Louisville 48 Marquette 69

It won't be official for another week and a half or so, but these Marquette Golden Eagles sure look like they're goin' dancing.

Needing another statement victory to add to their NCAA tournament resume, they got exactly that on Tuesday night, pummeling the Louisville Cardinals, 69-48, at the Bradley Center.

The victory was the fourth straight and ninth in 10 games for MU, which wrested sole possession of fifth place in the Big East standings from Louisville. And Marquette earned it despite of the foul trouble that handcuffed its two best players, Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler, and the upper respiratory infection that sidelined key reserve Dwight Buycks.

It also served as something of an exclamation point for a team that won three consecutive games on the road in overtime coming in.

Also, MU has gone from an afterthought, by starting 2-5 in the ultracompetitive Big East, to a team that by all accounts has done all it has needed to get itself into position for a fifth consecutive berth in the NCAAs.

“Nobody thought we'd show up tonight, either,” coach Buzz Williams said. “That's part of what gives me my edge, professionally and personally. That's how I live and how I coach. When we played South Florida they were the hottest team in the league, leading scorer in the country, and then when we beat them it was, 'You’ve got to beat a tournament team.'

“We play three games on the road in seven days, all in overtime, win all of them and they say, 'Well, whatever happens with you and Louisville, one of you is on the bubble, they've got all these guys and you're just a rag-tag group of coaches and players.'

“We'll show up. We might not do anything else, but we're going to show up, and we're going to compete.”

Darius Johnson-Odom scored a game-high 22 points - including 14 in the first half - by hitting 8 of 12 shots, including 4 of 6 three-pointers, while Maurice Acker added 15 points and Joseph Fulce 11 off the bench in another strong outing for MU (20-9, 11-6), which reached 20 wins for the fifth straight season.

Hayward, MU's leading scorer, and Butler, the second-leading scorer, finished with eight points and five rebounds each.

MU's defense was as much a reason for its victory as anything. It held Louisville (19-11, 10-7) to just 37% shooting and its leading scorer, 6-foot-9, 260-pound Samardo Samuels, scoreless until he managed two meaningless baskets well after the outcome had already been decided.

The Golden Eagles also enjoyed a huge advantage at the free-throw line, hitting 18 of 22 (81.8%) compared to the Cardinals' 1-for-2 effort.

Neither of the game’s two focal points coming in – Hayward and Samuels – had any impact in the first half.

Samuels, who entered leading Louisville in both scoring and rebounding at 15.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, committed two quick turnovers and didn't get his first post touch until the 14:30 mark as MU did a good job making it tough on the Cardinals’ guards to get the ball to him.

Hayward, meanwhile, had a hard time getting open looks in the middle of Louisville’s 2-3 zone with Samuels patrolling the paint, and missed the only shot he attempted in 13 minutes. He entered the game having averaged 22.5 points in the Golden Eagles' previous two games.

Samuels didn’t attempt a shot until the 6:19 mark of the first half, and closed 0 for 2 in 13 first-half minutes

MU jumped out to a 15-11 lead behind the hot shooting of Johnson-Odom, who scored their first eight points, thanks to his aggressiveness. After Wauwatosa East graduate Jerry Smith got the Cardinals off to a 5-0 start, Johnson-Odom converted a three-point play on a drive to the hoop, then answered a Kyle Kuric three with a pretty reverse layup.

Johnson-Odom then knocked down a three from the right wing off a turnover, kicking off a 10-3 run that gave MU its 15-11 lead with 12:19 left.

He then added two more threes later in the half, the second of which made it 25-20 at the 4:21 mark.

The Cardinals got an Edgar Sosa layup to cut the deficit to 25-22, but the Golden Eagles closed the half on an 8-1 run sparked by consecutive threes from David Cubillan and Acker and went into the locker room with a 33-23 lead.

Making MU's lead that much more impressive was the fact it played without both Hayward and Butler down the stretch. Both picked up two fouls, but the Golden Eagles were able to hold the fort with some strong bench play from Fulce and seldom-used freshman Erik Williams.

MU held Louisville to just 31.0% shooting while hitting an even 50.0% itself, including a 6-for-13 performance from beyond the arc (46.2%). Both teams committed nine turnovers, but the Golden Eagles were able to cash the Cardinals’ miscues in for 14 points.

Johnson-Odom led the way with 14 points and Acker added nine while Kuric’s six points led Louisville, which grabbed half its rebounds (nine) on the offensive end.

Both Fulce and Williams got quick nods in the second half, as Butler quickly picked up his third foul, and Fulce wasted little time making an impact, converting a three-point play and then scoring on a layup to stretch MU's lead to 40-23.

Fulce then added a pair of free throws, and Johnson-Odom and Acker a pair of mid-range jumpers as the bulge grew to 46-23 at 13:31 - an incredible feat considering how little Hayward and Butler had contributed to that point.

A three from the right wing by Reginald Delk finally got the Cardinals on the board at the 12:53 mark - Louisville's first points in a span of 8:30 that included the end of the first half - and jump-started a 15-2 run that narrowed MU's lead to 48-38 with 9:33 left.

But the Golden Eagles finally solved the press that helped get the Cardinals back into it by throwing over the top and getting a thunderous fast-break dunk from Hayward - his first basket of the game - to halt Louisville's momentum and grab some back for themselves.

MU proceeded to go on a 14-2 run over the next 6:09, with six points coming from Hayward, to re-establish control.

Johnson-Odom capped the night in fitting fashion with an unbelievable putback dunk of a missed Hayward three, sending the crowd of 16,281 into a frenzy and Williams up and down MU's sideline passing out high fives to his players and staff.

“We didn't think at all it would be that way,” said Johnson-Odom, referring to the margin of victory. “Louisville is a great team, and we didn't expect to beat them like that.”