A year ago Junior Cadougan sat on the Kohl Center sidelines, suspended for a violation of team rules as his Marquette team picked up a road win over in-state rival Wisconsin.
Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Cadougan made sure his presence was felt.
The senior point guard scored seven straight Marquette points in the second half, and converted a three-point play with less than three minutes left to help seal a 60-50 win for the Golden Eagles.
After a first half dominated by Marquette’s up-tempo pace and full court pressure defense, Wisconsin eventually settled in and used an 18-7 run to open the half to cut the lead to three, 41-38.
During the Wisconsin run, Marquette went through a five-minute stretch in the half without scoring a point before a Junior Cadougan layup-and-free throw that extended the lead back out to six. Cadougan would score six straight for Marquette, with Wisconsin responding with jumpers from Frank Kominsky and Ryan Evans.
But as Wisconsin failed to maintain its hot scoring, Cadougan drove to the basket and drained a floater with the shot clock expiring, and drew a foul to put Marquette up 53-44. On the next possession, Juan Anderson made perhaps the play of the game by blocking a Sam Dekker layup attempt on the right baseline.
A couple late 3-pointers by Wisconsin closed the gap, but Marquette – which shot just 1-of-9 from the free throw line in the first half – made their freebies down the stretch, and Cadougan finished the Badgers off with a second foul-and-basket combo in the last 40 seconds to seal the win.
Vander Blue led the way with 17 points, while Cadougan wound up with 18 points, six assists and four rebounds in the win. Davante Gardner added 10 off the bench.
The Badgers’ offense again struggled in the first half without point guard Josh Gasser, who tore his ACL during the preseason, and it showed Saturday night. Starter Traveon Jackson committed three first half turnovers, and reserve Zak Showalter lost it twice on constant pressure from Marquette, which scored 10 points on 10 Badger turnovers.
Wisconsin entered Saturday night averaging just 9.6 turnovers, the fourth best mark in the country, but Marquette scored 10 points off 10 Badger turnovers – including seven Marquette steals – and had 13 fastbreak points in the first 20 minutes, an impressive mark against the slow-paced Badgers.
It was Blue’s show by intermission, as the Madison native scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a pair of shot clock-beating 3-pointers to bail out a Marquette offense that looked crisp most of the first half. Marquette shot better than 55 percent from the field, and would have extended its lead had it not been for a 1-of-9 performance at the free throw line.
Blue was complemented by Davante Gardner’s six points, but the Marquette frontcourt made an impact on the other end, holding Badger leading scorer Jared Berggren to zero first half points on just 0-for-1 shooting. Berggren picked up his second foul at the 1:38 mark, was rendered ineffective by a combination of Otule and Gardner in his 17 minutes.
Sam Dekker scored five straight points to open the game for the Badgers, but Ryan Evans was forced to pick up the slack when Dekker missed his last three of the half. Evans’ 3-of-6 shooting (6 points) salvaged an otherwise forgettable first half that saw the Badgers shoot just 35 percent from the field, and 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.
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