With a disappointing road loss to Dayton on Saturday night, Marquette concluded their non-conference schedule and readied themselves for a home tilt with Butler(7-4) on Tuesday at Fiserv Forum to open up Big East play. Finishing 9-2 out of conference, the Golden Eagles performed well enough against strong non-conference competition to earn them the #9 spot in the latest AP Poll. “Phase 1” of the season helps to create the mold of who a team is, and Marquette took what they’ve learned as a top-10 team and put it against the Bulldogs in their Big East opener.
Despite shooting a miserable 13% from behind the arc in the first half, Marquette was able to pace Butler with an outstanding showing on the offensive glass. An area of contention on the young season for Marquette, the Golden Eagles outrebounded the Bulldogs 11-3 on their end, leading to 17 second-chance points. David Joplin seized the opportunity for 11 points in the first half, and guard Stevie Mitchell infiltrated the lane for 7 rebounds before the halftime buzzer. Butler senior forward Jahmyl Telfort got Marquette for 13 points in the first half, and the Bulldogs led 35-32 at the break.
The second half featured perhaps the most impressive stat of the season: Marquette didn’t turn the ball over a single time. Not once. After only committing two turnovers in the first half, Marquette improved that line even more with complete ball protection. Although shooting improved only slightly off of their first half woes, Marquette was able to protect their possessions to not only take the lead in the second half, but extend it out to double digits pretty quickly behind a litany of forced turnovers of their own. The defensive intensity is an impressive thing to see when balanced with the calm and control of protecting the ball on the other end of the floor.
After a rough outing in Dayton, Player of the Year candidate Kam Jones found the seams to get him to 23 points. A rough night from the outside for Jones(1-7 3pt), he was still able to convert around the basket to lead the Golden Eagles in scoring. Stevie Mitchell, however, was a perfect 6-6 from the field and missed a double-double by one rebound. David Joplin chipped in 15 points on a high-volume 17 attempts, and Chase Ross continues to impress with his athletic ability, grabbing two steals and laying down one ferocious breakaway dunk.
On a night when the shots weren’t falling, Marquette displayed near-perfect discipline by committing just two turnovers the entire game. They dominated the offensive glass, outrebounding Butler 20-4. They had 28 second-chance points and put up 52 points in the paint. There are a lot of ways to win a game, and the Golden Eagles impressively solidified the core aspects of basketball to take down Butler to open up Big East play, 80-70.
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Next up: Marquette(10-2, 1-0 Big East) heads to Cincinnati for a matinee with Xavier(8-4, 0-1 Big East) on Saturday at 11am CST on FOX.
The Barn 