FLOOR SLAPS: Marquette badly beaten in paint results in loss to Butler

Brendan Ploen and John Steppe • January 13, 2018

Photo by Andrew Himmelberg

Sacar Anim and the rest of Marquette’s frontcourt offense struggled Friday night, as they were outscored 60-28 in the paint.

One thing stood out from Marquette’s 94-83 loss to Butler Friday night: the abundance of chances the Golden Eagles gave up in the paint. Marquette barely guarded Butler, a shocking performance after the Golden Eagles played their best defensive game of the season last time out against No.13 Seton Hall.

Here are the floor slaps:

MU GIVES UP PLENTY OF POINTS IN THE PAINT

The first half was a disaster for Marquette’s big men; they gave up 32 points in the paint on 19 of 30 shooting from the floor, or 63 percent.

Sophomore Kamar Baldwin and senior Kelan Martin combined for 26 of Butler’s 37 first half points.

Things didn’t go much better in the second half. The Bulldogs finished with 60 points in the paint and had no way to match up inside. Marquette’s big men combined for just 17 of Marquette’s 83 points and starting center Matt Heldt was held scoreless.

“I thought that Butler played with desperation,” head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “They’ve had some outcomes recently that haven’t gone in their favor, and they reacted with great passion, urgency and connectivity, and our team didn’t.”

HAUSER CARRIES LOAD DESPITE LOSS

Sam Hauser had a big day for the Golden Eagles, scoring 16 points in the first half while star sophomore Markus Howard was held without a point.

In the second half, Howard and Hauser powered the offense, scoring 14 points apiece. Hauser finished the day with 30 points, which is tied for his career high, although that was probably little solace to him.

“There’s only one thing that matters to Sam and that’s if we win or lose” Wojo said. “He had a nice game statistically, but I don’t think that matters one bit to him.”

BUTLER USES BALANCE TO PULL AWAY

The Bulldogs had four players with 10 or more points, including 37 from Martin and 19 from Baldwin.

Butler head coach LaVall Jordan thought the balanced approach served his team well.

“They were so connected (tonight),” Jordan said. “Nineteen assists and three turnovers, it was unbelievable for a team to be that together, that connected.”

“I thought defensively, we had a couple of slip ups, but when we needed them, they got it done,” Jordan continued.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

“We collected ourselves well, we communicated well and we drove to the basket and we made (Marquette) play pick your poison. Then, on the other end, we were tough to defend, we found some mismatches and our guys were just together.” -Butler head coach LaVall Jordan on his team’s performance.