MILWAUKEE – Notre Dame knew it had its toughest test of the season in playing Marquette on the road. Sure enough, everything went against the Irish from the moment they stepped onto the Fiserv Forum court. Battling the No. 8 team in the country and a raucous crowd, the Irish merely were foils in a 78-59 loss that was more of a blowout than the final score indicated.
The Eagles (8-2) scored early and often in the first half, putting the game’s first 17 points on the board unanswered. By the time [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] put back his own miss on a layup with 12:53 left in the opening frame, the Irish (4-5) already were too far behind to even make it a contest. While they did outscore the Eagles in the second half, 35-26, it came far too late.
Dominance doesn’t even begin to describe the Eagles’ performance in this game. Factoring in the four shot-clock violations they committed in the first half alone, the Irish were completely annihilated. That includes on fast-break points (26-4), points off turnovers (30-12) and points in the paint (42-16). The eye test also showed that the Eagles are bigger, faster and more coordinated than the Irish, who are just trying to tread water in the middle of a rebuild.
Oso Ighordaro is headed to the NBA after this season, and he showed why with 20 points on six-of-eight shooting and making all eight of his free throws. Tyler Kolek had an impressive line of 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Kam Jones, another NBA draft prospect, contributed 11 points.
Burton was one of the few bright spots for the Irish, scoring 20 points to match Ighordaro and recording a game-high four steals. [autotag]Julian Roper II[/autotag] scored all nine of his points on three 3-pointers.
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