MARQUETTE STILL PERFECT IN BIG EAST PLAY

February 4, 2009


It was an impressive homecoming for Marquette senior guard Jerel McNeal. Starting out on fire, much to the delight of a very pro-Marquette crowd on the home court of DePaul, McNeal had 14 points before the 10-minute mark of the first half and he had outscored the Blue Demons himself, 14-12. It looked like a total mismatch with Marquette sprinting to a 30-14 lead just 10 minutes in, but DePaul, to their credit, and to that of their coaching staff, did not quit as many had probably expected. Instead, they rallied to make it a 42-37 game at the half.

Marquette had control the rest of the way as the First-Place Eagles Run Winning Streak to 12 (Journal-Sentinel) games as Marquette Defeats DePaul, 76-61 (Chicago Tribune).

Once again, the Golden Eagles were led by McNeal, who finished with 26 points, added 6 assists, 5 steals, 4 blocks and 4 rebounds, enjoying a trumphiant return home to his Chicago roots. Marquette shot 57% as a team, which was a season-high. Wesley Mathews added 20 points on 8-10 shooting from the field and Dominic James added 15 points, 5 assists and 4 steals as the trio matched DePaul's team total of 61 points.

If things weren't bad enough for the DePaul basketball team being the lone winless Big East team in conference play, 0-9, and hosting the lone undefeared Big East team in 8-0 Marquette, it was Life Without Dar (Daily Herald) last night as leading scorer Dar Tucker missed the contest with a sprained ankle that he suffered in the team's shootaround workout earlier in the day.


DePaul got a career high 30 points from Will Walker who picked up the scoring slack vacated by Tucker's 18.4 points a game being out with an injury. Redshirt-freshman Mike Bizoukas logged the most time at point guard and had 8 assists with just one turnover against the MU backcourt in 34 minutes. He seemed to work well with Walker in the backcourt helping create scoring opportunities.

Marquette has the second leg of a three-game road trip on deck when they visit South Florida Friday night.