Playing before a loud home crowd against a top-10 opponent on national television, No. 17 Marquette had all the ingredients to make a big early season statement.
Instead, they were flat coming out of the locker room after halftime and cold all afternoon from the field in a 52-35 loss Saturday to No. 10 Ohio State.
Shannon Scott (13 points) and Aaron Craft (10 points, 10 assists) provided the energy for the Buckeyes in a 12-4 run to open the second half and helped end Marquette’s 27-game home winning streak, second-longest in the nation.
“As I told our guys, I don’t feel sorry for us at all. They beat us,” coach Buzz Williams said. “They beat us straight up. They beat us at home before a sellout crowd.”
Todd Mayo led Marquette (2-1) with 11 points. It was the school’s first loss at the Bradley Center since Vanderbilt beat the Golden Eagles 74-57 on Dec. 29, 2011. Only South Dakota State (30) had a longer winning streak in the country entering Saturday.
It certainly didn’t help that the Golden Eagles had 20 turnovers and shot just 10 of 53 (19 percent) for the afternoon, including 4 of 24 (17 percent) in the second half.
The 35 total points is the lowest for Marquette since losing 55-35 to DePaul on Feb. 16, 2000. The Golden Eagles recently scored under 40 in a 55-39 loss to Syracuse in the NCAA regional semifinal last year.
The Buckeyes slowly took control with the run to open the second half, which included six points from Scott. Sam Thompson also scored 13 for the Buckeyes.
The 6-foot-1 Scott found gaps in Marquette’s interior defense, then extended the lead to 44-28 with 6:31 left on a layup on the break.
Marquette point guard Derrick Wilson pointed to a lack of energy coming out of the locker room.
“Defensively, we just didn’t get back in transition, and from that point on they had the advantage,” Wilson said.
Tied at 19 at halftime, the game opened up with Ohio State finally finding room inside to maneuver.
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