The Marquette Golden Eagles went into Manhattan, Kansas, Saturday night and picked up a 73-65 win in a rematch of a game that Marquette won at Fiserv Forum almost exactly a year ago.
After missing Wednesday’s win against Jacksonville while in concussion protocol, senior guard Markus Howard scored 19 points on 6-for-16 shooting and had four assists.
In his return, Howard came out of the gates hot, shooting 3-for-5 from the field in the first half with 10 points. In the half, there were three other Golden Eagles who had at least six points: redshirt senior guard Sacar Anim with 10 and both redshirt sophomore Greg Elliott and junior Jamal Cain, who each hit two 3-pointers.
Marquette went into halftime with a 39-26 lead, as Kansas State shot just 27% from the field and 42% from the free throw line. The second half was when the Wildcats started to pick it up on the offensive end.
KU started the second half shooting 7-for-11 from the field and brought the MU lead down to just three points.
Marquette was also the victim of a lot of foul trouble in the second half, with Brendan Bailey picking up his third foul right at the start of the half. Redshirt junior guard Koby McEwen, junior center Theo John and Howard were also in foul trouble. McEwen and John fouled out.
Anim left the game in the second half after Cartier Diarra hit him in the face, returning to the game later to finish with 13 points and six rebounds on the day.
Despite Anim’s injury and the multiple players struggling with foul trouble, other contributors stepped up for the Golden Eagles.
The duo of Elliott and Cain off the bench had major contributions for the Golden Eagles. Cain dropped a career-high 17 points and collected nine rebounds. Elliott was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc to have nine points, and he also led the team in steals with two.
Kansas State was threatening to come back in the second half, but Marquette held onto the lead despite 18 turnovers.
The Wildcats missed 12 free throws.
Diarra fouled out of the game after scoring a team-high 14 points, and fellow Wildcat Makol Mawien also fouled out after scoring 11 points.
With Saturday’s win, Marquette sweeps the home-and-home series with Kansas State, and the Golden Eagles now get a 10-day break until Dec. 17 when they will play at home against Grambling State University.
This story was written by Matt Yeazel. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MJYeazel.
