Arizona 48 Marquette 43

MILWAUKEE – Salim Stoudamire kept his head up and encouraged his teammates. He didn't sulk or pout when things went wrong.

Now that's what Arizona coach Lute Olson wants to see Stoudamire do on the basketball court.

Olson benched Stoudamire, his leading scorer, on Saturday, when Arizona (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) edged Marquette 48-43 despite the Wildcats' lowest scoring output in nearly 20 years.

ESPN.com's Andy Katz reported that Stoudamire was suspended from the team for a week, a suspension that started Monday and was lifted after the Saturday's game. Stoudamire, who did not practice with the team during the suspension, will play Tuesday against Manhattan but might not start. The reason for the suspension was not being a leader and conduct detrimental to the team.

Olson also didn't like the way his senior star moped after being held to a career-low one field-goal attempt in a victory over Utah last week, Stoudamire's third scoreless game in 101 at Arizona.

“It was just a case where I felt it was the only way for him to begin to gain a positive attitude,” Olson said. “We just need him to meet team responsibilities as a senior when on the court.”

Lesson learned, Stoudamire insisted.

He said he realizes that “regardless of what's going on (in a game) I have to be there emotionally for my teammates. I have to get everybody into it.”

Marquette coach Tom Crean knew he hadn't caught a break when he heard Stoudamire wouldn't play.

“You just knew they were going to come out with a real chip on their shoulder,” he said.

And he knew Stoudamire's replacement, Chris Rodgers, was no slouch.

“Chris Rodgers would start for most teams in America,” Crean said. “He just happens to be behind some All-Americans at Arizona.”

Rodgers keyed the victory with 16 points and six rebounds and made a key layup in the final minute when he blew past Steve Novak into an open lane.

Hassan Adams added 14 points for the visitors, including two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to seal the victory after he grabbed the rebound off his teammate Ivan Radenovic's errant 3-pointer.

Neither team scored much Saturday, combining for only three field goals over the last nine minutes. Arizona (7-2) hadn't been held to so few points since a 50-41 loss to Alabama in the 1985 NCAA Tournament. And Marquette scored just four points over the final 10:07.

Arizona trailed 43-42 when Adams sank two free throws with 2:06 remaining. The Golden Eagles found it harder and harder to get off a good shot against the athletic Wildcats and never regained the lead.

Nearly half of Marquette's shots (24 of 49) were 3-pointers, and the Golden Eagles only sank seven of them.

Marquette (9-1), which had its 34-game home winning streak ended, got 14 points from Travis Diener, who became the school's career leading 3-point shooter but was just 5-of-17 from the floor. Novak scored 11 points.

Diener's four 3-pointers gave him 245, one more than Rob Logterman's old mark.

Diener (21.1-point average) and Novak (15.3), the Golden Eagles' top two scorers, combined to shoot 3-for-15 from the floor in the first half.

“You are not going to see two better shooters on one team than Novak and Diener,” Olson said. “And in order to stop that you need five guys working together and I felt like we really did a great job defensively.”

With his senior star rooting from the next seat over, no less.

Official Basketball Box Score
Arizona vs Marquette
12-18-04 1 p.m. at Milwaukee, Wis. (Bradley Center)

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VISITORS: Arizona 7-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
02 FOX, Isiah.......... f  1-3    0-0    0-0    2  4  6   5   2  2  1  0  1  14
21 ADAMS, Hassan....... f  4-8    0-0    6-7    3  2  5   0  14  3  3  1  1  34
45 FRYE, Channing...... c  4-11   0-0    0-0    4  7 11   1   8  0  4  0  1  34
13 RODGERS, Chris...... g  6-12   3-4    1-1    2  4  6   1  16  1  0  0  2  35
15 SHAKUR, Mustafa..... g  3-10   1-3    0-0    0  5  5   1   7  4  3  0  0  38
05 MCCLELLAN, Jawann...    0-2    0-0    1-2    0  0  0   1   1  0  2  0  0   8
12 DILLON, Daniel......    0-1    0-1    0-0    1  0  1   1   0  1  0  0  1  11
44 BRIELMAIER, Bret....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  1  0  0   6
55 RADENOVIC, Ivan.....    0-5    0-2    0-0    2  1  3   2   0  0  0  0  0  20
   TEAM................                         1  1  2             1
   Totals..............   18-52   4-10   8-10  15 25 40  13  48 11 15  1  6 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0%   2nd Half:  8-27 29.6%   Game: 34.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-4  50.0%   2nd Half:  2-6  33.3%   Game: 40.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-5  60.0%   2nd Half:  5-5  100 %   Game: 80.0%    1


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HOME TEAM: Marquette 9-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
20 Novak, Steve........ f  4-11   2-8    1-1    1  5  6   0  11  0  0  0  1  32
35 Jackson, Marcus..... f  0-1    0-0    0-2    4  4  8   2   0  2  1  3  0  31
33 Grimm, Chris........ c  1-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   5   2  2  1  0  0  18
30 Mason, Dameon....... g  4-11   1-3    1-1    1  2  3   3  10  1  7  0  1  34
34 Diener, Travis...... g  5-17   4-10   0-0    0  4  4   2  14  6  1  0  2  37
01 Townsend, Todd......    0-2    0-1    1-2    0  0  0   0   1  0  0  1  0  11
32 Chapman, Joe........    0-3    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1  16
41 Barro, Ousmane......    1-2    0-0    0-0    3  1  4   1   2  1  1  0  0   9
43 Amoroso, Ryan.......    0-1    0-1    3-5    1  0  1   0   3  0  0  0  0  12
   TEAM................                            1  1             2
   Totals..............   15-49   7-24   6-11  10 19 29  13  43 12 13  4  5 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  7-28 25.0%   2nd Half:  8-21 38.1%   Game: 30.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-14 21.4%   2nd Half:  4-10 40.0%   Game: 29.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  2-2  100 %   2nd Half:  4-9  44.4%   Game: 54.5%   4,1


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Officials: Tom O'Neill, Curtis Shaw, John Higgins
Technical fouls: Arizona-None. Marquette-None.
Attendance: 17624
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Arizona.......................   25   23  -   48
Marquette.....................   19   24  -   43

Points in the paint-ARIZ 22,MARQ 8. Points off turnovers-ARIZ 13,MARQ 15.
2nd chance points-ARIZ 13,MARQ 9. Fast break points-ARIZ 9,MARQ 6.
Bench points-ARIZ 1,MARQ 6. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-4 times.
Largest lead-ARIZ by 13 1st-11:54, MARQ by 3 2nd-09:24.