DePaul 69 Marquette 80

It took five weeks and certainly didn't come easily, but the Marquette Golden Eagles are finally at .500 in the Big East Conference.

Thanks to a game-high 21 points from Darius Johnson-Odom and a 36-for-44 effort from the free-throw line, MU outlasted the DePaul Blue Demons, 80-69, in a foul-riddled affair at the Bradley Center on Wednesday night.

Lazar Hayward added 19 points and 14 rebounds and Jimmy Butler 18 points as the Golden Eagles were able to survive a late-game letdown by going 20 for 22 at the charity stripe over the final 6 minutes 41 seconds.

They now head into what's looming as a huge game at Providence on Saturday at 5-5 in the league standings and on a modest three-game winning streak, their longest since opening the season 6-0.

“We're back to even,” said coach Buzz Williams. “It took us 10 games to get there, and it seems like it's taken a long time. But we're thankful that we're back where we are, and hopefully we can continue to grow.”

On a night that featured No. 7 Georgetown being upset at home by South Florida, MU (14-8) appeared to be in no such danger early on of falling prey to the same scuffling Blue Demons squad that shocked the Golden Eagles at Allstate Arena, 51-50, on Jan. 20 and came within two points of dumping No. 3 Syracuse last weekend.

After outscoring DePaul, 9-3, over the final 5:56 of the first half to go into halftime leading, 32-19, MU was threatening to turn the game into a blowout when a Dwight Buycks layup gave the Golden Eagles a 53-27 lead with 12:00 remaining.

But the Blue Demons (8-14, 1-9), being coached for the remainder of the season by former University of Wisconsin guard Tracy Webster, didn't mail it in. Instead they outscored MU, 18-7, over the next 4 minutes to narrow the deficit to 58-42, thanks in large part to a full-court press that forced the Golden Eagles into both turnovers and ill-advised shots - two areas they've excelled at controlling in league play.

With MU failing to adjust, DePaul eventually whittled the deficit all the way down to 73-64 with 1:08 remaining. But the Golden Eagles hit seven of eight free throws the rest of the way to finally salt the game away.

“We would have liked to have finished the game a lot better than we did,” said Johnson-Odom, who has led MU in scoring in three of the last four games. “But they're a scrappy team, and that happens.”

Both teams struggled mightily from the field - MU shot just 38.0% and DePaul 39.3%. The Golden Eagles also hit just 31.6% of their three-pointers (6 for 19) after entering the game leading the nation at 43.0% and committed 13 turnovers, their highest total in a Big East game, with Johnson-Odom accounting for five.

“I didn't think that we finished the game very well,” Williams said. “They did a great job of pressing us. That's my fault as much as it is our team's fault. We didn't go over press offense today in shoot-around or yesterday.”

On the bright side, the Golden Eagles' 36 makes from the free-throw line were just four off the school mark of 40 set on Feb. 7, 1955, against Creighton, and their 44 attempts were the most since they put up 50 against Savannah State on Nov. 21, 2003.

MU entered the game - which featured 53 fouls - ranked second to Villanova in free-throw percentage both overall and in Big East games.

“I know that I get criticized for, 'Buzz doesn't practice free throws,' ” Williams said, referring to several games this season in which MU failed to knock down crucial late free throws. That includes the first DePaul game in which the Golden Eagles missed the front end of a pair of bonus situations in the final 20.2 seconds.

“We shot 82%, and shot 44 of them tonight. The thing is, we need to have 49 paint touches and that needs to translate into 22 makes.”

Providence, a team that MU whipped by 30 points at the Bradley Center on Jan. 17, awaits.

“We beat Providence without their best player; they'll be excited to play us,” said Williams. “How it'll all play out, I don't know. I know if we're not very good tomorrow in practice, it trends toward us not being very good on Saturday.”

Official Basketball Box Score
DePaul vs Marquette
2/3/10 6 p.m. at Bradley Center - Milwaukee, Wis.


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VISITORS: DePaul 8-14, 1-9 BE
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
01 STOVALL, Mike....... f  0-3    0-1    0-0    0  3  3   0   0  3  3  0  2  32
13 KOSHWAL, Mac........ f  6-11   0-0    6-9    4  7 11   4  18  2  3  0  3  34
33 FABER, Krys......... c  1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   4   2  0  0  0  0   5
00 BIZOUKAS, Michael... g  0-3    0-0    0-1    0  1  1   3   0  1  0  0  1  18
30 WALKER, Will........ g  5-20   1-9    2-2    3  2  5   4  13  3  0  0  0  40
03 HILL, Devin.........    2-4    1-2    1-2    0  0  0   4   6  0  0  2  0  17
05 ROGERS, Nate........    1-4    0-1    6-6    1  1  2   1   8  1  2  0  2  16
10 STULA, Mario........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   1
11 KELLY, Jeremiah.....    2-7    0-3    0-1    1  1  2   0   4  0  1  0  0  12
22 FREELAND, Tony......    3-3    0-0    1-4    3  0  3   4   7  1  0  0  0   7
25 WALLACE, Eric.......    4-5    0-0    3-4    3  2  5   4  11  0  0  1  2  18
   TEAM................                                             2
   Totals..............   24-61   2-16  19-29  15 17 32  29  69 11 11  3 10 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-24 33.3%   2nd Half: 16-37 43.2%   Game: 39.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  0-6   0.0%   2nd Half:  2-10 20.0%   Game: 12.5%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-8  37.5%   2nd Half: 16-21 76.2%   Game: 65.5%    6


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HOME TEAM: Marquette 14-8, 5-5 BE
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
32 Hayward, Lazar...... f  5-13   2-4    7-8    5  9 14   4  19  2  2  1  3  29
33 Butler, Jimmy....... f  2-5    0-1   14-16   3  3  6   2  18  3  0  0  0  31
01 Johnson-Odom, Darius g  7-11   3-6    4-5    1  1  2   4  21  2  5  0  1  30
02 Acker, Maurice...... g  1-9    1-4    2-2    1  2  3   3   5  3  2  0  1  36
10 Cubillan, David..... g  1-5    0-3    0-0    0  0  0   3   2  1  1  0  0  34
05 Cadougan, Junior....    0-0    0-0    1-2    0  0  0   0   1  0  0  0  0   4
12 Williams, Erik......    0-1    0-0    0-1    1  3  4   0   0  0  0  0  0   7
21 Fulce, Joseph.......    0-2    0-0    0-0    3  3  6   4   0  0  0  0  0  13
23 Buycks, Dwight......    3-4    0-1    8-10   1  1  2   4  14  1  3  0  0  16
   TEAM................                         2  1  3
   Totals..............   19-50   6-19  36-44  17 23 40  24  80 12 13  1  5 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-25 32.0%   2nd Half: 11-25 44.0%   Game: 38.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-10 30.0%   2nd Half:  3-9  33.3%   Game: 31.6%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 13-17 76.5%   2nd Half: 23-27 85.2%   Game: 81.8%   5,3


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Officials: Bill McCarthy, Chris Beaver, Jamie Luckie
Technical fouls: DePaul-None. Marquette-None.
Attendance: 15151
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
DePaul........................   19   50  -   69
Marquette.....................   32   48  -   80
ID=835878

Points in the paint-DPU 34,MU 24. Points off turnovers-DPU 17,MU 17.
2nd chance points-DPU 15,MU 14. Fast break points-DPU 16,MU 11.
Bench points-DPU 36,MU 15. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-DPU 2nd-00:14, MU 2nd-01:39.
Largest lead-DPU None, MU by 26 2nd-12:53.