Kam Jones scored 20 and Tyler Kolek added 14 as No. 5 Marquette started its season with a 92-70 victory against visiting Northern Illinois on Big East title banner night Monday in Milwaukee.
Oso Ighodaro contributed down low with 13 points and seven rebounds while Chase Ross came off the bench to score 12, shooting 5-for-6.
NIU was led by returning starter David Coit with 14, while Philmon Gebrewhit added 11. Yanic Konan Niederhauser finished with a near double-double, scoring nine and grabbing a game-high 11 boards while blocking two shots as well.
Jones got the home fans going right from the start, scoring Marquette’s first six points with two 3-pointers before dropping a dime to Ighodaro that he finished for a dunk.
The Golden Eagles stormed ahead in the first half, building a 22-point lead going into halftime, 50-28. Marquette shot 7-for-12 from beyond the arc in the opening half, and the ball was moving with 12 assists for the half.
It was more of the same for Marquette at the start of the second half, but there were points in which they were not as a sharp.
NIU went on a 12-1 run to bring their deficit down to 14, capped off by an and-one jump shot from Zion Russell. With less than 13 minutes to play, that would be as close as the Huskies would draw.
The Golden Eagles would later go on an 8-0 run, capped off by a thunderous Ben Gold dunk to give the Golden Eagles a 73-51 edge. It was one of three dunks for Gold in the second half alone.
Marquette shot 52.2 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, they forced 14 turnovers and scored 16 points off them.
The program improved to 8-2 against Northern Illinois and 2-0 since Shaka Smart took over as head coach.
–Field Level Media