Marquette looks to continue its offensive tear and win its third consecutive game as it hosts DePaul on Tuesday night in Milwaukee.
After dropping their first three games in conference play, the Golden Eagles (10-6, 2-3 Big East) responded with a pair of dominant wins in which they averaged a whopping 90 points, while holding opponents to just 60.
Marquette is coming off a 92-64 rout of Georgetown on Friday night. Olivier-Maxence Prosper had a career-high 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Tyler Kolek added 13 points and seven assists, and Justin Lewis had 10 points and five rebounds.
“I feel like it all starts on the defensive end,” Prosper said. “I feel if I start on that end, I focus on that, the offense will come. I’m just trying to be aggressive out there, make the open shots and attack the paint.”
The Golden Eagles shot a season-high 59.1 percent from the field against the Hoyas and all 11 players that saw at least five minutes of action found their way into the scoring column.
DePaul (9-5, 0-4) is in the midst of a four-game losing streak and most recently lost 79-64 to then-No. 19 Villanova on Saturday afternoon.
Javon Freeman-Liberty led all scorers with a season-high 34 points and hauled in six rebounds on 10-of-17 shooting. David Jones added 12 points, and Brandon Johnson chipped in eight to go along with 10 rebounds.
“I thought for 20 minutes that we came out, played hard, played together, but you know it’s a 40-minute game,” head coach Tony Stubblefield said. “Defensively, we’ve got to be more connected, and play harder, and play more as one.”
Despite the Blue Demons’ struggles, Freeman-Liberty has put together an impressive season thus far and has scored at least 20 points in 10 of 14 games. The 6-foot-4 guard has done so efficiently, shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from 3-point range.
Tuesday marks the 130th all-time meeting between DePaul and the Golden Eagles. Marquette holds an 80-49 record and has come out on top in four of the last six games.
–Field Level Media
