Marquette defeats Northern Illinois, 80-66

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty ImagesThe Marquette Golden Eagles took down Northern Illinois in a rather controlling fashion Saturday night at the Fiserv Forum to move to 6-1 on the season.

Marquette played their first game in six days after playing 4 games in six days last week, and it was evident that Marquette had some rust to shake off. Slow starts have somewhat become the norm so far for Shaka Smart’s squad, and this one was no different.

A pair of early turnovers and sloppy offense from Marquette led to NIU taking a 7-4 lead into the under 16 timeout. Then Marquette started really digging into their bench. Shaka Smart substituted early and often in this game, trying a multitude of…