A balanced effort on offense helped the Marquette men’s basketball team cruise its way to a comfortable 76-57 victory over the No. 19 Butler Bulldogs on National Marquette Day.
The Golden Eagles improve to 7-4 in BIG EAST play and find themselves in a three-way tie for second place.
Despite a slow start, the Golden Eagles found their rhythm near the end of the first half. Marquette benefitted from the hostile environment created by the sellout crowd at Fiserv Forum. Here’s a breakdown of the Golden Eagles win:
Game MVP
Brendan Bailey put on a solid performance, notching 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting along with eight rebounds and one assist. He was just two rebounds away from collecting the second double-double of his collegiate career.
“Brendan was terrific throughout the game,” head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “He’s one of the most improved players in our conference.”
The last time Bailey reached double-digit point totals was also against Butler Jan. 24 when he tallied 14.
“It always feels good when you’re knocking down shots,” Bailey said. “Everyone’s been saying to me, ‘Just keep shooting.’ Everyone on my team has confidence in me, and I have confidence in everyone on my team.”
Notes
- Markus Howard led the team with 17 points, which is well below his league-leading average of 27.4 points per game. This was Howard’s lowest point total in BIG EAST play this season. He finished shooting 4-for-11 on the afternoon.
- Howard went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe and is now just one point away from tying Wesley Matthews (549) for the most free throws made in program history.
- The Golden Eagles put on one of their best defensive performances of the season, finishing the game with 37 rebounds.
- Kamar Baldwin finished the match leading Butler with 23 points, 16 of which came in the second half alone.
- McEwen added 16 points of his own and has now hit double figures for the fifth game in a row.
- Howard is now just 21 points away from tying Syracuse’s Lawrence Moten for the all-time leader in scoring in BIG EAST games.
- Sacar Anim had a subpar performance, finishing just 2-for-12 from the field.
- The Golden Eagles completed the match shooting 43% from the field and 45% from beyond the arc.
Quote of the Day
When asked what has led to the team’s recent stretch of success in BIG EAST play, Wojciechowski had a simple response.
“We scored more points than the other team,” Wojciechowski said. “Is that not a good quote?”
Next Up
Marquette (17-6, 7-4 BIG EAST) will travel on the road to face the Villanova Wildcats at the Finneran Pavilion Wednesday at 7:30 p.m Central Standard Time.
The Wildcats are one of the two teams tied with the Golden Eagles for second place in the BIG EAST.
This article was written by Tyler Peters. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @_tylerpeters_.
