Following a week where Marquette lost its first two games of the season to ranked opponents before earning a raucous victory over cross-town rival Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Golden Eagles return to the Bradley Center Saturday to take on Longwood.
The Lancers (3-4) begin a five game road swing after losing at home to Fairleigh Dickinson, 83-78, Monday night.
Marquette extended its winning streak over UW-Milwaukee to 38 games with a 75-72 win at the U.S. Cellular Arena Saturday night, the first time it had played the Panthers on its home court since 1931.
Junior guard Darius Johnson-Odom dropped a career-high 29 points on 10-for-14 shooting, including five 3-pointers.
Johnson-Odom had entered the game 5-for-25 on the season from 3-point range, but he went 5-for-7 in the game.
“I was talking to Lazar (Hayward) about it, and he told me to just keep shooting and be confident with my shot,” Johnson-Odom said. “I think it helps me, and it also helps the team to get back in rhythm.”
Senior forward Jimmy Butler joined Johnson-Odom in double digits with 13 points, including four huge free throws with less than a minute to play to seal the win for Marquette.
Junior forward Jae Crowder continued his strong start, chipping in nine points and six rebounds in just 20 minutes.
Marquette shot 51.9 percent from the field for the game, but shot just 36 percent in the second half after leading UWM 47-35 at half time.
“We were much more ‘us’ for more of the game than we were on Monday and Tuesday, and I was encouraged by our spirit and our passion,” coach Buzz Williams said. “In my mind, we only took two bad shots in the first half.”
Williams’ game plan was to take Milwaukee’s senior guard Tone Boyle out of the game, and the team was successful in doing so, allowing Boyle to go 3-for-9 from the field and finish with just eight points. Boyle came into the game averaging 15.5 points per game.
The Golden Eagles will likely have to try to do the same with Longwood’s Antwan Carter, who comes in averaging a team-best 15.6 points and 11 rebounds per game and has been held under double digits just once this season.
Carter scored 22 points in the team’s 113-75 loss to No. 4 Kansas in the season opener on Nov. 12.
The Lancers have three other players who average double digits, and they shoot 45.9 percent from the field as a team.
An area of concern for the Golden Eagles could be Longwood’s rebounding. The Lancers are averaging 39.1 rebounds per game, and Marquette was dominated by a longer Wisconsin-Milwaukee team Saturday, getting out-rebounded 34-22.
For the season, Marquette has out-rebounded opponents 37.4 to 33.6 per game, but has struggled on the glass its last three games, losing the rebounding match 117-86 in those games.
One area in which Marquette could exploit the Lancers is on the offensive end. Longwood is allowing its opponents to shoot a whopping 48.7 percent from the field and allowed Fairleigh Dickinson to shoot 55.8 percent from the field in its last game.
“We’re getting better each and every day, and we’re miles ahead of where we were even a few days ago,” Williams said. “I’m interested to see exactly what that means the next few weeks.”
