Marquette 82, Wisconsin 63: Golden Eagles shoot down short-handed Badgers

MADISON - Having taken down rival Wisconsin for the second consecutive time Saturday at the Kohl Center, 82-63, Marquette can turn its attention to trying to survive in the Big East. 

"I thought our guys showed great poise from the very beginning," Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said, "and maintained that throughout the 40 minutes."

UW, meanwhile, faces a more daunting road with guards D’Mitrik Trice and Kobe King out indefinitely.

"They’re upset," UW coach Greg Gard said of his players after the Badgers' fifth loss in seven games dropped their record to 4-7. "They’re very competitive. They want to have success now. But it is an adjustment. 

"You have to rally. Everybody needs to step up. We need to fill in those positions." 

Markus Howard carried Marquette in the first half with 16 of his 23 points, Andrew Rowsey did the heavy lifting in the second half with 18 of his 24 points and UW couldn’t muster enough offense or defensive stops without Trice and King.

Howard hit 6 of 13 shots in the opening half to help Marquette (7-3) build a 41-32 lead. The Golden Eagles led by as many as 17 points, at 28-11, with 10 minutes 11 seconds left in the half.

Howard finished 4 of 9 from three-point range and 9 of 18 overall. 

Rowsey scored 18 points in the first 9:18 of the second half to help the Golden Eagles build the lead to 65-46 after UW had twice pulled within six points.

Rowsey hit 5 of 6 three-pointers, 6 of 9 shots overall and 7 of 7 free-throw attempts.

Sophomore forward Sam Hauser, who went scoreless and fouled out in just 18 minutes last season against UW, played much better Saturday. Hauser hit 4 of 5 three-pointers and 6 of 13 shots overall and contributed 16 points, three rebounds and three assists.  

BOX SCORE:Marquette 82, Wisconsin 63

Marquette, which entered the day shooting 38.2% from three-point range, shot 62.3% from beyond the arc Saturday (14 of 22).

"Some of them were in transition, where it is hard to, when you have a scattered floor, to be able to stop the ball and match shooters around the perimeter," Gard said of the Golden Eagles' impressive three-point shooting. "Some of it was via either an ill-advised shot or a missed shot in general. And there were a few when we had some mistakes in the half-court. 

"And they hit some tough shots, too. They’ve done that all year."

Trice is scheduled to have surgery on his right foot Monday and likely will be out for at least a month. Gard learned of his status late Friday morning. 

King aggravated a left-knee issue at practice Friday and is out indefinitely. Gard learned UW would be without King late Friday night. He said after the game he has no idea how long King will be sidelined.

"It was tough at first," UW freshman guard Brad Davison said when asked about the absence of Trice and King. "We want to play with two of our brothers. But we have to have that next-man-up mentality. All teams go through adversity. It is something we have to deal with."

In their absence, Davison and junior forward Ethan Happ were left to carry the bulk of the scoring load for UW, though Gard felt Trice and King were needed more on defense against Marquette's perimeter-oriented team.

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"They’ve had so many reps, specifically when you have to play small against Marquette," Gard said. "I knew we’d have to play smaller because of all the perimeter action, all the transition."

Davison, who has been battling left-shoulder problems for most of the season, contributed 20 points, four assists and three rebounds in 38 minutes. He hit 11 of 16 free-throw attempts. 

Happ added 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block but had five of UW’s 12 turnovers. 

Sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl added 10 points but hit just 4 of 12 shots. No other UW player had more than six.

"Too many mistakes," Happ said, summarizing the team's latest loss. "On offense, turnovers. On defense, not switching when we are supposed to switch or switching when we weren't supposed to switch."

The last time UW was 4-7 through 11 games? That came in 1983-'84 under Steve Yoder. 

"They’ll bounce back," said Gard, whose team returns to action Wednesday against visiting Western Kentucky. "They are a resilient group. We’ve had an unbelievable stretch here of high-level games. They’ve had to deal with a lot.

"In time this will help to continue to improve and mature guys and hopefully, in the long run, we’ll be better because of it."