournament, New York

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kam Jones and Ben Gold help Marquette earn road victory at Georgetown