Marquette Golden Eagles vs DePaul Blue Demons Match Player Stats On Feb 24, 2018

Junior forward Max Strus produced 20 points and 11 rebounds while senior center Marin Maric added 13 points and 13 rebounds for DePaul (11-17, 4-12 Big East), which lost its first seven conference games in its new arena.

Senior guard Andrew Rowsey paced Marquette (16-12, 7-8) with 16 points. Sophomore guard Markus Howard entered the day as the Big East's No. 2 scorer at 21.3 points per game, but DePaul limited him to 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

The Blue Demons limited Marquette to 35 percent accuracy from the field in the second half and 40.7 percent for the game as they held the Golden Eagles without a point for 6:26 midway through the half and 2:32 during the final four minutes to halt the visitors' rally. DePaul also owned the boards by a 49-30 margin.

Marquette held a 35-28 lead in the opening minute of the second half before DePaul launched its attack. Maric's layup with 15:22 left gave the Blue Demons a 39-37 edge -- their first lead since 7:11 of the first half -- and DePaul's defense stayed stout.

From 16:25 to 7:15 of the second half, Rowsey's 3-pointer at 13:41 served as Marquette's only points. DePaul pushed its lead all the way to 52-40 on a pair of free throws by junior guard Eli Cain (14 points, seven rebounds) with 7:36 to go before the Golden Eagles pushed back.

Marquette cut its deficit to 5 two times -- the last on sophomore guard Markus Howard's layup with 3:47 to play -- but that's when DePaul forced Marquette to wait nearly three minutes for its next basket.

--Field Level Media