Marquette came into Saturday’s game hoping to avoid a letdown. They had the best win of the year versus Seton Hall with a rousing overtime victory, but with the brutal physicality of Pirates, the expectation was Marquette could be a little beat up. Golden Eagles flushed that expectation very quickly as they dominated DePaul with a bunch of threes in the first half and a bunch of defense in the second half. Marquette won 83-58, their largest margin of victory since 2010-2011 season when they beat Providence by 26. Golden Eagles are on what we call a conference winning streak as they embark on three games from hell starting Monday morning.*

*Usually, we would save this post for Monday during the day, but since Golden Eagles play at 11:00 am, we’ll roll it out now. Further, I realize we miss another Wisconsin game. Simply put, I fell asleep while trying to produce content and I’ll hope to avoid it moving forward. Want to you all I’m not forgetting about Badgers.

First Half Three-Point Brigade
Andrew Rowsey saw the bench for the greater part of the second half on Wednesday night. He responded to the pseudo bench with a huge game. He made six three-pointers and 24 points. Most of the scoring came in the first half and helped Marquette push out to a 21 point lead at halftime. Rowsey couldn’t miss out there. He looked much more in control compared to other games. It should be interesting to see if this play continues against better competition this week.

It’s just DePaul, but defense looked solid
A pain point for Golden Eagles all year has been their defense. In the second half, Marquette limited DePaul for 15 points for the first 15 minutes of the second half. Now as it happens in garbage time, Blue Demons ended up getting some of those buckets back. Still, Marquette showed off some defensive prowess. I realize it’s DePaul, but Golden Eagles have shown spurts in the last two weeks of hard-fought defense. Hope we see it against an elite Big East team.

Katin Reinhardt Apology Tour
I’m not ready to say I’m sorry to Katin Reinhardt because he still does one or two stupid things that will frustrate the hell out of you. But he’s starting to show why he can be a vital asset to the team. For the third time in four games, Reinhardt scored 15 or more points. What you like about Saturday’s game, he didn’t do all from three. If Reinhardt becomes a productive scorer, not just a three-point guy, Marquette will have a very usable weapon.

Blowout gave Howard and Fischer much-needed rest
One of the biggest wins of Saturday was Marquette did not have to play Luke Fischer and Markus Howard for many minutes. Howard only played 14 and Fischer only 17. Both should have fresh legs for Monday’s game with Butler, and that’s so important with two games in three days. Sure, all these guys played AAU and are used to multiple games a weekend, if not a day. That being said, these are more physical games.

Players of the Game: Andrew Rowsey (Marquette) Darrick Wood (DePaul)

Next up: As mentioned, Marquette has a big test heading to Butler for a Monday showdown. Since joining the Big East, Golden Eagles haven’t won at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Butler has been world-beaters this season knocking off top opponents left and right including Saturday when they beat Xavier. Could we see a letdown perhaps? Maybe it’s wishful thinking. I do think of the next three, this is the most realistic to win.

Charlie.