Supporting cast produces for Marquette in upset
No. 19 Butler contained Markus Howard, the nation’s leading scorer, but Marquette’s supporting cast answered the challenge.
Howard, who entered averaging 27.9 points, scored 17 and Brendan Bailey and Koby McEwen added 16 apiece to lead Marquette to a 76-57 victory over Butler on Sunday in Milwaukee.
“They’re a tough assignment in general,” Butler coach LaVall Jordan said. “Obviously you start with Markus Howard, so how much attention do you want to give him in terms of helping, allow him to just play and keep the other guys contained? I thought we did a job on him. Recoveries to some of the shooters were slow.”
Marquette (17-6, 7-4 Big East) put the game away when McEwen hit back-toback 3s and Bailey followed with another to give the Golden Eagles a 62-45 lead with 6:09 remaining.
Butler (18-6, 6-5) has stumbled after a 15-1 start.
Badgers bounce back: Wisconsin guard Brevin Pritzl was looking down at the final box score from a podium when Trevor Anderson leaned in from a few seats over to give his teammate a compliment.
It might have been the only time that Pritzl was caught off guard following the Badgers’ easy 70-57 win over Ohio State.
Pritzl scored 19 points, shooting 5 of 6 from 3-point territory, while Anderson added eight points. They led a stellar effort by Wisconsin’s bench, which outscored Ohio State’s reserves 30-16.
“Shout out to my man,” Anderson said as he looked down at Pritzl. “Heck of a day!”
Wisconsin (14-10, 7-6 Big Ten Conference) responded to another tough week off the court with another home win in the rough-and-tumble league to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume.
Strength and conditioning coach Erik Helland resigned Thursday after being placed on leave for allegedly using a racial epithet in front of Badgers players as he recounted a story from his days in the NBA. The school said it had no evidence Helland had directed racially insensitive language toward any player.
Helland, in a statement last week, said that he apologized to players after repeating what he called a “repugnant word” in recounting the story, and that he had voiced his disapproval. Helland said that he made a mistake “.... and for that I have the deepest regret.”
Swingman Kobe King, the team’s second-leading scorer, left the program about two weeks ago to seek a transfer. Wisconsin beat Michigan State on Feb. 1 in its first home game since King left the team.
Each of the last two home wins also followed tough road losses.
“... They’re resilient, they learn and they’re always ready for the next challenge,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said.