Prarie View A&M 58 Marquette 97

With so many new faces in the mix, Marquette Golden Eagles coach Buzz Williams hinted last week he might resort to “musical lineups” early in the 2010-'11 season.

Williams wound up being true to his word in his team's 97-58 lid-lifting thrashing of Prairie View A&M on Friday night at the Bradley Center. He started freshmen Reggie Smith and Vander Blue in the backcourt, along with sophomores Erik Williams and Chris Otule and senior Jimmy Butler in the frontcourt.

“Our team completely expected it. Those five guys have completely dominated their positions over the last four days of practice,” Williams said. “As I say all the time, you get what you earn, and those guys earned the right to start.”

Butler, who led all scorers with 18 points, was the only familiar face to open the game for MU. Conspicuous by his absence was junior Darius Johnson-Odom, who along with Butler figured to be one of the two fixtures all season in the starting lineup.

Blue, the former Madison Memorial star, acquitted himself well in Johnson-Odom's stead. He helped set the tone defensively as MU harassed the Panthers into 13 first-half turnovers that the Golden Eagles cashed in for 23 points in opening a commanding 53-23 halftime lead.

He finished with a stat-stuffer line that any rotisserie player (not to mention Williams) would love: seven points, seven rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocked shots in 28 minutes. Only his four turnovers and 3-for-6 shooting from the free-throw line detracted from an otherwise memorable debut.

“I want to do everything on the court - I don't want to just be a scorer,” Blue said. “I want to get players involved, have a lot of intensity and help my team win. But I want to make sure I limit my turnovers.”

Smith, meanwhile, got the nod at the point ahead of senior Dwight Buycks, who practiced just once after spraining his left ankle Sunday. Smith wasn't nearly as sharp as he was in MU's exhibition outing last Saturday - when he put up eight points and seven assists - and quickly gave way to Buycks, who appeared to be moving well.

Buycks wound up playing the lion's share of minutes, and his line of nine points and seven assists in 22 minutes probably did nothing to dissuade Williams from sticking with him as the starter.

Aside from Blue starting in place of Johnson-Odom (13 points in 21 minutes) the biggest surprise was probably Williams, a sophomore forward who spent much of last year in the coach's doghouse. He opened the proceedings with a baseline jumper and wound up with a career-high 12 points - 10 fewer than he scored all of last season.

“I thought he was good,” Buzz Williams said. “He's still got a little bit of anxiousness in him, but he's learning to work out of that much better. I'm encouraged by him, because I think he can help our team.”

Another pleasant surprise was 290-pound freshman Davante Gardner, who had a huge second half en route to a 17-point outing. He also had five rebounds in 13 minutes.

In winning its season 10th consecutive season opener, MU out-rebounded Prairie View A&M, 51-19, got to the free-throw line 35 times (hitting 62.9%) and scored 62 points in the paint. On the downside, it committed 11 of its 17 turnovers in an otherwise lackluster second half.

MU has a day off before a Sunday matinee matchup with Bucknell, which gave Villanova, one of the preseason favorites in the Big East, a tough game Friday.

Official Basketball Box Score
Prairie View A&M vs Marquette
11/12/10 8 p.m. at Bradley Center - Milwaukee, Wis.


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VISITORS: Prairie View A&M 0-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
23 BELL,Cortney........ f  2-6    0-0    2-3    0  3  3   1   6  0  2  2  0  23
34 WEBB,Brandon........ f  3-4    0-0    2-3    2  2  4   3   8  1  3  0  4  21
03 SIMPSON,Trant....... g  5-14   4-8    0-0    1  0  1   2  14  4  1  0  1  37
10 GRIFFIN,Michael..... g  4-8    3-4    0-0    0  1  1   1  11  1  5  0  1  18
41 MEADOWS,Tim......... g  2-8    1-5    2-3    0  3  3   3   7  2  2  0  2  28
01 WHERRY,Jeff.........    2-6    1-5    0-0    0  2  2   3   5  3  1  0  3  20
02 ROGERS,Beloved......    0-4    0-2    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  1  3  0  0   7
05 SIGHTS,Chris........    1-4    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   4   2  0  1  0  0  10
21 WEBB,Michael........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   5   0  0  1  0  0   5
24 KORNEGAY,Duwan......    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   4
32 CHAPMAN,Demondre....    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   3   2  0  0  1  0  11
44 WALKER,Aron.........    1-3    0-0    1-2    0  1  1   1   3  0  1  0  0  16
   TEAM................                         3     3
   Totals..............   21-59   9-25   7-11   6 13 19  27  58 12 20  3 11 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 37.0%   2nd Half: 11-32 34.4%   Game: 35.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-8  25.0%   2nd Half:  7-17 41.2%   Game: 36.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-2  50.0%   2nd Half:  6-9  66.7%   Game: 63.6%    3


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HOME TEAM: Marquette 1-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 Williams, Erik...... f  4-6    0-0    4-4    0  3  3   4  12  0  0  0  1  19
33 Butler, Jimmy....... f  7-12   0-1    4-5    3  3  6   2  18  3  2  3  2  26
42 Otule, Chris........ c  1-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   0   2  1  0  1  1  10
02 Blue, Vander........ g  2-3    0-0    3-6    3  4  7   3   7  5  4  3  4  28
04 Smith, Reggie....... g  1-3    0-2    0-2    0  3  3   2   2  0  3  1  0   9
01 Johnson-Odom, Darius    4-10   1-3    4-5    1  1  2   1  13  2  1  0  1  21
05 Cadougan, Junior....    1-2    0-0    0-1    0  2  2   1   2  5  2  0  1  13
21 Fulce, Joseph.......    1-1    0-0    2-2    1  6  7   2   4  1  1  1  0  12
22 Jones, Jamail.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  1  1  0  1   8
23 Buycks, Dwight......    3-7    2-4    1-3    1  1  2   2   9  7  2  0  0  22
32 Crowder, Jae........    5-8    0-0    1-4    4  3  7   0  11  0  0  0  0  15
45 Frozena, Robert.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1   4
54 Gardner, Davante....    7-7    0-0    3-3    2  3  5   1  17  0  1  2  0  13
   TEAM................                         3  2  5
   Totals..............   36-60   3-10  22-35  18 33 51  18  97 25 17 11 12 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 21-34 61.8%   2nd Half: 15-26 57.7%   Game: 60.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-6  33.3%   2nd Half:  1-4  25.0%   Game: 30.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  9-14 64.3%   2nd Half: 13-21 61.9%   Game: 62.9%    6


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Officials: John Cahill, Tony Crisp, Lamar Simpson
Technical fouls: Prairie View A&M-None. Marquette-None.
Attendance: 14046
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Prairie View A&M..............   23   35  -   58
Marquette.....................   53   44  -   97
ID=911815
2010-11 season opener

Points in the paint-PVAM 18,MU 62. Points off turnovers-PVAM 18,MU 30.
2nd chance points-PVAM 2,MU 20. Fast break points-PVAM 17,MU 20.
Bench points-PVAM 12,MU 56. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-PVAM 2nd-01:40, MU 2nd-00:42.
Largest lead-PVAM by 3 1st-19:21, MU by 39 2nd-00:42.