Marquette Basketball: Golden Eagles return home to run past Southern University

After a long week coming off of the Maui Invitational, Marquette Basketball comes back to Milwaukee to convincingly put away Southern University.

The last eleven days have been a significantly busy and testing stretch for Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles. The team flew to Hawaii for a grueling Maui Invitational where they took down UCLA, the nation’s top team at the time in Kansas, and then endured a heartbreaking 3-point loss in the championship to now #1 Purdue.

They flew back to Milwaukee for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and went into Tuesday night’s game with Southern after a five-day layoff from action. Some thought the tune-up game against Southern could see them coming off a little flat after the rollercoaster week. This was not the case at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday night.

Marquette seemed very comfy back in front of the student section and fans in Milwaukee from the tip, as they ran out with the first 8 points of the game in a matter of seconds. Full-court pressure on the first defensive possession set the tone, and it was clear that Marquette was committed to bounce back after the layoff with 40 minutes of Shaka’s patented “deflections” and “kills” defense. Marquette turned over Southern 12 times in the first half on their way to a 52-36 halftime lead.

The point total was their highest total in a half this season, led by an offensive outburst from All-American Tyler Kolek. Kolek found himself open from behind the arc and capitalized on 4 of 5 shot attempts from deep on his way to a game-high 16 points at the half. Kam Jones added 11 points on 4 of 5 shooting on a night that saw him frequently driving and getting to the rim. Marquette shot 57.6% in the first half and looked extremely efficient in doing so.

The second half opened up with more of the same, as Marquette’s lead grew to 25. With most of the starters heading to the bench, Shaka ran out the future of Marquette basketball. Freshmen Tre Norman, Zaide Lowery and Al Amadou saw ample minutes alongside key rotation players and displayed the same characteristics that we’re used to seeing from Shaka’s squad. Athletic and energetic, the freshmen continued to push the pace in the second half. Two crowd-pumping lobs to Al Amadou gave us all a glimpse of what the future will look like as Marquette closed out Southern 93-56.

The showing on Tuesday night showed what championship-caliber teams do after tough stretches: they come back and play their brand of basketball. Marquette looked as good and disciplined as they have all season, and Shaka continues to have his #3-ranked Golden Eagles poised as they continue to plow through the non-conference schedule.

Next up for Marquette is the big in-state rivalry game against Wisconsin on Saturday, December 2nd in Madison.