MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – Marquette crafted a 20-point lead on the first possession of the second half and then successfully held off a comeback bid from Villanova to down the Wildcats 71-60 before a sellout crowd of 17,856 at Fiserv Forum here Saturday.
 
Strong second half defense helped bring the 'Cats back but they were never able to get untracked offensively, connecting on 24-of-68 field goal attempts on the day (. 353). Villanova (10-3 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST) only attempted five free throws on the day, sinking three (.600). Meanwhile, Marquette (11-3 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST) was 26-of-30 at the stripe (.867).
 
Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Markus Howard led all scorers with 27 points. The Wildcats were paced by 14 points from Cole Swider and Justin Moore.
 
"Marquette played great," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "I truly wish we could have given them a better game. They physically took us out of what we wanted to do. We didn't handle getting Saddiq (Bey) and Collin (Gillespie) into foul trouble well. You get behind a good shooting team like that, you're going to be in trouble."
 
After a Swider 3-pointer gave Villanova its first points of the day, Marquette used a 7-0 spurt to grab the lead it would never surrender. Howard was a catalyst for the flurry as the senior scored nine early points to stake the Golden Eagles to a 15-6 edge five minutes into the first half. Another point of concern for Nova was a pair of early fouls whistled on Saddiq Bey.
 
Howard's fireworks helped the Golden Eagles re-establish a nine-point advantage, midway through the period. Marquette held a 27-18 lead at the nine-minute mark of the period. Howard had scored 15 of those points. Meanwhile, Nova was just 7-of-18 from the field (.398). A Koby McEwen drive, bucket and free throw pushed the margin to 30-18 with 7:55 to play before halftime.
 
When Villanova called for a timeout with 5:16 to go in the first half, the Marquette advantage had grown to 37-21. Bey returned after the break, only to pick up his third foul 17 seconds later. The ensuing free throws gave the Golden Eagles a 39-21 lead. In addition, Collin Gillespie picked up his second foul and would battled foul trouble the rest of the day before fouling out in the final minutes.
 
At halftime Marquette held a 46-29 lead. Howard's 17 points paced all scorers while Swider led Villanova with 12 points – on 4-of-4 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. But the Wildcats were just 11-of-30 from the field (.367) in the first 20 minutes while the Golden Eagles sank 15-of-27 (.556).
 
A Howard 3-pointer to open the second half made it 49-29.
 
Yet some splendid defensive work over the next 10 minutes helped the Wildcats close the gap to 51-41 with 10:16 on the clock. But the Wildcats were just 5-of-19 from the field in that span and missed a handful of open looks that could have shaved the deficit further.
 
"I thought we had better defensive energy there but that's a young team – you've got to do that from the beginning," Wright said. "When it takes getting down by 17 to come out with energy, it's a little late.
 
"We've got good guys and they responded. In the first half it was our defense but offensively we were just so inept. They were going to the foul line right away and that was part of our defensive problem. It kind of slowed us down and we didn't get any easy baskets. And then Collin and Saddiq got into foul trouble."
 
The Cats were to within 51-43 at the 7:49 mark before Howard broke what had been a scoreless drought of 7:36 with a 3-pointer to push the margin to 54-43. It was soon 58-45 after the Wildcats were stymied on a series of offensive possessions.
 
"I thought were really inept on offense – turnovers, the shots that were taken," noted Wright. "When we made that run, we had a lot of young guys in there. We were getting stops but our offensive decisions were really poor."
 
Wright also pointed to the seven blocked shots Marquette had on the day.
 
"We got caught up in being down and not making the right play," stated Wright. "That's just something we have to learn."
 
The final count was 71-60.
 
The Wildcats were scheduled to return to Philadelphia on Saturday and quickly shift their focus to Tuesday night's BIG EAST clash at Creighton (9 p.m./FS1 and 610 ESPN Radio/TuneIn app).
 
The 2019-20 season – Villanova's 100^th college basketball campaign – is presented by Hartford Funds and Coca-Cola.