There haven’t been many nights this season where Marquette’s guards were off. It’s a rare sight to see the collective unit struggle as much as they did versus Butler on Tuesday night. What’s more disappointing than anything else is the guards chose not to fight and embrace they were bad last night leading to hero ball antics in the latter part of the second half allowing Butler to pull away and win comfortably despite the score, 68-65. Marquette had ample opportunity to win this game, and they didn’t take advantage. That sentence is getting tiring to write.

Luke Fischer played like a beast again
Not sure what’s gotten into Luke Fischer over the last couple weeks, but I’m enjoying the hell out of it. He played great again on Tuesday night with 19 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. He actually looked like more of an inside presence at certain parts of the game. It’s too bad guards chose not to give him the ball late though. It’s probably out of Fischer’s hands, but he needed to demand the ball at that juncture. He was the only hot scorer on the team.

What the fuck, Katin Reinhardt
All of the goodwill that Katin Reinhardt built up with Marquette fans over the past few weeks might be seeing its way out the door. Reinhardt had his worst night of the season. Not from a shooting perspective, but from a decision-making standpoint, he made so many bad decisions out there. The worst was a 35-foot three out of nowhere that wasn’t in rhythm as Marquette trailed with about five to six minutes left in the game. Reinhardt’s refusal to believe he didn’t have it last night led to the loss.

Andrew Rowsey picked a bad night to be cold
In the one night where Andrew Rowsey’s bench game could have helped, he didn’t have a great game. Rowsey couldn’t find his shot as Tyler Lewis did a great job against him. He had three really dumb fouls which seemed like more out of frustration with his offense than anything else. Once again, the guards lacked the toughness to win last night, and Rowsey’s fouls were another example of this.

Markus Howard should be learning from Rowsey
The second half of the Big East season has been weird times for Markus Howard. It’s clear that teams have a better book on him, and Howard has not fully made the adjustments needed to be the scorer he was early in conference play. Butler blocked Howard’s shot five times in the paint. He needs to work with Rowsey on perfecting his pump-fake game. I love Howard’s aggressiveness and no fear attitude that he can score over any big man, but the young point guard needs to add more to his arsenal to be successful.

Players of the Game: Luke Fischer (Marquette) Andrew Chrabascz (Butler)

Next up: Marquette put themselves in a must-win position facing Georgetown on the road come Saturday morning. Golden Eagles need to rite the ship a little bit with three losses already in February. Hoyas will look for some early Big East season revenge and don’t think John Thompson III will forget about Jajuan Johnson’s comments about their defense.

Charlie