Marquette coasts by Jacksonville in 75-56 win

Despite not having Markus Howard in the lineup, the Marquette Golden Eagles picked up an easy win on Wednesday night. The Golden Eagles coasted to a 75-56 win over the Jacksonville Dolphins to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Bouncing back after their loss to the highly touted Maryland Terrapins, Marquette was on a roll on Wednesday. They jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and then led 16-4 by the 12:55 mark. Their lead would swell all the way up to 23 points by the end of the first half, as Jacksonville just could not keep up with MU. The Golden Eagles hit seven 3-pointers in the first half versus only one from their counterparts. Those seven 3-pointers came on 17 attempts, so they shot 41.2 percent from deep in the first half. Not a bad look to say the least.

The second half fared just about the same. Jacksonville could only cut the deficit to 17 points along the way, as Marquette held serve throughout. And after hitting seven 3-pointers in the first half, the Golden Eagles went the entire second half without a single 3-point make. To be fair, they only shot six 3-point attempts during the half, but obviously the 7-for-23 mark they had from 3-point land for the game was a bit of an eyesore. It did not doom them to be fair, but it obviously will look worse from afar.

Sacar Anim led all Marquette scorers with 19 points. He shot 7-for-15 from the field, had four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in 38 minutes. He committed three turnovers along the way, but still had a very productive day. Theo John was the other Golden Eagle to get into double figures, as John scored 11 points on just six shots. He went 5-for-10 from the free throw line, and while the 50 percent mark was a little ghoulish it’s good to see that he was able to net so many attempts.

Jamal Cain and Jayce Johnson each scored eight points, falling short of the double figure threshold. Cain also had a team-best 12 rebounds, with nine coming on the defensive glass. Koby McEwen and Symir Torrence led in assists with four apiece, and Cain and Greg Elliott each had three, meanwhile.

Marquette was always going to win this game, so that wasn’t much in doubt. They won it without Howard, who was out of the game after suffering a concussion. We don’t know what his status will be for Saturday against the Kansas State Wildcats, but MU would surely like to have him aboard.