Field Level Media
Jan 15, 2018
Marquette's top scorers had an off-night and yet the Golden Eagles still crushed DePaul 70-52 in Big East action at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Monday night.
Normally good for 43 combined points a game, Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey finished with 18 points on 4-of-19 shooting. But Sam Hauser, who had 19 points, and a stifling defense were more than enough for Marquette (13-6, 4-3 BIG EAST) to beat the Blue Demons yet again.
The Golden Eagles own a 75-46 advantage in the all-time series.
Marquette's defense and DePaul's inability to score added up to a contest that was never in doubt.
The Blue Demons (8-10, 1-5) went more than six minutes without scoring in the first half and the Golden Eagles took advantage, going on a 10-0 run to stretch their lead to 28-13 with 4:51 left before halftime.
Marquette also went on another 10-0 run in the second half to increase the lead to 61-31.
The Golden Eagles held DePaul to making just 30 percent of their shots from the field, a season-best effort for the defense.
The Blue Demons didn't make a 3-point basket until Max Strus connected with 2:29 to go in the contest. The Strus 3 came snapped an 0-for-10 start by the team and extended the school's streak of consecutive contests with a 3-pointer to 757 games, a stretch that began Feb. 21, 1993.
It was the fifth time this season the Blue Demons have shot under 40 percent from the field. DePaul is 0-5 in those contests. Strus and Marin Maric, who combined to average 32 points per game, were held to 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
Brandon Cyrus led DePaul with 15 points.
Even though Maquette was always in control, it wasn't because of Howard and Rowsey. Howard, who averages 22 points per game, made 2 of 7 shots from the floor. While Rowsey scored 11 points and surpassed the 2,000-point mark for his career, he missed 10 of 12 shot attempts. The senior guard entered Monday's contest with 1,999 points, including 1,244 coming while he was at UNC Asheville. Rowsey also had nine assists.
--Field Level Media