The Connecticut Huskies entered Al McGuire court in Milwaukee Wednesday with smiles on their faces and their hands held high, taunting a boisterous crowd of 19,091 with the swagger of a team ranked second in the nation.

They left feeling like a team that might very well be the top team in the country when the rankings are released Monday, beating No. 8 Marquette 93-82.

"It's getting to be that time of year," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, who earned his 800th career win. "I keep telling the kids each day 'We're not the same, but that doesn't mean we aren't as good, we just have to be different.' "

The Golden Eagles played the majority of the game without senior guard Dominic James, who fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot after four minutes of play. James leads the team with 143 assists on the season but will be out indefinitely.

Marquette coach Buzz Williams looked to little-used guard Maurice Acker in James' place, and he didn't disappoint. The junior scored six points (on two 3-point baskets) and dished out four assists against zero turnovers.

"Maurice, in the 33 minutes that he played…had zero turnovers and created shots for others," Williams said. "He did a really, really good job."

Despite outshooting Marquette (23-5, 12-3 Big East) by more than 20 percent from the field in the first half (55.2-33.3), the Huskies couldn't manage more than a 43-37 lead at the break.

Connecticut (26-2, 14-2 Big East) controlled the majority of the play in the second half and appeared to hold a commanding lead at 84-74 with 4:28 left. But the Golden Eagles rallied with a quick seven-point run of their own, closing the gap to 84-81 with a little more than 2:30 remaining.

"It all starts on defense, you know we make a stop we can go down and capitalize on our end," sophomore guard Jimmy Butler said. "I'd say all the runs start and stop with our defense."

Connecticut broke that run with a pair of free throws by forward Jeff Adrien and finished the Marquette threat with guard A.J. Price's eighth 3-point basket of the game. Price finished with 36 points on 12-of-20 from the field while dishing out six assists and grabbing six rebounds.

The Golden Eagles were outscored 36-20 in the post while getting outrebounded 46-26. Connecticut's dominance in the paint could be attributed at least in part to 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet, who finished the game with 14 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.

In the first half, Connecticut got off to a quick 7-2 start on two baskets by Price and an alley-oop dunk from forward Stanley Robinson (19 points, 10 rebounds). The Golden Eagles trailed until senior guard Jerel McNeal (26 points) hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 10:01 remaining in the half to go ahead 20-19. Later, McNeal forced a steal that led to a fast break dunk for a 28-22 Marquette lead with 8:42 left in the half.

That would be Marquette's largest lead of the game as the Huskies went on a 16-0 run to build a 38-28 lead at the 3:23 mark.

"We made some critical mistakes down the stretch," Acker said. "That hurt us in the long run…we have to mourn about it now until midnight and then clear our heads."