Marquette upset No. 12 Kanas State in its first win against a ranked team this season. Markus Howard’s heroics helped Marquette get past Kansas State 83-71. Here are three takeaways other than Howard’s big scoring day:
Marquette’s defense makes the difference
The Golden Eagles held the Wildcats to 35 percent from the field in the first half and limited the Wildcats to 27 percent on 3-pointers in the entire game. They also had eight steals.
“(Defense has) definitely been one two and three on the check list for us in terms of getting better,” Howard said. “We know we have to defend to win games and I think at times this year our defense has saved us when the offense wasn’t clicking.”
For 10 minutes and seven seconds in the first half, Marquette did not allow Kansas State to score single field goal.
Anim has best performance of 2018-’19
With Marquette’s second and third highest scorers, Sam and Joey Hauser, combining for nine total points, someone had to step up in their absence.
Redshirt junior Sacar Anim answered the call scoring 16 points, which was the second highest amount of points scored, behind Howard’s 45. Only resting for one minute during the game, Anim was a vital piece for the Golden Eagles.
“I thought Sacar played his best game (that he’s played) in a long time,” said head coach Steve Wojciechowski. “This is a team (Kansas State) … that you have to be able to drive the ball against. Sacar and Markus were fantastic drivers. That’s why we were able to win the free throw battle.”
Chartouny finds other ways to contribute
Graduate student Joseph Chartouny continues to affect this Marquette squad outside of the scoring column. in more than one way. Chartouny had seven boards, five assists, and two steals which were all team-highs.
However, Chartouny committed four turnovers and tallied four personal fouls.
Stat of the night: Markus Howard’s 19 free throws made broke a program record.
Quote of the night: “(I’ve) got a lot of great memories of Al McGuire when I was a kid,” Kansas State’s head coach Bruce Weber said. “The drum beating, (Marquette) kicking butt and winning a lot of games at home.”
Up next: The Golden Eagles will host the University of Texas-El Paso at Fiserv Forum Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
