HONOLULU — Shaka Smart was playing the part he was born to play Saturday afternoon, as Marquette practiced for a Maui Invitational first-round game against UCLA. “This is Hollywood versus Milwaukee,” Smart screamed inside the University of Hawaii practice gym. “No one in here was asked to coach or play at UCLA.”

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Smart paused.

“UCLA versus us? You kidding me?”

For six years, Smart dined at the fancy table while coaching at Texas, a program and school that never really seemed to fit his persona. Marquette isn’t a nobody in the college basketball world, but it’s in a blue-collar city where the fans have embraced him and his players have bought entirely into his belief system.

Smart didn’t recycle the same analogy for Tuesday’s semifinal against top-ranked Kansas, but the theme was no different.

“As it relates to recruiting, we’re at a different spot in the hierarchy than Kansas is, than UCLA is,” Smart said. “But when you get in the game, it’s our five against their five. And when our guys truly are connected around being the best us, all of a sudden they realize, wow, we can be better than them.”

They might not just be better. They might be the best, as in all of college basketball.

That possibility is ahead of No. 4 Marquette which dominated Kansas in a 73-59 win, setting up a date with No. 2 Purdue in Wednesday’s championship game. It would be a momentous accomplishment to win what’s been labeled the best November tournament of all time. So would getting ranked No. 1, which should be a given if Marquette beats the Boilermakers, who survived a 71-67 slugfest against Tennessee in the other Maui semifinal.

Tuesday night in many ways felt like Smart slaying demons of his past.

Smart told a story about playing Kansas for the first time at Texas. His Longhorns team led by five at Allen Fieldhouse at halftime when assistant coach Jai Lucas grabbed him and told him he needed to convince his players that they could win. Smart was flabbergasted. What do you mean convince ’em we can win? We’re winning. We’re up.

“He was exactly right, man,” Smart said. “Like, we didn’t quite have the belief we needed to have, and they won like they almost always do at home in that game.”

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While in Austin, Smart watched Kansas extend its incredible Big 12 conference championship streak to 16. He lost seven straight times to the Jayhawks before registering a win.

Kansas was the Big Bad Wolf, and everyone’s houses were made of hay.

“There’s an aura that those guys have that’s been earned,” Smart said.

This all seemed to be on Smart’s mind Tuesday night. He didn’t just want to beat Kansas; he wanted to leave a lasting impression. His opportunity arrived with 3:19 left in the first half. Kansas wing Kevin McCullar Jr. made a 3-pointer in front of the Marquette bench, a shot that felt like the beginning of a run, and barked at Smart on his way back down the floor. Smart barked back. Then Smart had words for KU’s coaching staff, leading to a benches-clearing confrontation that ended with Smart being restrained by his players and both teams being given technical fouls.

“I don’t know what I said,” Smart told The Athletic afterward. “I have a selective memory.”

Shaka Smart is FIRED UP after the brief altercation in the first half with 3 minutes to go. Marquette is up, 33-28.

— Krysten Peek (@krystenpeek) November 22, 2023

In his postgame news conference, Smart called McCullar — whom he faced at Texas when McCullar was at Texas Tech — “one of the best competitors I’ve coached against in a long time. He always just brought an edge that was different. And then he’s always kind of enjoyed having a dialogue with me.”

Kansas coach Bill Self, who could be seen mouthing the word “unbelievable” after meeting with Smart and the officials moments after the flareup, sounded dubious about that version of events.

“I doubt it was accurate, just so you know, and I don’t even care,” Self said. “I’m not going to talk about it, but I guarantee it wasn’t accurate.”

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Everyone could have used a Snickers, but Smart’s response felt calculated. He knew exactly what he was doing.

At Texas, Smart never got to the point where he felt like he could go chest-to-chest with Self. At Marquette, he might not land burger boys, but he’s built what is an idealistic program in his eyes, zigging from chasing quick fixes in the transfer portal by sticking with his guys and leaning on development.

