Marquette ran all over the Rutgers men's basketball team. Literally.
The 25th-ranked Golden Eagles scored 35 fast break points en route to a 78-48 drubbing of a Scarlet Knights squad that never had a chance in the second half.
Freshman guard Corey Chandler scored 12 points and junior forward JR Inman added 11, but Marquette exploded after the break and pulled away, capitalizing on 23 Rutgers turnovers and breaking open a huge lead.
"It was sort of a fool's gold in the first half when we hit some shots," Rutgers head coach Fred Hill Jr. said in a press conference following the loss. "We are not a jump-shooting team. We are much better when we are getting to the rim."
Indeed, the Knights put up 20 attempts from downtown, converting on just five. Three came in the first half when the team shot 52 percent from the field. But even then, RU was not aggressive and failed to attack the basket.
The Knights made it to the foul line just once throughout the entire game, a trip that came with under three minutes to go and RU down by 27. Fittingly, freshman Earl Pettis converted on just one of the two attempts.
Contrarily to the effort put forth by the Knights, Marquette was able to get to the rim at will. They scored 46 points in the paint and excelled in just about every statistical category.
The team shot over 56 percent from the floor, spread the ball around with 21 assists, out-rebounded RU and, most importantly to the team's success, ran the fast break with great efficiency.
"Defense, rebounding, running and sharing the ball: When we are at our pace, we're tough to beat," said Golden Eagles guard Wesley Matthews, who had 12 points. "Everyone has to get involved."
Scoring was balanced for Marquette, but star guard Jerel McNeal led the team in almost every other category. The guard had seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals to go along with his 14 points.
Apart from Chandler, who added three steals of his own, the Knights seemed to lack spark and energy. Too often, RU would settle for jump shots, a characteristic that contributed to their alarming 8-29 shooting performance in the second half.
Perhaps it was Marquette's stifling defense that stymied the Knights' offensive game plan. Only Chandler and Inman reached double digits in scoring.
"Our defense was by far our best offense," Marquette head coach Tom Crean said in a press conference.
Led by McNeal, the Eagles (20-6, 10-5) improved to 14-1 on their home floor. The team had 15 steals, consistently turning the Knights' turnovers into easy buckets, many on the fast break.
RU (10-18, 2-13) has now lost seven straight games, their longest streak since dropping eight in a row in 2001. They have not won since their upset Jan. 26 over then No. 13 Pittsburgh.
