It was good while it lasted. Buffalo ran into a buzzsaw as they tried to keep their great run going.
It was a buzzsaw named Markus Howard.
To be sure, Marquette has a lot more than the star junior, and that was obvious in the first half of the Golden Eagles’ 103-85 win over the Bulls on Friday night in Milwaukee. The Hauser brothers – Joey and Sam – led the way in the first half, and graduate transfer Joseph Chartouny also helped. Joey had 11 points and nine rebounds, while Sam had 18 and five; Joey hit all three of his shots from deep and Sam went 4-7. Friday night also showed that Theo John is primed to become a key enforcer inside as he blocked seven shots and had nine rebounds.
But Howard is the guy who can transform this team. He’s the guy who can take over a game. And boy, did he take over on Friday night.
Howard scored 45 points, 40 of them coming in the second half. In the latter part of the second, he was hitting heat check-type shots, even while well-defended. It’s the third time in 2018 that he has scored at least 45 points, having also done that earlier this month and having scored 52 in a memorable win at Providence in their first game after the calendar flipped over to 2018. Howard is now averaging almost 33 points per game in the month of December this season.
Howard’s hot shooting, along with that of the Hauser brothers, helped the Golden Eagles shoot an amazing 18-29 from long range on the evening. That, along with a 48-34 rebounding edge, went a long way towards the decisive win. They scored 64 points in the second half against a team that has allowed five opponents less than that many for the entire game, including Syracuse a few short nights ago.
What now emerges from this is that Marquette has quietly emerged as the team that should be seen as favorites in the Big East. Villanova has the pedigree, but has looked shaky with so many new parts, and St. John’s has the undefeated mark, but Marquette has the wins and has been challenged. Their only losses have been at Indiana and against Kansas in the NIT Season Tip-Off. Their wins include Louisville, Kansas State, Wisconsin and now Buffalo.
Buffalo, meanwhile, will get on with the business of winning the MAC without talk of whether or not they can go undefeated. That would have been nice, but the Bulls have to take care of business with the MAC so that their wins thus far will mean something come Selection Sunday. If they go, say, 11-7 in the MAC, an at-large bid would be unlikely; run through the MAC with perhaps no more than a loss or two and then in the conference tournament, and they should have a solid case for one. That would have been the case had they won on Friday night, too. They can’t fall apart in MAC play.
The good thing is, they aren’t going to run into a buzzsaw on most nights in the MAC. And they certainly aren’t going to see Markus Howard there.
Side Dishes
LSU handed Furman their first loss of the season, a 75-57 decision in Baton Rouge. Furman drops to 12-1 and now will get on with the business of winning the Southern Conference, a challenge given that several teams have impressed in non-conference play besides the Paladins.
Baylor once again delivered a hit to the Pac-12, this time beating Oregon 57-47. Of course, if the Bears keep this up and gain confidence, they could make these results not seem so bad for the Pac-12, though they would remain missed opportunities all the same.
Baylor’s conference rival Texas suffered another home loss, this one at the hands of Providence 71-65. It’s a big win for Providence as they go on the road, especially without star freshman A.J. Reeves, though Texas was without Kerwin Roach due to a stomach illness. Also in the Big 12, Oklahoma went on the road and needed overtime to beat Northwestern 76-69.
While Houston and Cincinnati have played well and grabbed attention, UCF is quietly 11-2 after handling Illinois State 77-56 on Friday.
One score that jumped off the page because of the matchup: Lipscomb blew out Vermont 91-66 in a game that might have looked like a good matchup of contenders in their respective conferences.
Tonight’s Menu
As expected, Saturday right before Christmas is a busy day of action that includes a few events as well as the start of the Diamond Head Classic.
- Arch rivals meet early on as Georgia Tech hosts Georgia, and tipping at the same time is another ACC-SEC matchup as Wake Forest travels to Tennessee (noon)
- A pair of old Big East rivals meet in an old favorite spot as UConn battles Villanova at Madison Square Garden (12:30 p.m.)
- A matchup that won’t get a lot of pub but should be interesting considering the offense-defense matchup is William & Mary visiting Virginia (2 p.m.)
- Marshall heads south to visit Texas A&M (2 p.m.)
- Another matchup of arch rivals on tap is South Carolina hosting Clemson (2 p.m.)
- Florida Atlantic is off to an 8-3 start, but they get a tough test as they visit Miami (2 p.m.)
- Texas State has quietly run out to a 10-1 start, and they take that mark into Fayetteville against Arkansas (2 p.m.)
- In a doubleheader in Sunrise, Florida, Saint Louis takes on Florida State (2:30 p.m.), then Florida Gulf Coast takes on Florida in the Orange Bowl Classic (5 p.m.)
- In the CBS Sports Classic at the United Center, UCLA takes on Ohio State (3 p.m.), then North Carolina takes on Kentucky (5:15 p.m.) in a game that may well tell us more about the Wildcats than the Tar Heels.
- An underrated afternoon matchup is improving Saint Mary’s traveling to Western Kentucky (3 p.m.)
- An early Southern Conference game is on tap, and it should be a good one as UNC Greensboro visits Samford (3 p.m.)
- Boston College heads to Chicago to take on DePaul (3:30 p.m.)
- An intriguing matchup is Wichita State heading to Richmond to visit VCU (4 p.m.)
- Auburn tries to bounce back from their loss at NC State in another challenging game as they host Murray State (4:30 p.m.)
- Maryland gets a good test as they host Seton Hall (5:30 p.m.)
- Old Mountain West rivals meet as San Diego State hosts BYU (7 p.m.)
- The Sprint Center in Kansas City plays host to a good matchup with Vanderbilt and Kansas State (7 p.m.)
- A sleeper matchup to watch is Big Sky favorite Montana visiting Summit League favorite South Dakota State (8 p.m.)
- The Braggin’ Rights game is on tap in St. Louis between Illinois and Missouri (8 p.m.)
- A big game in the evening is Kansas visiting Arizona State (9 p.m.)
- The Las Vegas Classic starts off with Cal State Northridge battling SIU Edwardsville (2 p.m.), then Northern Colorado and Rider meet in a game that could be better than advertised (4:30 p.m.) Later, New Mexico State takes on Drake (7:30) and the day ends with San Diego taking on Washington State (10 p.m.)
- The Diamond Head Classic gets going with Indiana State taking on Colorado (3 p.m.), then UNLV battles Hawaii (5 p.m.) to close the first session. The night session opens with Rhode Island against Bucknell (10 p.m.) and closes with Charlotte taking on TCU (12:30 a.m.)
