No. 12 Marquette stretched its winning streak to six games Wednesday night and remained unbeaten at Fiserv Forum with a 79-69 Big East Conference win over DePaul in Milwaukee.
Four players scored in double figures for the Golden Eagles (17-3, 6-1 Big East), led by 23 points and nine assists from Markus Howard, who converted all 15 of his free throws. Sam Hauser added 19 points, and Joey Hauser scored 14.
However, Marquette's star might have been center Theo John, who entered the night averaging only 6.2 points. John racked up 16 points and 10 rebounds while also blocking six shots and altering a spate of other attempts.
Paul Reed paced the Blue Demons (11-7, 3-4) with 18 points and seven rebounds before fouling out in the last minute. Femi Olujobi scored 15 points and grabbed 11 boards. Max Strus added 12 points but made only 4 of 17 shots from the floor, and Devin Gage contributed 11 points.
Despite committing 19 turnovers and allowing DePaul to edge within five points early in the second half, the Golden Eagles improved to 14-0 on their new home court. Marquette sank 28 of 32 free throws while the Blue Demons were 15 of 19.
Defense dominated the first 10 minutes of the game. Six minutes into the contest, the score was tied at 8. DePaul was able to make a bit of a run, taking a 16-12 advantage at the 11:42 mark when Lyrik Shreiner converted a Strus feed into a layup.
However, the Blue Demons lost their composure shortly thereafter when Jaylen Butz combined an offensive foul with a technical, followed moments later by a technical from coach Dave Leitao. Howard made all four of the technical free throws to tie the game, and the Golden Eagles took the lead for good with 5:51 left in the half on a 3-pointer by Sam Hauser.
Marquette ran off and hid in the last five minutes of the half with a 15-4 spurt, capping it when Howard put back his own miss with three seconds left. That gave the Golden Eagles a 40-27 lead at intermission.
--Field Level Media
DePaul | Marquette | |
Paul Reed 18 | Scoring | Markus Howard 23 |
Devin Gage 5 | Assists | Markus Howard 9 |
Femi Olujobi 11 | Rebounds | Theo John 10 |
Femi Olujobi 8 | Free Throws Made | Markus Howard 15 |
Devin Gage 4 | Steals | Joey Hauser 2 |
Jaylen Butz 1 | Blocks | Theo John 6 |