Watching the Marquette Golden Eagles grow this year is a thing of beauty. THe development for many players all over the court is appearrant. None is more stand out than Theo John, Marquette center. John is a playing like a man possessed down in the paint. He’s a front runner for Big East Most Improved Player (If the award exists), and John could get a chance at Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East. Theo finally had his offensive day to watch what he has been doing on defense all season. The Marquette big man played a large role in against DePaul scoring 16 points, pulling down 10 rebounds in a 79-69 victory over DePaul. Marquette stays unbeaten at home.

Player of the Game: Theo John – What a night for Marquette’s center. He scores 16 points, a career high,because the Blue Demons did not have answer for him in the post. Marquette would feed John the ball, and the post moves are applied then a score happened for the Golden Eagles. Again, John changed what teams did at the rim, DePaul’s guards were afraid to go inside with the Minnesota native in the paint.

Silver Star: Sam Hauser – Another good game from Hauser who started off slow in this one missing three of his first four shots , but then, he picked it up in a major way. Hauser finished the game with 16 points and six rebounds with three made threes. After the misses early on, Hauser started to see his shots drop for him. Marquette’s forward led a key run late in the first half to push out the Golden Eagles lead.

Thing I Liked: Marquette’s free throw game was stellar – Golden Eagles made it count at the line. They went 28-for-32 in a game where the refs’ whistles were pretty heavy. The only misses came from John and one from Joey Hauser. Markus Howard played a large role in the free throw success as the MU guard made 15-of-15. It’s amazing how much Howard gets to the line.

Thing I Didn’t Like: Sloppy seconds – Marquette did a very bad job of holding onto the ball in the second half. Marquette led by 13 at half, but it came crumbling down with a ton of turnovers. Howard had eight himself, but the Golden Eagles were careless with the ball. It’s going to bite them in the ass at some point, but right now, they’re getting away with it.

Next up: Marquette travels to Xavier to face the Musketeers. It’s still a tough place to play, but Xavier might be the worst team in the Big East. These two teams might nearly a month ago, and Marquette laid the hammer down on them winning by 18. I doubt it’s going to be like that again at the Cintas Center.