MILWAUKEE _ Wisconsin is a much better team when redshirt sophomore forward Ethan Happ is on the court. Marquette learned that the hard way in a 93-84 loss to the 17th-ranked Badgers on Saturday afternoon at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
The Golden Eagles (7-3), buoyed by four 3-pointers by Katin Reinhardt off the bench, did more than just hang with the Badgers (9-2) in the first half. Marquette took the fight to Wisconsin, matching the Badgers on the boards and forcing them into contested 3-pointers, of which the Badgers made just 3 of 10. That resulted in a 40-35 lead for the home team entering halftime.
But that was all without Happ on the floor. Happ collected a pair of fouls in the first 101 seconds of the game and didn't see the court for the rest of the first half. Without one of their top three players, one who Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski said has a chance to be player of the year in the Big Ten, the Badgers struggled to find the right rhythm at either end of the court.
That changed dramatically when the two teams returned to the court after halftime following a ceremony honoring Marquette's 1977 national championship team.
Happ returned to the court and with him Wisconsin returned to normal. Happ immediately contributed, scoring six of his 11 points and grabbing all five of his rebounds in the first 6{ minutes of the second half.
With Happ back on the court, the Badgers began to look more like themselves. UW's defense shut down Marquette's drive-and-kick options, forced turnovers and locked down the paint. The result was a five-minute scoreless drought for the Golden Eagles, which coincided with a 16-0 run by the Badgers that turned a 47-46 Marquette lead into a 62-47 advantage that Wisconsin never gave up.
The Golden Eagles got as close as eight multiple times in the final few minutes but couldn't chip the margin lower than that. Freshman point guard Markus Howard led Marquette with 22 points, while Reinhardt and sophomore guard Haanif Cheatham added 16 each. Freshman guard Sam Hauser, who had been one of the most efficient players in the nation in his first nine games, fouled out in 18 minutes with no points. As a team, Marquette had just eight assists on 27 made field goals.
As much as Happ gave the Badgers a boost, it was seniors Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes who powered the scoring attack, pouring in 18 and 17 points, respectively, to lead a group of six double-digit scorers. Hayes, who matched Happ's output with 11 second-half points, added nine rebounds and Koenig dished out six assists.
