Kohl Center – Courtesy of University of Wisconsin
Marquette’s All-American senior guard Markus Howard poured in 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting in the first half, but the Wisconsin Badgers made life much tougher on Howard in the second half and pulled out a 77-61 win over the Golden Eagles at the Kohl Center.
Howard missed all nine of his shots in the second half, making only a pair of free throws.
“Honestly, it was a team effort,” Badger guard D’Mitrik Trice said. “We know he’s a great, great scorer. He’s one of the best in college basketball, so we knew it was going to take all of us to lock him up on defense. We knew it would lead to offense.”
Trice finished with 10 points, one of six Badgers scoring in double figures. Brevin Pritzl led the way with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Brad Davison also had 15 points in the win. Aleem Ford added 12 points.
Marquette turned the ball over 15 times and the Badgers turned those turnovers into 24 points.
Wisconsin held double-digit, or near double-digit leads for much of the second half. The Golden Eagles got to within seven points with 7:52 to play, but Davison, Pritzl and Trice nailed back-to-back-to-back three pointers to seal the deal for the Badgers.
Koby McEwen led the Golden Eagles (2-1) with 19 points and Howard had 18. Those were the only two Marquette players to finish in double figures.
The Badgers won their 12th straight non-conference home win. It’s the 300th win for the Badgers at the Kohl Center, since the building opened Jan. 17, 1998. The Badgers are 300-51 all-time at the Kohl Center, the 9th-highest win percentage among NCAA Division 1 venues.
The Badgers also improved to 68-58 all-time against Marquette, including a mark of 39-18 in Madison.