State Basketball Roundup: Marquette crushes South Florida

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TAMPA - The Marquette University men's basketball team moved back into a first-place tie in the Big East Conference with a 70-47 rout at South Florida last night.

The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 20-point lead with seven minutes to go in the first half. The lead was 23 at the break, and it was no contest after that. 24th-ranked Marquette out-shot South Florida 45-to-35 percent, and the Eagles made 86-percent of their free throws to just 69-percent for the Bulls. Vander Blue and Todd Mayo each scored 13 points, as Marquette improved to 7-and-2 in the Big East, tied for the league lead with Syracuse. Louisville’s a half-game back. Zach LeDay was the only scorer in double figures for South Florida. He had 14. The Bulls dropped to 1-9 in the conference and 10-12 overall. Marquette is now 16-5 overall, and will host DePaul on Saturday. Tonight, the UW-Milwaukee men entertain Detroit, while Green Bay hosts Wright State. In women’s basketball, Wisconsin is at Ohio State. Milwaukee is at Illinois-Chicago. UW-Green Bay plays at Loyola. And the Parkside women-and-men are at Kentucky Wesleyan.

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The Milwaukee Bucks went 0-2 on their short Western road trip, after losing at Utah last night 100-86. The Bucks were dominated inside, as the Jazz scored 56 points-in-the-paint to Milwaukee’s 36. Utah also put back enough rebounds on offense to score 31 second-chance points, to Milwaukee’s 10. The Jazz out-rebounded the Bucks 50-37, and Utah had the shooting edge 48-to-35 percent. The Bucks were up by six after the first quarter, but the Jazz out-scored Milwaukee by 21 in the second and third quarters to take control. The Bucks played without starters Larry Sanders and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Sanders bruised his back on a hard fall at Denver Tuesday night, while Mbah a Moute hurt his right knee while making a cut against the Nuggets. Coach Jim Boylan said the Bucks had a clear size disadvantage – and he has a thin team in that department. He said the Bucks’ talent is designed to spread the floor. Al Jefferson and Paul Milsap each scored 19 points for the Jazz, who beat the Bucks for the 11th straight time on their home floor. Utah has also won 10-of-11 home contests overall. Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova each had 17 for Milwaukee. Samuel Dalembert had 10 points and 11 rebounds, as the Bucks fell to two games above .500. They’ll host Detroit on Saturday night.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam, basketball, marquette