It was a coming out party for redshirt center Chris Otule, as he scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds in just 15 minutes of Marquette’s (4-0) 82-69 win over South Dakota (1-2) Saturday afternoon.
Senior forward Jimmy Butler led all scorers with 20 points, as Marquette led from the opening tip.
For the game, the Golden Eagles shot 48.3 percent from the field, while allowing the Coyotes to shoot 40.9 percent.
Marquette struggled a bit, however, turning the ball over 16 times and continuing to fail to hit the outside jumper.
“I was a little discouraged, I thought this was the worst game we’ve played so far,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “Our turnovers are a problem, and lead to transitions that we can’t defend.”
South Dakota was led by Milwaukee native Charlie Westbrook’s 17 points.
Marquette had its way with South Dakota down low, out-rebounding the smaller Coyotes 48-30, and shot 23-for-34 (67.6 percent) on free throws compared to 6-for-14 (42.9 percent) for South Dakota.
The Golden Eagles led 43-29 after 20 minutes, and never had any real issues in holding off South Dakota.
Junior guard Darius Johnson-Odom and senior guard Dwight Buycks joined Butler and Otule in double digits, finishing with 14 and 11 points, respectively, while junior forward Jae Crowder was efficient, scoring seven points and seven rebounds in just 17 minutes.
Marquette continued to struggle with its three-point shooting, converting on just 1-of-9 attempts (11.1 percent).
The Golden Eagles will take its perfect record to Kansas City, Mo., as part of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic starting Monday against No. 1 Duke (3-0) at 6:30 p.m.
“Everybody knows who Duke’s players are, they know who they’re coaches are,” Butler said. “So that’s fine, we’re not expected to win and the best we could do is surprise everyone and actually win.”
The team will then play either Kansas State or Gonzaga at 6:45 or 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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