The competition will get much tougher for both Marquette and Indiana when they square off in a neutral-site nonconference game on Sunday afternoon in Chicago.
Marquette improved to 2-0 with a 100-82 victory over Southern at home Wednesday, giving Shaka Smart his 100th win as coach of the Golden Eagles.
Indiana won its season opener Wednesday, routing Alabama A&M 98-51 in the first game under head coach Darien DeVries, hired away from West Virginia.
Chase Ross had 23 points to pace Marquette’s balanced attack against Southern. Sean Jones, Zaide Lowery and Caedin Hamilton each had 12 points, and Ben Gold collected 10 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes.
Marquette, which led 43-37 at the half, gained control with a 14-2 run midway through the second half to push the lead to 75-54.
The Golden Eagles shot 50 percent (35 of 70), including 14 of 36 from 3-point range. Southern and Marquette were even on the boards with 39 apiece.
“We were not as good defensively tonight as we were on Monday,” Smart said. “A lot of factors behind that. Southern deserves some credit.”
Ross is averaging a team-best 19 points per game, shooting 60% from the floor.
Indiana also had a balanced attack in its opener with five players in double figures. Reed Bailey had 21 points and Tucker DeVries had 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Sam Alexis, a 6-foot-9 forward who averaged 4.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game last season for national champion Florida, added 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting as well as eight rebounds.
The Hoosiers shot a blistering 62.1% (36 of 58), including 10 of 24 from long distance, and a perfect 16-of-16 from the free throw line. Indiana also had a 52-20 advantage in points in the paint.
“I thought our guys had great preparation heading into this all summer and fall. Now we’ve got to go play games,” coach DeVries said afterward. “We certainly understand that Sunday is going to be different than today, so we’ve got plenty to work on, plenty to continue to improve.”
