The No. 15 Marquette Golden Eagles (15-3, 4-1 Big East) took a punch when Markus Howard was sidelined with lower back tightness at the first media timeout of the evening. They bent, but didn’t break, and Sam Hauser delivered a career-high 31 points as Marquette battled to victory over the Georgetown Hoyas (12-6, 2-3 Big East), 74-71, on Tuesday night in Washington, DC. Mac McClung scored 24 points to lead the Hoyas.
Howard attempted two shots early on, but it was clear his back issues were limiting his mobility, prompting his exit from the game after just three minutes.