Marquette Wallops UConn

In its inaugural Big East opener, the Marquette Golden Eagles blitzed the UConn Huskies, upsetting the nation's second-ranked team 94 - 79 at the Bradley Center.

Marquette was led by senior Steve Novak who delivered 41 points and 16 rebounds, both career highs. Novak, the 6'10" senior sharpshooter, proved to be an impossible matchup for the bigger Huskies as Calhoun's big men failed to make adjustments and take him out of rhythm. Keyed by consistent dribble penetration from Jerel McNeal and Dominic James, Novak repeatedly took advantage of open looks. In the process, Novak set a conference record for points in an initial Big East appearance.

Marquette started slowly to open the game, but used a 12-1 run midway through the first to regain its footing and carried that momentum to a 39-33 lead at the half. In the first half, Dominic James and Jerel McNeal combined to shoot 2-19 from the field, but Novak and fellow senior Joe Chapman, with eight first half points, paced the Golden Eagles' attack.

Chapman finished with 12 points. Jerel McNeal finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, a career high.

The Golden Eagles effort was highlighted by contributions from an impressively deep bench as well. Jamil Lott, Dwight Burke, and Ousmane Barro teamed with Ryan Amoroso to outplay UConn's frontline. Surprisingly, Marquette outrebounded the bigger Huskies, 43-38.

MU was sublime at the free throw line as well, cashing in on 24 of 28 opportunities. UConn struggled mightily at the line going only 17-35.

Here is the reaction from the Big East Basketball Roundup.

Here is the GoMarquette box score from the game.

Here is the ESPN box score from the game.

Here is the Associated Press recap of the game.

Here is the CBS Sportsline recap.

Here is an article by Jeff Shelman for ESPN.

Here is Todd Rosiak's recap, which notes that Novak's "combination of 57 points and rebounds was the most ever in a single game in the 27-year history of the Big East, bettering the previous mark of 55 set by Georgetown's Mike Sweetney in 2002. His 41 points were also the most scored by a player making his Big East debut, blowing out of the water the old record of 30 held by Notre Dame's Troy Murphy and Georgetown's Allen Iverson."

Here's the Hartford Courant which quotes Calhoun as saying, "This was an old-fashioned butt whippin'"