Marquette closed its non-conference schedule out with a plethora of 3-pointers from sophomore sharpshooter Sam Hauser and defeated American University 92-51 Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Hauser led the way with 29 points, one shy of his career high of 30, and shot 7-of-9 from distance.
Marquette (9-3) went 30-of-51 (59 percent) from the floor, including 14-of-28 from beyond the arc. Half of Marquette’s 3-point shooting came from Hauser.
“He played a great overall game, and I thought his teammates did a terrific job of finding him when he was open,” head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “Sam did a great job of finding openings in their defense, and I thought he had a pretty terrific game.”
The Golden Eagles’ defense was just as impressive as the 3-point shooting; it held American (3-8) to 51 points, the lowest point total of any Marquette opponent this season, and a point of improvement for the young team.
“I thought our team showed a great deal of competitive maturity,” Wojo said. “We played a complete game, and I was pleased with their effort.”
A big reason for that was Marquette’s solid performance on the defensive boards; the Golden Eagles rebounded 28 of American’s 31 misses.
Four of American’s first six possessions resulted in turnovers, allowing Marquette to get out to an early 7-2 lead.
It was not always pretty. The teams combined for 19 first-half turnovers, and sophomore Markus Howard accounted for five by himself.
“Our guys were not patient on offense in the first half and tried to force things that were not necessarily there,” Wojo said. “I thought we missed a lot of kicks in the first half, we didn’t move the defense forward, but we attacked it in the second half and did a much better job.”
Despite the turnovers, Marquette was able to get out to a comfortable lead thanks to Hauser, who kicked off his record-breaking night in earnest. He was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc in the first half to lead the way with 18 points.
Senior Andrew Rowsey returned to action after missing part of the second half against Northern Illinois. He had 11 points at the break and finished with 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
In the second half, the Golden Eagles knocked American into submission by going on a 23-2 run in a span of just over seven-plus minutes.
Hauser was not the only scorer for Marquette. Rowsey finished with 19 points, Howard had 10 and sophomore Harry Froling had nine, including a 3-pointer that served as his first career basket in a Marquette uniform.
While American tried to stay in it with help from Larry Motuzis, who scored 12 points, and Sa’eed Nelson, who scored 11, the shots just didn’t fall. The Eagles hit only five of 24 second-half attempts.
The 41-point victory was the largest win of the season for the Golden Eagles.
Marquette will kick off its BIG EAST schedule Wednesday when it hosts the No. 9 Xavier Musketeers.
“Our league is old, talented and extremely well-coached, and it’s a man’s league,” Wojo said. “Our guys will have close to two days off, and we’re going to have to put our big-boy pants on because it’s heavyweight fights from here on out.”
