With no offense, Marquette embarrassed at home by Ohio State

With an atrocious performance on the offensive end, Marquette was blown out by Ohio State, 52-35, Saturday afternoon.

The 35 points were the worst under coach Buzz Williams, a game after scoring 114 points against Grambling State. The previous low was 38 points in the Elite Eight loss to Syracuse last year. The 35 points were the fewest since Marquette scored 35 against Notre Dame in 1959.

“In the 55 losses since we’ve been here, I’ve always given credit to our opponent for winning,” Williams said. “When we get beat, I say we got beat. I thought Ohio State was great. I thought their schemes and what they were doing to attack us was really good.”

To understand Marquette’s struggles, look no further than these numbers: Jamil Wilson: 1-9. Todd Mayo was 3-15. Jake Thomas 0-7. Derrick Wilson 1-7. For the game, the team shot 10-53 (18.9 percent).

Mayo finished the game with 11 points and Davante Gardner added 10.

“I think the ball was too stagnant,” Williams said. “We never were able to create angles off penetration. It was more station-to-station passing. We never were able to attack.”

The loss snapped Marquette’s 27-game winning streak, which was the longest in the nation for two days after South Dakota State lost to Montana.

It’s not like the Buckeyes lit up the scoreboard either. They shot 26.9 percent in the first half and 42.3 percent for the game. They did shot 15-26 (57.7 percent) in the second half, however.

“We made some shots (in the second half) and Marquette didn’t,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “The ball started going in the basket for us. We had some easy looks off of our defense.”

Shannon Scott and Sam Thompson each scored 13 for Ohio State, with Aaron Craft chipping in 10. Craft also had 10 assists and seven rebounds.

Marquette played excellent defense for the majority of the game. But when Gardner and Mayo are shut down, or are at least limited, the team needs to find a third scorer and that didn’t happen today.

Ohio State went on a 12-2 run after an Otule basket to open the second half to take a 31-23 lead.

Juan Anderson’s pass was picked off by Scott, who laid it in on the other end to give Ohio State a 44-28 lead with 6:40 left in the game.

Thompson hit a three with 8:17 left to give the Buckeyes a 14-point lead.

Marquette would never get closer than that.

Neither team did anything of note in the first half offensively. Marquette shot 20.7 percent, while Ohio State countered with 26.9 percent.

Gardner led Marquette with eight points and Mayo added five in the half.