No. 9 Marquette hits the road for the first time in Big East play when it faces host Xavier on Saturday at Cincinnati.
Marquette (10-2, 1-0 Big East) survived ugly shooting and a late rush from visiting Butler to capture an 80-70 win in their conference opener Wednesday night.
Xavier (8-4, 0-1) is coming off a heartbreaking road loss to UConn on Wednesday night. The Musketeers had their biggest lead at 69-64 with just over five minutes left in regulation.
Xavier’s 94-89 loss in overtime was their second consecutive disappointing defeat to a ranked opponent. Xavier lost its rivalry game to then-No. 22 Cincinnati 68-65 last Saturday.
Marquette was a pedestrian 6 of 30 (20.0 percent) from 3-point range against Butler but turned 20 offensive rebounds into a 28-shot advantage to reach double digits in wins.
“Offensive rebounds, I think that’s just an effort thing,” Marquette guard Stevie Mitchell said. “It’s nice that the number reflects the effort that we wanted to bring into (the) game.
“And just the spirit that we wanted to have, and the ability to win ugly. We didn’t shoot well from 3, so we got offensive rebounds. The more misses there are, the more opportunities there are to let our effort show.”
Few teams take care of the ball better than Marquette, led by All-American guard Kam Jones. He has 75 total assists this season (6.3 per game) to go with just 17 turnovers, including one against Butler.
The Golden Eagles committed just two total turnovers, allowing Marquette to hold off Butler’s pressure down the stretch. The two turnovers were the fewest for Maquette since two in an 89-81 loss to Pittsburgh on Jan. 8, 2011.
Jones, who had a game-high 23 points to go with five assists, is averaging 20.3 points per game to lead the Golden Eagles.
It was an impressive bounce-back win for Marquette after an upset loss last Saturday at Dayton, when they were outscored 45-27 in the second half.
“No Big East game is like, ‘We’ll take it.’ We have a level of gratitude that we were able to do what it took to win,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “I thought the way our guys handled adversity was way better this time around. And that’s what allowed us to win.”
Xavier played a courageous game in its loss at UConn, playing its first game without No. 2 scorer Zach Freemantle, out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. Freemantle is averaging 16.9 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds a game.
“A lot of teams, when they get the news that you’re gonna be without your leading scorer, it can really strip you of your hope and confidence,” Xavier head coach Sean Miller said. “Very proud of our team. Very proud of our players. I look at it as a positive step for us but there are no moral victories at this level.”
Reserve Dante Maddox Jr. picked up the slack, scoring 22 points as Xavier stayed in the game by shooting 13 of 24 (54.2 percent) from 3-point range. Ryan Conwell had 23 points.
Marquette swept the season series with Xavier in 2023-24.
–Field Level Media
