National Marquette Day
Marcus Howard’s 34 points lead Golden Eagles past Xavier
Something needed to change.
With four losses in the past five games and just five regular-season games left, Marquette entered Saturday’s match-up with Xavier needing to find a way to get things going in the right direction.
Golden Eagles coach Steve Wojciechowski opted to alter his starting lineup for the first time in Big East play, and it paid dividends almost immediately on the way to an 83-61 victory in front of a National Marquette Day crowd of 19,033 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Marquette got off to a blazing start, using a 19-0 run to take a 21-2 advantage in the first 6 minutes. After the Golden Eagles’ lead reached double digits 129 seconds into the contest, it never went back down thanks primarily to a 34-point performance by freshman Markus Howard, who tied a program record with 9 three-pointers.
After Wojciechowski used the week between games to tinker with his lineup, the only holdovers on the
new starting unit were the freshmen, Howard and Sam Hauser. Redshirt juniors Duane Wilson and Andrew Rowsey and sophomore center Matt Heldt joined them, replacing sophomore Haanif Cheatham and seniors Jajuan Johnson and Luke Fischer.
“There was a number of occasions over the course of the last few days where that group played together and I absolutely loved their spirit, I loved their camaraderie and I loved their fight,” Wojciechowski said. “Really it was an easy decision.”
The new additions played critical roles as Marquette (1610, 7-7 Big East) roared out of the gate. Rowsey scored 10 of his 18 points in the opening 3 minutes. Heldt collected three fouls but went into halftime with six points and seven rebounds and finished with a career-high nine rebounds. Wilson had just three points on 1-of-7 shooting but contributed at the defensive end, where he made three steals in the opening 12 minutes.
Their contributions and high energy helped the Golden Eagles take a 42-30 lead into intermission. However, it was Howard’s incredible second half that put the exclamation point on the victory and made the game one to remember.
The freshman point guard, still just 17 years old after graduating from high school in three years, had 11 points in the first half then scored Marquette’s first 11 points out of halftime, including a trio of three-pointers. That was a sign of what was to come as Howard stayed hot, making 7 of 9 threes on the way to 23 second-half points. His 34 total points were the most by a true freshman at Marquette, while his 9-of-12 shooting from three-point range tied Mark Anglavar’s program record set Feb. 1, 1990, against Butler.
“Zone, man, he was a flamethrower and he deserves all the accolades and whatever Marquette record he broke,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said. “He was, as I said, as good of a freshman as I’ve ever coached against in this game.”
Following the announcement that Howard had tied the record, including a live shot of Anglavar applauding the accomplishment, the crowd rose to its feet, chanting Howard’s name while hoping to see the record fall. Howard put up a trey with 1:31 remaining, but it missed the mark and he was subbed out at the next whistle and greeted by Wojciechowski with a hug. After the game he took a photo with Anglavar on the court, with the former Marquette sharpshooter, who made his nine treys on 16 attempts, telling the freshman to break his record.
“To be honest I didn’t hear it,” Howard said of the in-game announcement that he had tied Anglavar’s record. “I didn’t hear anything about the record or anything. I was just so into the game, just so ready for that buzzer to sound to say that we won. It’s a great honor, man, just to be mentioned among the alltime greats here at Marquette. It’s a dream come true in itself.”
Xavier (18-9, 8-6) got rattled early and never recovered. Playing without sophomore guard Edmond Sumner (torn left ACL) and leading scorer Trevon Bluiett, who sat for the second successive game with a right ankle injury, the Muske- teers already had a slim margin for error. Self-inflicted wounds, including two technical fouls and 10 first-half turnovers in less than 14 minutes, didn’t help.
Marquette’s lead ballooned to as many as 25 points in the final minutes. Despite the margin and the team getting into foul trouble, Johnson never entered the game. Wojciechowski said his absence was a coaching decision and did not elaborate.
Saturday’s victory was Marquette’s first at home since it beat No. 1 Villanova on Jan. 24 and snapped a two-game losing skid.
“I didn’t think we had that (spirit and fight) to the level that this time of the year and this league requires,” Wojciechowski said. “That was the No. 1 thing that we needed to get fixed. We were trying to use this week to find guys we felt like would fight for the program. Those guys did.”