Marquette Golden Eagles fall to Indiana 96-73
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.— Romeo Langford scored 22 points, Evan Fitzner added 16 and Indiana locked down on defense to beat No. 24 Marquette 96-73 on Wednesday night.
The Hoosiers are 3-0 for the eighth time in nine years. They beat a ranked team for only the second time in nine tries under second-year coach Archie Miller.
Sam and Joey Hauser and each scored 18 points to lead Marquette. Markus Howard also had 18 for the Golden Eagles (2-1), who were playing in Assembly Hall for the first time since 1985.
Miller challenged his defense to match its intensity and passion from Indian's first two wins, and the Hoosiers looked even better against Marquette's usually potent offense.
Indiana forced four turnovers in the first 2½ minutes, drew foul after foul and converted the miscues into points. The opening flurry gave Indiana a 19-4 lead, and Marquette never recovered.
The Golden Eagles got within 29-22 midway through the first half, then let Indiana answer with a 13-2 run to make it 42-24.
When Marquette ran off 10 straight points to close to eight, the Hoosiers finished the first half with five straight points, started the second half with seven more in a row and built a 23-point lead.
Marquette didn't get closer than 21 over the final 10 minutes.
Big picture
Marquette: The Golden Eagles climbed into the Top 25 after two impressive wins last week but will likely fall out after a slow start doomed their chances Wednesday. They spent most of the game futilely trying to dig out of a double-digit deficit.
Indiana: If anyone doubted the Hoosiers' performance last week, they shouldn't now. Indiana looked just as efficient offensively, just as effective defensively and just as overwhelming overall against a ranked foe.
Stat pack
Marquette: The Golden Eagles only led once, 2-0, and went 5 of 23 on 3-pointers. ... Indiana shot 63.6 percent from the field after Marquette held its first two opponents to a combined 26 percent. ... Jamal Cain had seven rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles.
Indiana: Juwan Morgan and Aljami Durham each scored 13 points and Rob Phinisee had 12. ... Morgan also had eight rebounds. ... The Hoosiers had a 50-32 scoring advantage in the paint and a 21-5 edge in fast-break points.
Up next
Marquette hopes to rebound from its first loss when it hosts Presbyterian on Saturday.
Indiana can start 4-0 for the first time since 2014-15 with a win at Arkansas on Sunday.