Wisconsin Knocks Off (3) Marquette

We've got a court storming in Madison. Wisconsin upset No. 3 Marquette in an annual in-state rivalry matchup keeping the bragging rites for another year.

The Badgers got out to a hot start in front of their home crowd, keeping control for most of the game. Wisconsin rode Max Kesmit’s 21 points backed by 5-8 shooting from three, who had only made 7 three-pointers all season coming into this game, to take a 13 point lead at the half.

Nothing seemed to be going Marquette’s way from the tip. They were ice cold shooting in the face of Wisconsin’s defensive pressure, giving Shaka Smart’s team a taste of their own medicine. After starting 3-5 from the field, Marquette disappeared, making only one basket in their next nine attempts. Scoring points and rebounding would prove to be a struggle.

It didn't help that Oso Ighodaro and David Joplin didn’t begin the game in their normal jerseys, but rather in an invisibility cloak. They combined for an atrocious 2-11 in the first half, totaling only 7 points with 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. No assists. No blocks.

Despite getting worked in the first frame, Marquette stormed out to a 6-0 run to open the half bringing the Golden Eagles within four points in a blink. Later, they gave Wisconsin a scare trimming the deficit to just one point.

Marquette was causing turnovers, Joplin and Ighodaro had quick scores, Stevie Mitchell was wreaking havoc, and Kesmit even failed to score in the second half. It looked like Marquette was in position to complete a comeback. 54-53 would be the tightest the game would ever get.

Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl led the way giving the Badgers a flurry of second chance points by big-brothering the Golden Eagles on the glass. Second chance points and easy put backs killed Marquette late.

Wisconsin out-rebounded Marquette 38-23, including 15-7 offensively. Marquette’s kryptonite has been rebounds, so they would need other aspects of their game to pick up slack, but it never did. Marquette shooters went cold, they fouled relentlessly, and coughed up the ball in inopportune spots on top of being humiliated on the glass.

Free throws were also dominated by Wisconsin, who shot twice as many as Marquette and made them at a 7.1% higher clip. Marquette won the turnover battle, but forcing 14-11 wasn’t enough of a gap for Smart’s team to win the game.

Commend Marquette for the fight they showed erasing a 15 point lead to just one possession, but their inconsistency led to their demise. Wisconsin had four players score double digits. Marquette had only two.

Kam Jones, the one consistent scorer for Marquette, scored 19 points on 7-12 shooting. Tyler Kolek was fine, but Marquette needed him to be great, finishing with 11 points on 4-11 shooting.

Marquette will need a more complete effort moving forward, hopefully with the help of Joplin. He was limited to 3-13 and 1-9 from three versus the Badgers. In the loss to then No. 2 Purdue, he was 1-2 for 3 points. When Marquette knocked off No. 1 Kansas in the Maui Invitational, he shot 20% for 2 points. In their first matchup against a ranked opponent in Illinois, he shot 16.7% scoring only 5 points.

By losing Olivier-Maxence Prosper to the NBA Draft, Marquette has needed Joplin to step up and produce. So far, he hasn't risen to the challenge. Joplin burned a UCLA team for 19 points, which seems like the outlier rather than the trend early on this season.

Joplin’s value plummets if he isn’t scoring. He was shooting 28.8% from three coming into Madison and that number will shrink when the stats from this game are posted. It’s early and Joplin is a good player, but he needs to heat up if Marquette is going to go on a run they should be poised for in March.

Marquette, who will now almost certainly be out of the AP top five, will need to flush this loss fast. A quick way to return to a top ranking is to beat No. 16 Texas in their next game on Dec. 6. Smart's former team will come to Milwaukee for a game that should electrifying.