Chase Ross scored 16 points and dished out five assists, leading Marquette to a dominant 89-49 victory over Little Rock on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
Marquette (3-1) also got 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting from freshman Nigel James Jr., who made his first career start. Royce Parham added 12 on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting while Ben Gold contributed 11 points and nine rebounds.
Little Rock (1-2) was led by Terrion Burgess with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Braxton Bayless, who led Little Rock with 19 in the most recent game against Milwaukee, scored just two points in 24 minutes due to early foul trouble.
The game was tight early on. The Trojans held a 20-14 tight 10 minutes into the first half and shot 48% from the field for the half, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
The Golden Eagles picked it up later in the half, going on a 24-5 run across seven minutes of game time, making 8 of 10 shots during that stretch. Little Rock also turned it over four times in the final four minutes of the half as Marquette went into the break up 46-29.
The momentum did not slow down with the break. The Golden Eagles came out firing in the second half, going on a 18-0 run up that featured two 3-pointers from Parham and two inside hoops from Ross.
With 13:30 to play, Marquette led 64-29, and the lead never slipped below 32 the rest of the way.
On the night, Marquette shot 52.3% from the floor and 10 of 23 (43.5%) from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles had 21 assists as a team on 34 made field-goals.
Marquette forced 20 turnovers and scored a whopping 34 off those plays. The Golden Eagles had a 43-20 advantage in bench points and a 24-6 edge on fastbreak points.
