Marquette beats Providence 87-66
Junior Cadougan #5 of the Marquette Golden Eagles handles the ball against the Providence Friars during the first round of the 2011 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament presented by American Eagle Outfitters at Madison Square Garden. (March 8, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
Darius Johnson-Odom scored 23 points and Jimmy Butler added 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to lead Marquette to an 87-66 victory over Providence on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Big East tournament.
The 11th-seeded Golden Eagles (19-13), considered by many to be the last of the 11 teams from the Big East with a chance at making the NCAA tournament's field of 68, will play seventh-seeded and 20th-ranked West Virginia (20-10) in the second round on Wednesday night.
Vincent Council had 21 points and seven assists for the Friars (15-17) and Marshon Brooks, whose 24.8 average led the conference in scoring and is second in the nation, finished with 20 points. They both were 7 of 19 from the field but Council was 6 of 9 on 3s and Brooks was 3 of 7.
Marquette scored the first 17 points of the game, making six of its first eight shots from the field including all five 3-point attempts.
Providence missed its first 11 shots from the field and it wasn't close misses. Brooks finally scored on a drive 5:31 into the game to make it 17-2.
Two free throws by Devonte Gardner gave Marquette its biggest lead of the half, 41-17 with 3:28 to go.
The only thing that made the halftime score close to respectable was Council's 9-1 run over the final 1:25, all the points coming on 3s, that made it 46-33.
Providence opened the second half on a 10-4 run to get within 50-43 with 16:55 to play.
Butler and Johnson-Odom scored around a missed jumper by Brooks and the Golden Eagles staved off any thoughts of a record Big East tournament comeback.
Providence was able to get within 11 points twice, the last time at 72-61 on a 3 by Council with 5:23 left.
Marquette shot 57.1 percent from the field (16 of 28), including 5 of 9 on 3s. The Friars shot 30.6 percent (11 of 36) and that included going 7 of 17 on 3s led by Council's 4 of 7.
