Marquette Golden Eagles and Xavier Musketeers both needed a win on Wednesday night. Both teams started out 1-3 in the Big East. Both had big aspirations this season to make the NCAA Tournament. One team responded from getting off to a rough start, one did not. Thankfully, that team was Marquette. They responded in a major way with a big 85-65 victory to put them 2-3 in the Big East. This is a game to build on for the Golden Eagles as they try to make themselves a factor in the tough Big East.

Player of the Game: Markus Howard – In a way, Markus is a lot like Giannis where he is usually going to be Player of the Game. But I will never look in another direction just to be different when Howard has a great game. He scored 35 points in one of his quieter performances. The floater he developed over the summer has become a legit scoring option for him. Howard changed the game early in the second half. Xavier was only down eight points then Howard started dominating and before you know it, Golden Eagles were up by 17.

Honorable Mention: Jayce Johnson – We’ll talk more about Ed Morrow in a second, but Jayce Johnson was a monster on the boards last night. He grabbed eight rebounds. Four on the offensive end and four on defense. He is a space-eater. Johnson is not the fastest or most coordinated big man, but he can rebound. Johnson did a lot of nice things for the Golden Eagles last night.

One Thing to Watch: Impact of Ed Morrow’s departure – With Ed Morrow leaving Marquette for an indefinite time, Marquette will have to adjust with their bench rotation. It’s one game, but maybe, the Golden Eagles are better off without Morrow? This is not a knock on him, rather, Marquette might work better with only two big men versus three of them. More minutes for Symir Torrance is an effect from this which helps Howard get free off-the-ball.

Next up: Marquette heads to Washington DC for a matchup with Georgetown. Conference road games are always tough, but I do think Marquette has a decent shot here. Georgetown has the worst three-point defense during Big East play. That seems like an issue when playing the Golden Eagles. I do worry about the Hoyas’ ability to force turnovers, but Marquette has been much better with ball security in conference play.

Charlie.