Self’s team was preseason No. 1 because he landed the best transfer on the market in Hunter Dickinson, who now stars next to McCullar, who was one of the best available transfers a year earlier. Smart has just one transfer in star point guard Tyler Kolek, but he got him in his first year when he needed to fill a roster. Kolek had spent only one season at George Mason and left after a coaching change. He wasn’t on any of the top lists of available transfers back then. It feels like he’s homegrown.

GO DEEPER

Shaka Smart is still betting on his culture. Maybe we should, too

Smart didn’t recruit his entire team, but these are his guys, each one looking tailor-made to his system. Senior Oso Ighodaro played a total of 38 minutes as a freshman under the previous regime, and he has blossomed into the best playmaking center in college basketball under Smart.

Against Kansas, he got the stage to show how far he’s come. Ighodaro scored 21 points to go along with nine rebounds and two assists, and he helped hold Dickinson to a season-low 13 points. The Jayhawks had six players transfer out this offseason, and their bench is made up of two transfers and two freshmen who are struggling to find their place. Marquette’s bench is a strength. Backup point guard Sean Jones made the game-winning shot against UCLA on Monday; Jones, Chase Ross and Ben Gold, a trio of sophomores, combined for 27 points against the Jayhawks.

“Anytime you win a game like this, it reinforces our way,” Smart said. “And that’s our way of development, our way of recruiting, our way of relationships, our way of playing. Everything.”

It played out perfectly on the floor. The ball moved with a purpose. A system, employed since Smart arrived at Marquette, that is unique to his program. Like a saxophonist who has his own sound. The Golden Eagles play hot potato until they gain an advantage. They’re after 3s and layups and keep attacking until they get what they want. They outscored Kansas, a team that feasts on post-ups, 46-26 in the paint.

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The defense mirrors Smart’s energy. Relentless. Swarming. The Jayhawks usually also play a style with beautiful ball movement and misdirection that leads to angled post entries and layups, but Marquette’s pressure disrupted the plan. Kansas had 18 turnovers and looked hurried on offense.

The thing with Kansas is that no matter how dire it looks sometimes, Self and his players figure out a way. It’s happened twice in national championship games. It’s happened too many times to count at Allen Fieldhouse. And Smart, maybe feeling some PTSD, sensed Kansas was about to turn into the bully when McCullar made that 3.

Given the opportunity to cool down after, he realized he has a team that doesn’t see those ghosts.

“It’s different when you’re not in the league with them,” he said. “Not that there’s not a real respect, because there is. We’re talking about arguably the best coach in the last 25 years and a top two or three program in that amount of time. But there’s not a fear. When I was in the Big 12, it felt like they had a little bit of a spell over that league.

“I’ll tell you this, there’s a lot going on in that moment. This is my 15th year as a head coach. That doesn’t happen a lot. But I’m always gonna stand up for my guys and my program. And there was a moment there where I felt like that needed to occur. So do I regret that? Heck no.”

Smart has cast his own spell. His players mirror him. The belief. The us-against-the-world mentality. On Saturday, right before Smart’s Hollywood rant, junior Kam Jones didn’t like the volume of his team’s defense and shouted, “That’s not how we gonna beat UCLA with that fake s—.”

The intensity rarely dips at Marquette’s practices, and it’s not just Smart. The players, veterans in his system now, will not let it.

Smart said in his postgame news conference that he wants his players to know that they “don’t take a backseat to anyone.” The truth is that Jones and Kolek have too much confidence and swag to ever fear a bully.

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But the first-half theatrics seemed to work. Marquette finished the first half on a 5-0 run after the squabble. The Golden Eagles fans behind the bench loved every bit of it, chanting Smart’s name.

He is their coach. He is comfortable in that polo. He’s a better coach now than he was at Texas. Sometimes a change helps a man figure out the way he needs to be.

It just so happens he also landed in the perfect spot.

(Top photo of Marquette’s Chase Ross and Stevie Mitchell and Kansas’ KJ Adams: Darryl Oumi / Getty Images)