The #11 Marquette Golden Eagles had a 7-point halftime lead at home against the Butler Bulldogs and it appeared as if Marquette was going to stay undefeated on their home court this season. Butler changed things by outscoring the Golden Eagles in the second half 41-27 and Marquette lost to the Bulldogs by a final score of 69-62.
With the loss for Marquette, they drop to 2-3 in Big East Conference play and 11-5 overall this season. The Marquette Golden Eagles were 8-0 at home this season before losing to the Butler Bulldogs. Butler had yet to win a road game this season until this one. The Bulldogs improved to 1-3 on the road this season and they are now 11-5 overall and 2-3 in Big East Conference play.
One of the biggest differences in this game was that Butler shot 45.5% from three-point land and Marquette only shot 16.1% from three-point land. That was one of the biggest differences in this college basketball game. Sometimes the shots fall and sometimes they don’t. This is where the law of averages comes into play.
Three players scored in double figures for the Golden Eagles. Kam Jones led the way for Marquette with 20 points and three rebounds. Oso Ighodaro scored 12 points and also grabbed nine rebounds for the Marquette Golden Eagles, as he was one rebound shy of a double-double.
Stevie Mitchell scored 10 points for the Golden Eagles.
Head coach Shaka Smart told Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game about dropping to 2-3 in conference play by saying:
“We have to step forward. I think what’s even more important is our guys have done such a good job, really, over the past two years of supporting one another and playing for one another. Truly losing themselves in the fight together for a common goal for Marquette. That wasn’t us tonight. And that’s what really, really disappointing. So we’re going to have to figure out how to get back to that because it’s there. It’s the same guys. But that was elusive tonight.”
One of the ways the Marquette Golden Eagles can back to their ways is for Tyler Kolek to score more than two points in a game and for him to get off more shots and not be a distributor with the eight assists he had. Kolek also had four rebounds.
The Butler Bulldogs Had Four Players Score In Double Figures Against the Marquette Golden Eagles
Butler had two players who scored 14 points in the game against Marquette and they were Landon Moore and Pierre Brooks. Posh Alexander scored 10 points for the Bulldogs and Jalen Thomas recorded a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. He also recorded one assist in the game.
This was a huge win for the Butler Bulldogs and Thad Matt’s program and a bad loss for Shaka Smart and the Marquette Golden Eagles program. Marquette already has as many losses in conference play as all of last season. The Golden Eagles have a chance to bounce back on Monday at home against the Villanova Wildcats.
